The Representation of the People Acts, 1950 and 1951

Prerequisites: Parliament · Constitutional Bodies (Election Commission)

The Hook: When a Donation Became a Constitutional Question

The Core Concept

The constitutional frame (Articles 324–329)

Two Acts, two jobs

The simplest way to remember the split: 1950 prepares the ground; 1951 runs the game.

Electoral rolls (RPA 1950): a person is registered in only one constituency (Section 17) and only once in a constituency (Section 18). A person is disqualified from registration if not a citizen, declared of unsound mind by a competent court, or disqualified under an election law (Section 16). The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 provided four qualifying dates in a year (1 January, 1 April, 1 July, 1 October) and enabled voluntary linking of Aadhaar with the electoral roll.

Qualifications and disqualifications (RPA 1951)

• Qualification: a member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha must be an elector in a parliamentary constituency. In 2003, Parliament removed the requirement that a Rajya Sabha candidate be an elector in the State from which he is elected, and introduced the open ballot for Rajya Sabha elections. Both changes were upheld in Kuldip Nayar v. Union of India (2006).
• Section 8 — conviction:
  • 8(1): conviction for listed offences (for example, promoting enmity between groups, bribery and undue influence at elections, offences under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955) disqualifies regardless of the sentence.
  • 8(3): conviction for any other offence with imprisonment of not less than two years disqualifies from the date of conviction and for a further six years after release.
  • 8(4), which protected sitting members for three months (and during a pending appeal), was struck down in Lily Thomas v. Union of India (July 2013).
• Section 8A: disqualification for corrupt practices, decided by the President for up to six years.
• Section 9: dismissal from government service for corruption or disloyalty — five years.
• Section 9A: subsisting government contracts.
• Section 10A: failure to lodge an account of election expenses — disqualified by the Election Commission for three years.
• Section 11: the Election Commission may remove or reduce the period of a disqualification (except under Section 8A).

Parties, money and candidates

• Section 29A: registration of political parties with the Election Commission. Recognition as national or State party and allotment of symbols flow from the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, not the Act itself.
• Section 29B: parties may accept voluntary contributions, but not from government companies.
• Section 29C: parties must report contributions above ₹20,000 to the Election Commission.
• Section 33(7): a candidate may contest from not more than two constituencies (introduced in 1996).
• Section 33A: candidates must disclose pending criminal cases; the Supreme Court in Union of India v. ADR (2002) and PUCL v. Union of India (2003) extended disclosure to criminal antecedents, assets, liabilities and educational qualifications. Section 125A punishes a false affidavit.
• Section 77: every candidate must keep an account of election expenses; the ceilings are fixed under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
• Section 158: the security deposit is forfeited if the candidate polls one-sixth or less of the valid votes.

Conduct of elections and offences

graph LR
    A[Notification] --> B[Nominations and scrutiny]
    B --> C[Withdrawal]
    C --> D[Campaign ends 48 hours before close of poll - Section 126]
    D --> E[Poll - EVMs under Section 61A]
    E --> F[Counting and result]
    F --> G[Election petition in High Court within 45 days - Section 81]
    G --> H[Appeal to Supreme Court - Section 116A]

• Section 61A (inserted in 1988) permits electronic voting machines. In Subramanian Swamy v. Election Commission of India (2013), the Supreme Court held that a paper trail (VVPAT) is necessary for free and fair elections and directed its phased introduction.
• Section 62(5): a person confined in prison (whether under sentence, transportation or otherwise) or in lawful police custody cannot vote — except a person under preventive detention.
• Section 126: no public meetings or display of election matter during the 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the close of poll. Section 126A bans exit polls from the start of the first phase until half an hour after the close of the last phase.
• Section 135B: employees are entitled to a paid holiday on polling day.

Corrupt practices (Section 123): bribery; undue influence; appeal to vote or refrain from voting on grounds of religion, race, caste, community or language, or use of religious or national symbols; promoting enmity between classes; glorifying sati; publishing false statements about a candidate’s personal character; free conveyance of voters; obtaining help from government servants; spending beyond the limit; and booth capturing. In Abhiram Singh v. C.D. Commachen (2017), a seven-judge bench held by 4:3 that “his religion” in Section 123(3) covers the religion of the voter too, not only of the candidate.

Election disputes: an election petition lies in the High Court (Section 80A) within 45 days of the declaration of the result (Section 81), with appeal to the Supreme Court (Section 116A). Section 100 lists the grounds on which an election may be declared void.

By-elections (Section 151A): within six months of the vacancy, unless the remainder of the term is less than one year, or the Election Commission, in consultation with the Union Government, certifies that holding it within that period is difficult.

Memory Anchors

“Fifty prepares, Fifty-one performs” — RPA 1950: rolls, seats, voters. RPA 1951: candidates, conduct, corruption, courts.

Section 8 numbers — “2-6”: imprisonment of two years or more → disqualified from conviction until six years after release.

Election petition — “45 to the High Court, 30 to the Supreme Court”: 45 days to file in the High Court; appeal to the Supreme Court within 30 days (Section 116A).

One-line Mains hooks:

• Lily Thomas (2013): a law-maker cannot claim a protection that a voter does not have.
• PUCL (NOTA, 2013): the right to reject is part of the voter’s freedom of expression.

For Prelims

For Mains

• Dimensions: criminalisation of politics; money power and opaque funding; misuse of religion and caste in campaigns; inner-party democracy; voter roll integrity; trust in EVMs; cost and frequency of elections.
• Keywords: level playing field, free and fair elections (a basic feature — Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain, 1975), informed voter, decriminalisation, transparency in funding, state funding of elections.
• Value-addition: Union of India v. ADR (2002) on disclosure; Lily Thomas (2013); PUCL (2013) on NOTA; Public Interest Foundation v. Union of India (2018) on publicising criminal antecedents; ADR v. Union of India (2024) on electoral bonds; the Law Commission’s 255th Report on electoral reforms (2015); the Indrajit Gupta Committee (1998) on state funding of elections.

Common Traps

In the News

• March 2024 — the High-Level Committee on One Nation, One Election (chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind) submitted its report recommending simultaneous elections in two steps.
• February 2024 — the Supreme Court struck down the Electoral Bond Scheme (ADR v. Union of India).
• December 2024 — the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, on simultaneous elections, was introduced in the Lok Sabha and referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
• June 2025 — the Election Commission ordered a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar under Section 21 of RPA 1950; the exercise was challenged before the Supreme Court.

Practice

Prelims

Mains

Quick Revision

Key Takeaways

Related Topics

• Elections — quick revision
• Elections — practice questions
• Constitutional Bodies (Election Commission of India)
• Parliament
• Governance, Transparency and Accountability