Parliament and state legislatures and RPA

Question 1

Code of Conduct For Politicians?

Answer 1

1. A Code of Conduct for members of Rajya Sabha has been in force since 2005; there is no such code for Lok Sabha. In the case of MPs, the first step was the constitution of Parliamentary Standing Committees on Ethics in both Houses.
2. A code for Union ministers was adopted in 1964, and state governments were advised to adopt it as well.
3. A conference of Chief Justices in 1999 resolved to adopt a code of conduct for judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts — this 15-point ‘Re-instatement of Values in Judicial Life’ recommended that serving judges should maintain an air of “aloofness” in their official and personal lives.

Question 2

origin of live telecast of parliament proceedings?

Answer 2

• LSTV was the brainchild of former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
• earlier select parliamentary proceedings had been televised since December 20, 1989 eg. Presidential address
• When the DD News channel was launched, Question Hour in both Houses started getting telecast simultaneously on DD channels.
• after a decade, in December 2004, that a separate dedicated satellite channel was set up for the live telecast and in 2006, LSTV started airing the proceedings of the Lower House live.
• RSTV was launched in 2011
• The Union Budget allocates funds for the running of channels.
• Recently LSTV and RSTV have been merged into a single ‘Sansad TV’

Question 3

Registration of Political parties is governed by the provisions of?

Answer 3

Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Question 4

“The transparency in electoral funding has regressed in recent times”?

Answer 4

Intro: Feb 2017, Arun Jaitley (FM): without transparency of political funding, free and fair elections are not possible

1. electoral bonds: earlier every transaction of more than Rs 20,000 was reported to EC. Now even Rs 20 crore or Rs 200 crore could be donated anonymously. The reason given was that the donors want secrecy. It is, clearly, a case of private interest in conflict with public interest in transparency. both the RBI and ECI registered their strong protest. ECI warned that it may lead to mushrooming of shell companies and funnelling of black money in electoral process.
2. Finance Act 2017 introduced amendments in the RBI Act, Companies Act, Income Tax Act, RPA and FCRA to cause further damage. Through an amendment to the Finance Act 2017, the Centre exempted political parties from disclosing donations received through electoral bonds.
3. limit of 7.5 per cent of its profits which a company could donate, was removed. Even a loss-making company could make political donations, leading to crony-capitalism.
4. requirements for a resolution by the board of directors for a company to make donations to PPs and to declare the political donations in the profit and loss accounts were also removed. Thus even shareholders weren’t privy to political donation activities.
5. Section 29B of RPA 1951 prohibited all PPs from accepting any contri from a “foreign source”. similar prohibitions by FCRA. Government passed a retroactive amendment through a 2016 Finance Bill that amended the statute.
6. SC in 2021 flagged the “no regulation of end use” of electoral contri via the anonymous electoral bonds. This money can be used to disturb the law and order as well as in horse-trading activities after the polls.

Parties need to set up examples by disclosing the donations it receives. eg, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) became the first party to do so recently

Question 5

issue with exemption ofAssam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura (i.e. Sixth schedule states) from Citizenship amendment Bill?

Answer 5

Sixth schedule is a way to protect distinct culture and way of life. It has nothing to do with separate citizenship regimes. Seems like a purely political exemptions

Question 6

How can Parliamentary committees be made more effective?

Answer 6

1. national commission to review the working of the Constitution has recommended that in order to strengthen the committee system, research support should be made available to them. 2. mandatory scrutiny of all bills by parliamentary committees would ensure better planning of legislative business. 3. during a meeting of chairpersons of the committees with Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu recently, a view emerged that persistent absenteeism from meetings of department-related standing committees should cost MPs their spot on these parliamentary panels

Question 7

expenditure cap in elections:recent context? present caps?

Answer 7

1. A pvt member bill recently asks for removal of ceiling on election expenses as it encourages candidates to under-report 2. LS: 70L; SLA: 28L

Question 8

Various Recommendations by committees on Anti-defection law?

Answer 8

• Dinesh Goswami Committee on electoral reforms: Disqualification should be limited to following cases:

1. A member voluntarily gives up the membership of his political party
2. A member abstains from voting, or votes contrary to the party whip in a motion of vote of confidence or motion of no-confidence. Political parties could issue whips only when the government was in danger.

• Law Commission (170th Report):

1. Provisions which exempt splits and mergers from disqualification to be deleted.
2. Pre-poll electoral fronts should be treated as political parties under anti-defection.
3. Political parties should limit issuance of whips to instances only when the government is in danger.

• EC: Decisions under the Tenth Schedule should be made by the President/ Governor on the binding advice of the Election Commission.

Question 9

Rule 266 and 267 of the Lok Sabha?

Answer 9

Rule 267 states that committee meetings have to be held in the Parliament building. However, the Speaker has the powers to change the venue.

Rule 266 mandates that all committee meetings have to be held in private.

Context:

Rajya Sabha secretariat has denied permission for members of the standing committee on Home Affairs to join a meeting of the panel through videoconference. The reason videoconference meetings were not being allowed was because it violated the principle of confidentiality, as there was no guarantee of a member sitting alone at such events.

Question 10

Rule 266 and 267 of the Lok Sabha?

Answer 10

Rule 267 states that committee meetings have to be held in the Parliament building. However, the Speaker has the powers to change the venue.

Rule 266 mandates that all committee meetings have to be held in private.

Context:

Rajya Sabha secretariat has denied permission for members of the standing committee on Home Affairs to join a meeting of the panel through videoconference. The reason videoconference meetings were not being allowed was because it violated the principle of confidentiality, as there was no guarantee of a member sitting alone at such events.

Question 11

Parliamentary privileges: relevant Consti and legal provisions?

Answer 11

Parliamentary privileges are defined in Article 105 of the Indian Constitution and those of State legislatures in Article 194.

Besides, Rule No 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rule Book and correspondingly Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha rulebook govern privilege.

Question 12

SC’s recent observations on Tenth schedule functioning?

Answer 12

1. SC suggested a mechanism outside the Parliament/SLAs eg. a permanent tribunal headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or a former High Court Chief Justice as a new mechanism. This would require an amendment to the Constitution.
2. Speakers should decide Tenth Schedule disqualifications within a “reasonable period”. What is ‘reasonable’ would depend on the facts of each case. Court held that unless there are “exceptional circumstances”, disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule should be decided by Speakers within three months.

Question 13

Representation of Peoples (RP) Act provisions to curb Criminalization of politics? SC’s efforts in this regard?

Answer 13

RPA provisions

• lawmakers cannot contest elections only after their conviction in a criminal case.
• Section 8 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951 disqualifies a person convicted with a sentence of two years or more from contesting elections. But those under trial continued to be eligible to contest elections. The Lily Thomas case (2013), however, ended this unfair advantage.

SC’s efforts:

1. In 2002, it made it obligatory for all candidates to file an affidavit before the returning officer, disclosing criminal cases pending against them.
2. The famous order to introduce NOTA was intended to make political parties think before giving tickets to the tainted.

In LIly Thomas judgement in 2013, SC ruled that any MP or MLA or MLC who is convicted of a crime and given a minimum of two year imprisonment, loses membership of the House with immediate effect. This is in contrast to the earlier position, wherein convicted members held on to their seats until they exhausted all judicial remedy in lower, state and SC.

Further, Section 8(4) of the RPA, which allowed elected representatives three months to appeal their conviction,was declared unconstitutional

1. In its landmark judgment of March 2014, the SC accepted the urgent need for cleansing politics of criminalisation and directed all subordinate courts to decide on cases involving legislators within a year, or give reasons for not doing so to the chief justice of the high court.
2. IN jan 2020, SC asked the EIC to come up with a framework which can contribute towards the larger issue of containing the entry of candidates having criminal background into politics.
3. In Feb 2020, Supreme Court had directed political parties to publish the criminal history, if any, of their election candidates on the homepage of their websites under the caption ‘Candidates with criminal antecedents’ within 48 hours of their selection.
4. In Aug 2021, a three judge bench of SC procalimed that-“No prosecution against a sitting or former MP/MLA shall be withdrawn without the leave of the HC”

Question 14

Criminalisation of Politics: stats?

Answer 14

1. There are a total 4,442 cases pending against legislators across the country. Of this, the number of cases against sitting Members of Parliament and members of State legislatures was 2,556.
2. The cases were pending in various special courts exclusively set up to try criminal cases registered against politicians.
3. The cases against the legislators include that of corruption, money laundering, damage to public property, defamation and cheating.
4. A large number of cases were for violation of Section 188 IPC for wilful disobedience and obstruction of orders promulgated by public servants.
5. There are 413 cases in respect of offences, which are punishable with imprisonment for life, out of which in 174 cases sitting MPs/ MLAs are accused.
6. A large number of cases were pending at the appearance stage and even non-bailable warrants (NBWs) issued by courts have not been executed.

Question 15

Star campaigners?

Answer 15

1. A recognised political party can have 40 star campaigners and an unrecognised (but registered) political party can have 20.
2. The list of star campaigners has to be communicated to the Chief Electoral Officer and Election Commission within a week from the date of notification of an election.
3. The expenditure incurred on campaigning by such campaigners is exempt from being added to the election expenditure of a candidate. However, this only applies when a star campaigner limits herself to a general campaign for the political party she represents.
   
   • If a candidate or her election agent shares the stage with a star campaigner at a rally, then the entire expenditure on that rally, other than the travel expenses of the star campaigner, is added to the candidate’s expenses.
   • Even if the candidate is not present at the star campaigner’s rally, but there are posters with her photographs or her name on display, the entire expenditure will be added to the candidate’s account.
   • This applies even if the star campaigner mentions the candidate’s name during the event. When more than one candidate shares the stage, or there are posters with their photographs, then the expenses of such rally/meeting are equally divided between all such candidates.

Question 16

Suggestions for solutions to disruption of work in Parliament?

Answer 16

A 2001 conference by various MPs on this very topic identified 4 reasons behind the disorderly conduct by MPs

1. dissatisfaction in MPs because of inadequate time for airing their grievances.
2. unresponsive attitude of the government and the retaliatory posture of the treasury benches.
3. political parties not adhering to parliamentary norms and disciplining their members.
4. absence of prompt action against disrupting MPs under the legislature’s rules.

The conference suggested enforcement of a code of conduct for MPs and MLAs and an increase in the sitting days of legislatures as solutions. So suggestions,

• there should be an increase in the working days of Parliament. Our legislature should meet throughout the year, like parliaments of most developed democracies.
• opportunities to opposition MPs to put forth their views: Currently, government business takes priority, and private members discuss their topics post lunch on a Friday. In the United Kingdom, where Parliament meets over 100 days a year, opposition parties get 20 days on which they decide the agenda for discussion in Parliament. The main opposition party gets 17 days and the remaining three days are given to the second-largest opposition party. Usually, decisions of the House passed on opposition days are not binding on the government and are an opportunity for the opposing parties to focus national attention on issues that it deems crucial. Canada also has a similar concept of opposition days.

Question 17

falling standards of legislative scrutiny of bills passed by Parliament?

Answer 17

1. ministries expedite their bills by not putting them through pre-legislative scrutiny process like requesting public feedback.
2. employment of ordinance route:
   
   1. Governments have promulgated an ordinance a few days before a parliamentary session, cut a session short to issue one, and pushed a law that is not urgent through the ordinance route.
   2. sometimes the bill to replace the ordinance is not even introduced in the next session and instead ordinance is re-promulgated. eg. ordinance to set up a commission for air quality management of the NCR in Oct 2020
   3. Bringing in law through the ordinance route also bypasses parliamentary scrutiny. parliamentary committees rarely scrutinise bills to replace ordinances because this may take time and defeat the issuing of the ordinance.
3. not sending bills to parliamentary committees. Over the last few years, bills like GST, Consumer Protection, Insolvency and Bankruptcy, Labour Codes, Surrogacy, and DNA Technology have benefited from parliamentary committees’ scrutiny.
   
   • % of the bills introduced were referred to committees: has dropped from 70% UPA2 to 25% in NDA1 to <20% in NDA2
4. Unnecessary urgency in getting laws passed by Parliament does not result in their immediate implementation. For the law to work on the ground, the government is supposed to frame rules. Last year the Cabinet Secretary twice requested the personal intervention of secretaries heading the Union ministries to frame regulations for bringing into force the laws made by Parliament.

Question 18

Citizens’ assembly: what?

Answer 18

It is a body formed from randomly selected citizens to deliberate on important issues.

The purpose is to recruit a cross-section of the public to study the selected issues. Information is presented to provide a common set of facts, available options are considered and recommendations are forwarded to the appropriate authority.

Question 19

Citizens’ assembly: need?

Answer 19

• insufficient governance of the people by the people, which requires stronger institutions for participation by citizens themselves in democratic deliberations about matters of public policy.
• members of elected assemblies are whipped and bound by anti-defection laws to vote along partisan lines.
• There is little inclination, either on social media or in elected assemblies, to listen to other points of view.
• The problem for governance is the “missing middle” — between spaces for public opinion below, and constitutional forums such as elected assemblies and courts at the top — to find democratic solutions to citizens’ problems.
• Consent of the governed is about more than periodic elections or referenda.
• A civil society movement, Citizens for Europe, has proposed a solution. we need more inclusive and innovative instruments of participatory democracy. They called for creation of a permanent transnational forum for deliberation and citizens’ participation: A European Citizens’ Assembly.

Question 20

Citizens’ assembly: suggestions?

Answer 20

• It is time for the next step in the evolution of democratic institutions.
• Citizens assemblies for democratic deliberation should be formally established in cities, districts and states.
• They should run parallel to formal constitutional bodies that have “decision rights”, such as elected assemblies and courts, and must become a source of solutions for them.
• These deliberative forums must not be think-tanks composed of experts: They must be citizens’ forums in which the views of common citizens are heard.
• They will not be a substitute for the electronic and social media, which must remain open to raise issues. They will be designed for thoughtful deliberations amongst citizens, to digest and convert the noise of the public square into sharper signals for policymakers.
• It is not enough to set up citizens’ assemblies. Citizens’ meetings, online or offline, must be designed to enable citizens to listen thoughtfully to other points of view. Their meetings must be professionally facilitated to ensure thoughtful consideration of many points of view.
• They must be provided resources by the state for their conduct.
• It is essential they operate independently of the government.
• Therefore, they must be governed by respected citizens with integrity to ensure they remain non-partisan and fulfil their constitutional purpose of filling the “missing middle” in democratic institutions.

Question 21

T/F: 50% cap in case of reservation is also applicable for reservation in local legislative bodies

Answer 21

T

Recenty SC struck down MH’s law providing for reservation for OBC in local bodies citing the violation of 50% rule

Question 22

How are Rajya Sabha members punished for misconduct in the House?

Answer 22

• House rules vest in the chairman all the powers necessary to conduct proceedings smoothly. The rules also provide for the suspension of MPs who “disregard the authority of the Chair or abuse the rules of the Council by persistently and willfully obstructing the business of the House” (the acts of misconduct are specified by rule 256 of RS’s rules)
• Suspension is the only serious punishment provided for in the rules.
• However, the power to suspend a member is vested in the House, not in the chairman.
• The chairman names such a member whereupon a motion is moved by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, or any other minister seeking the suspension of the member.
• Under the rule, the maximum period of suspension is for the remainder of the session.
• the rules do not spell out the disabilities of a suspended member. These are imposed on them as per conventions or precedent.; A suspended member cannot enter the chamber or attend any meetings of the committees. He also cannot give any notice for discussion or submission. By convention, a suspended member loses his right to get replies to his questions.
• No special committee is required to go into what happens before the eyes of the presiding officer inside the House. As per the rules of the House, they need to be dealt with then and there.
• For the acts of misconduct by the MPs outside the House, which constitute a breach of privilege or contempt of the House, usually the privilege committee investigates the matter and recommends the course of action and the House acts on it.
• A special committee is appointed usually when the misconduct is so serious that the House may consider expelling the member. The first case of expulsion occurred in 1951 when a special committee was appointed to investigate the conduct of H G Mudgal, an MP who accepted financial benefits from business houses to canvass support for them in the government and Parliament.

Question 23

What are the Election Commission’s powers in a dispute over the election symbol when a party splits?

Answer 23

• The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 empowers the EC to recognise political parties and allot symbols.
• Under Paragraph 15 of the Order, it can decide disputes among rival groups or sections of a recognised political party staking claim to its name and symbol.
• The EC is also the only authority to decide issues on a dispute or a merger. The Supreme Court upheld its validity in Sadiq Ali and another vs. ECI in 1971.
• Commission may decide that one such rival section or group or none of such rival sections or groups is that recognised political party and the decision of the Commission shall be binding on all such rival sections or groups
• This applies to disputes in recognised national and state parties (like the LJP, in this case).
• For splits in registered but unrecognised parties, the EC usually advises the warring factions to resolve their differences internally or to approach the court.

Question 24

T/F: For contesting an election as a candidate a person must be registered as a voter

Answer 24

T

Question 25

Is it mandatory under the Constitution to have a Deputy Speaker?

Answer 25

Article 93 for Lok Sabha and Article 178 for state Assemblies state that these Houses “shall, as soon as may be”, choose two of its members to be Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

Constitutional experts point out that both Articles 93 and 178 use the words “shall” and “as soon as may be” — indicating that not only is the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker mandatory, it must be held at the earliest.

• In Lok Sabha and state legislatures, the President/Governor sets a date for the election of the Speaker, and it is the Speaker who decides the date for the election of the Deputy Speaker.
• The legislators of the respective Houses vote to elect one among themselves to these offices.

Question 26

Does being Speaker or Deputy Speaker protect an MP or MLA from the law of disqualification?

Answer 26

No — with one specific exemption.

Para 5 of the Tenth Schedule (commonly known as the anti-defection law) says that a person who has been elected Speaker/ Deputy Speaker shall not be disqualified if he, by reason of his election to that office, voluntarily gives up the membership of the political party to which he belonged immediately before such election — and does not, so long as he continues to hold such office thereafter, rejoin that political party or become a member of another political party.

This exemption applies to the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman, Chairman/ Deputy Chairman of a state Legislative Council, and Speaker/ Deputy Speaker of a state Legislative Assembly as well.

Question 27

Internal poll in political parties?

Answer 27

The EC had in 1996 issued a letter to all recognised national and state political parties as well as registered unrecognised parties stating that various provisions relating to the organisational elections were not being followed by them and called upon them to do so.

Issues:

• Internal elections of most parties “are often an eyewash”
• Lack of transparency and internal democracy in political parties are often reflected in similar non-democratic governance models when said political parties come to power.

examples from around the world: Evidence from other democracies, however, shows a trend towards greater intraparty democracy, decentralisation and transparency within parties. In Germany, for example, parties are required to meet certain conditions in nominating their candidates to party posts. They have to be chosen by a direct secret vote at both constituency and federal levels. In the U.S., laws were enacted that required the use of secret ballots in intraparty elections. The British Labour Party, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, the Democratic Party in the U.S. and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada have all seen movements by party activists and by the rank and file to reduce the power of entrenched party elites.

In India, on the other hand, there is no real movement towards democratisation of parties; the selection of candidates, Chief Ministers and office-bearers of party units is usually left to the discretion of a handful of leaders who take decisions behind closed doors.

The opacity of political financing, necessitates ‘unhindered top-down control’ and ‘absolute loyalty down the line’, argues political scientist, E. Sridharan. If party funds are raised and controlled centrally, this weakens the State units and rank and file vis-à-vis the central leadership on a range of issues including leadership selection and nominations for elections. It also discourages democratisation as this would limit their power to accumulate wealth or amass a fortune or promote personal power at the expense of public interest.

Question 28

Electoral reforms: common electoral rolls?

Answer 28

Currently, separate electoral rolls are maintained for elections to the LS, State LAs and Local bodies.

The process for making electoral rolls is laid down in the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The primary unit of electoral rolls is the assembly election constituency. Several such constituencies are aggregated to make a Lok Sabha constituency or broken down to make municipal or panchayat wards.

The SECs have the option of either adopting the electoral rolls created by the ECI or preparing such rolls on their own. Most prefer to use the rolls prepared by the ECI. Some states, however, develop their rolls independently. These are Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pros:

1. Some voters often find their name missing, mostly in Panchayat rolls because Corrupt practices are proportionately higher in PRI polls.
2. The only difference between the PRI and Vidhan Sabha rolls is that the former has information about the ward in which the voter lives. All that needs to be done is to write the ward no. in an additional column, which will be masked for state legislature elections and unmasked for PRIs where elections are conducted ward-wise.
3. For years, the ECI has been advocating a common electoral roll for all elections
4. The process of making electoral rolls requires manpower from all governmental departments bt most of all from school teachers

Issues:

1. encroachment into the rights of the states
2. Centre has no powers or authority to tinker with the powers given to the State Election Commission under the Constitution.

Question 29

Electoral reforms: Election Laws (Amendment)Act 2021?

Answer 29

1. extending the qualifying date for registration of young new voters, and
2. linking of Aadhaar with electoral rolls

Question 30

Electoral reforms: Election Laws (Amendment)Act 2021: linking electoral roll data with Aadhar: about?

Answer 30

• The 1950 Act provides that a person may apply to the electoral registration officer for inclusion of their name in the electoral roll of a constituency. After verification, if the officer is satisfied that the applicant is entitled to registration, he will direct the applicant’s name to be included in the electoral roll.
• The Bill adds that the electoral registration officer may require a person to furnish their Aadhaar number for establishing their identity.
• If their name is already in the electoral roll, then the Aadhaar number may be required for authentication of entries in the roll.
• Persons will not be denied inclusion in the electoral roll or have their names deleted from the roll, if they are unable to furnish Aadhaar number due to sufficient cause as prescribed. Such persons may be permitted to furnish alternate documents prescribed by the central government.

Question 31

Electoral reforms: Election Laws (Amendment)Act 2021: linking electoral roll data with Aadhar: pros?

Answer 31

• This aims to curb the menace of multiple enrolment of the same person in different places.
• This will help in stopping bogus voting and fraudulent votes.
• This linking is in consonance with 105^th report of the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personal, Public Grievances and Law and Justice as well as recommendatios of ECI
• No Risk of Disenfranchisement with sufficient safeguards built in
• Voluntary linking

Question 32

Electoral reforms: Election Laws (Amendment)Act 2021: linking electoral roll data with Aadhar: cons?

Answer 32

• Aadhar is itself not Mandatory: In 2015, the move to link voter ID to Aadhaar was put on the backburner after the Supreme Court Judgement that held that “the Aadhaar card Scheme is purely voluntary” and restricting its use only to welfare disbursal and income tax
  
  • Besides this, Aadhaar was only meant to be proof of residence. It is not proof of citizenship. Residence of 182 days can make even a non-citizen eligible for an Aadhaar ID.
  • In March 2015, the Election Commission had started a National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme that sought to link Aadhaar to voter IDs, in a bid to delete duplicated names.
• Aadhaar was only meant to be an identity proof but not an address proof. the enrolment processes for voters’ lists and Aadhaar are completely different. Whereas Aadhaar enrolment is based on production of existing documents and the “introducer system”, voter enrolments involve physical verification and “house visits” by a registration officer or representative.
  
  • It is now well known that the Aadhaar database is beset with errors and exclusions. This is partly because there is no verification of the authenticity of the demographic information on the Aadhaar database, i.e. the UIDAI does not independently authenticate the information provided by an applicant at the time of enrolment.
  • both the Calcutta High Court and the Allahabad High Court have refused to rely on the authenticity of Aadhaar data
• Fears of Mass Disenfranchisement: there are numerous reports of large-scale deletion of voters without proper verification in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana due to EPIC-Aadhaar linkage. also ample publicly documented evidence of large-scale exclusion in PDS and welfare disbursal due to Aadhaar.
  
  • the burden of proof has been reversed. Instead of the Government proactively ensuring registration on the electoral rolls (such as through house-to-house verification) to achieve universal adult franchise, the burden now shifts to individuals who may be unable/unwilling to link their Aadhaar to justify their retention on the rolls.
  • In fact, deletion from the voter rolls will happen without any procedural safeguards since at the moment, the law does not provide for a right to a hearing before such deletion.
  • In the 2015 andhra P case, RTI replies indicated that such deletion was carried out without any door-to-door verification of the identity of individuals.
• Despite claims of Govt that the amendment does not make Aadhar mandatory, it does make it quasi-mandatory at the very least
  
  • The electoral officer clearly has uncanalised discretion — since the law does not prescribe any guiding principles — to decide when an Aadhaar number may be “required”
  • Interestingly, the law does not even consider a situation where an individual may be opposed to linking her Aadhaar number to the electoral database — further undermining the voluntary premise of the amendments.
• No Data Protection Law
• Privacy Concerns: Electoral data at present is held by theECI in its own database, has its own verification process, and is separate from other government databases. The proposed linkage between the Aadhaar and election database will make data available to the ECI and UIDAI. This could lead to infringement of the privacy of citizens.
  
  • In April 2019, the (UIDAI) complained to police about a Hyderabad-based software company, IT Grids (India) Private Limited, accusing it of illegally procuring details of 7,82,21,397 Aadhaar holders in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and storing these in its databases. Concerns were raised on account of the alleged security vulnerabilities of UIDAI servers, which the authority denied at the time. The case was transferred to a special investigation team
• political targetting and profiling: electoral rolls are made public and accessible. If someone gains access to the linked aadhar no. the vter can be targetted. neither the UIDAI nor the ECI have publicly audited architectures for purpose limitation and protection against insider attacks.
  
  • since Aadhaar is directly used for disbursal of welfare and direct benefit transfers, linking it with voter ID may provide a direct method for the government to influence and manipulate voters. This can be used by political parties to selectively target their messages to specific voters, using information that is not publicly available.
  • It is the responsibility of the ECI to ensure that not only are the electoral processes clean, but also that they appear to be clean.
  • Political profiling using Aadhaar data is not unheard of. In April 2021, the Madras High Court asked the UIDAI to ascertain how confidential information held by it may have been leaked in light of “credible allegations” that only mobile phones linked to Aadhar cards received bulk SMS messages to join WhatsApp groups of a particular political party during election campaigning in Puducherry.
• One of the concerns is whether the Bill’s implementation will be successful if the linkage is not compulsory.
• Government has failed to provide any empirical data that demonstrates either the extent of the problem of bogus voters in the electoral roll (justifying this extraordinary measure) or the success of Aadhaar in de-deduplication.

Question 33

Electoral reforms: Election Laws (Amendment)Act 2021: extending the qualifying date for registration of young new voters?

Answer 33

Under the 1950 Act, the qualifying date for enrolment in the electoral roll is January 1 of the year in which such roll is being prepared or revised. This implies that a person who turns 18 (i.e., eligible to vote) after January 1 can enrol in the electoral roll only when the roll is prepared/ revised the next year. The Bill amends this to provide four qualifying dates in a calendar year, which will be January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1.

Question 34

Consider the following statements.

1. The absentee voter refers to a vote cast by someone who is unable to go to the polling station.
2. The power to include any category of persons like disabled and people over 80 years of age in the absentee voter list lies with the Election Commission of India.

Which of the above statements is/are correct? a) 1 only b) 2 only c) Both 1 and 2 d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer 34

A

On the recommendation of the Election Commission, the Ministry of Law and Justice can amend the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, for allowing senior citizens and person with disabilities in the absentee voter list.
The absentee voter refers to a vote cast by someone who is unable to go to the polling station

Question 35

Consider the following statements regarding the Delimitation Commission.
1. The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
2. It aims to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies to make population of all constituencies nearly equal.
3. Its orders are not final and it can be questioned only before Supreme Court of India.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
a) 1 only
b) 1, 2
c) 1, 3
d) 1, 2, 3

Answer 35

B

• Delimitation is carried out by an independent Delimitation Commission.
• The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
• The Constitution mandates that its orders are final and cannot be questioned before any court as it would hold up an election indefinitely.
• Functions: The Commission is supposed to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies in a way that the population of all seats, so far as practicable, is the same. The Commission is also tasked with identifying seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; these are where their population is relatively large.

Question 36

‘None of The Above’ (NOTA)?

Answer 36

In 2013, the Supreme Court, in a landmark verdict, introduced ‘None of the Above’ or NOTA to allow voters to cast a “negative vote” to reject all candidates as unworthy. The court held that the right to vote as well as the right to say “none of the above” constituted a basic right of the voters, and said the option would foster “purity” and “vibrancy” in elections.
The main objective of the ‘NOTA’ option is to enable electors who do not wish to vote for any of the candidates to exercise their right to reject without violation of the secrecy of their decision. The voter must be eligible to register a vote of rejection if they feel that the contesting candidates do not deserve to be voted for.

Question 37

Increase in Expenditure limit for candidates for LS constituencies?

Answer 37

• Recently, the expenditure limit for candidates for Lok Sabha constituencies was increased from Rs 54 lakh-Rs 70 lakh (depending on states) to Rs 70 lakh-Rs 95 lakh, by ECI
  
  • The enhanced amount of Rs 40 lakh would apply in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab and ₹28 lakh in Goa and Manipur.
• Further, the spending limit for Assembly constituencies was hiked from Rs 20 lakh-Rs 28 lakh to Rs 28 lakh- Rs 40 lakh (depending on states).
• In 2020, the ECI had formed a committee in 2020 to study the election spending limit.
• Apart from a 10% increase in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the last major revision in spending limits for candidates was carried out in 2014.
• The committee found that there has been an increase in the number of electors and Cost Inflation Index since 2014 substantially.

Question 38

The government introduced amendments to which of the following laws to introduce electoral bonds?

1. Representation of the People Act of 1951
2. Income Tax Act of 1961
3. Companies Act of 2013

Select the correct answer code:

a) 1, 2
b) 1, 3
c) 2, 3
d) 1, 2, 3

Answer 38

d

Using the money bill route, the government introduced regressive amendments to laws, including the Income Tax Act of 1961, the Companies Act of 2013, and the Representation of the People Act of 1951, to introduce electoral bonds.