Salient Features of the Representation of People Act, 1950

Recent Developments

Simultaneous Elections to Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha

There have been demands from various quarters regarding the conduct of elections to Lok Sabha and Legislative assemblies together. Recently Election Commission said that it is logistically ready to conduct simultaneous election by September 2018.

Positives

• Stability in governance as there will be lesser interruptions from model code of conducts which leads to paralysis in administration.
• Will help in reducing the massive expenditure- both government’s as well as that of candidates and parties.
• The diversion of manpower in terms of government officers and security personnel can be avoided.
• The expensive campaigning which consisting of posters, rallies blocking the road, accusations etc. can be avoided.
• Populist promises and appeasements tend to derail the governance track of the country.

Negatives

• This will undermine the will of the people. Political re alignments are part and parcel of a democracy. Artificially fixing of tenure of legislature is against the democratic ethos.
• May lead to reduced accountability among political parties to people. Political parties may become unresponsive and unrepresentative.
• Simultaneous elections tries to bring in a Presidential type of governance where the state assemblies no longer can decide their own path and have to be in existence for 5 years with a minority party in power.
• Where there are coalitions there is bound to be political re-alignments which will consequently cause changes in the assembly even leading to its early dissolution.

EC Directives on Model Code of Conduct

• The Election Commission (EC) said that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will come into effect from the day the premature dissolution of an Assembly in a State or a Union Territory is announced. It will remain in force till the new government is formed.
• Rationale behind the Decision: The Election Commission reached to the conclusion keeping the observations of the Supreme Court in the SR Bommai versus Union of India case, 1994, which gave verdict that the caretaker government should merely carry on day-to-day work and desist from taking any major policy decisions.

EC Defines Paid News

• The Election Commission of India has told the Supreme Court; repeated publication of propaganda lauding the achievements of a candidate in an election is nothing but Paid News.
• Definition Provided by Commission: Where there appears in daily newspapers having wide circulation, statements issued by and in the name of a candidate which are not only laudatory of his record and achievements, but also are direct appeal to voters by the candidate himself, would it be erroneous for the Election Commission to treat such statements as; not news, but paid-news.

Proxy Voting allowed

• The Lok Sabha passed the Representation of People (Amendment Bill) 2017, which seeks to amend the provisions of Representation of People Act (RPA) 1950 and Representation of People Act (RPA) 1951.
• The Amendment Bill seeks to enable Non-Resident Indians to cast votes through their proxies in the constituency. The Bill also seeks to include gender-neutral references by substituting word “wife” with “spouse”.

NOTA in Rajya Sabha Polls Scrapped

• The 'None Of The Above' (NOTA) option that is available for citizens during general elections, now will not be an option for MLAs in Rajya Sabha, as per ruling by Supreme Court of India.
• The SC held that the option of NOTA is meant only for universal adult suffrage and direct elections and not in elections held by the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote as done in the RajyaSabha.
• The court said that that NOTA in indirect elections, such as in the Rajya Sabha, would lead to horse-trading, corruption and use of extra constitutional methods to defeat a party candidate.

Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha

• Rajya Sabha on August 9, 2018 elected ruling NDA's candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh as Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson against the joint opposition candidate B K Hariprasad. Harivansh got 125 votes, while Hariprasad received 105 votes. Harivansh Narayan Singh has succeeded Prof P.J. Kurien, whose tenure in Rajya Sabha ended on July 1.

Accessible Elections

• The Election Commission has offered to look at alternative voting methods for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), including advance voting or early voting, voting from home, postal vote, transport assistance or mobile polling station concept, provided these do not compromise the sanctity and secrecy of vote.
• As per the strategic framework finalised at the national consultation, the commission also agreed to examine the scope and need for legislative measures to enhance electoral participation of physically-challenged people.
• The theme of “Inclusion of PwD’s” has been given a special focus in the ECI’s Strategic Plan 2016-2025. Besides, “Accessible Elections” has been adopted as its central theme for 2018 National Voters’ Day celebrations.

National Voters Day 2018

• As envisaged by Election Commission of India, National Voters' Day (NVD) was celebrated on January 25, 2018 across the country to promote the electoral participation.On this occasion, every voter is expected to take National Voters' Day Pledge for either electoral participation.
• The National Voters’ Day is observed to mark the establishment of the Election Commission on this day in 1950, a day before India became a republic.
• SVEEP: To increase people’s participation in the electoral process, the Election Commission of India adopted a Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation strategy in 2009 and it got reflected in a range of policy initiatives, programmes and activities. It's popularly known as SVEEP.

Political Parties Exempted from Scrutiny on Foreign Funds

• The Lok Sabha passed a bill without a debatethat will exempt political parties from scrutiny of funds they have received from abroad since 1976.
• Earlier on March 14, 2018 the Lok Sabha passed 21 amendments to the Finance Bill 2018. One of them was an amendment to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 that bans overseas corporations from funding political parties.
• New Definition of Foreign Companies: The Finance Act, 2016, changed the definition of a foreign company by saying a firm with less than 50% of share capital held by a foreign entity would no longer be a foreign source any more. This amendment also came into effect retrospectively from September 2010.

Additional Disclosure Norm for Contesting Elections

• The Supreme Court on February 16, 2018 made it mandatory for candidates contesting elections to declare the sources of income for them, their spouses and dependants in a landmark judgement that aims to ensure probity among politicians.
• Such disclosure will be a part of the fundamental right of the voter under Article 19(1) (a) as laid down in its 2002 judgment in Union of India vs Association for Democratic Reforms & Another in which it stated that “voter speaks out or expresses by casting vote”.

Officers

• Chief electoral officers
• District election officer
• Electoral registration officers