 to the reprisenta rion of the peoplev (amendment) bill, 1988 (to be i as introduced m lok sabha)1- page 2, line 24, for " (promoting" read " ((rffence of promoting"2 page 2, line 25, for "groimds" read "ground"3 page 2 line 33, for " (statement" read " (off?nce of making statement"4 page 2, line 43, for " (importing or exporting o f' read " (offence of importing or exporting"5 page 3, line 13, for " (remo-" read " (offence of remo-"6 page 3, line 20, omit "by a court in india"7 page 3, line 34, for "by a court in india for" read "of"8 page 4, line 6, for "elections" read "election"9- page 4 line 9, for "elections" read "election"10 page 4, line 10, for "elections and such'' read "election and accord- ingly, such"11 page 4, line 25, for "thirty" read "sixty"12 page 4, line 28, for "sixty" read "thirty"13 page 4, line 33, for "a secretary" read "the secretary" 14 page 5, lines 28 and 29, omit "political principles, policies, aims and objects and any change"15 page 6, line 6, for "a fraction," read "a fraction and"16 page 6, fonr lines 21 to 23, read "at a place fixed for the pou (here­after in this section referred to as a place) in such a manner that the result of the poll at that polling station or place cannot be ascertained; or"17 page 6, line 32, for "polling station be" read "polling station or place be"18 page 6, line 34 for "polling station and" read "polling station orplace and"19 page 6, line 37, for "stations involved'' read "stations or places involved"20 page 7 i'ne 20 for "agerft or by other" read "agent or other"21 page 8, lines 4 and 8, for "pouing station by" read "polling station or a place fixed for the poll by"22 page 8 line 12, for "polling station to" read "polling station or a place fixed for the poll to"23 page 8, line 16, fcr "ordwly counting of bauot papers;" read "the orderly counting of votes;"24 page 8, omit line 172£> page 8, line 18, for " (f)" reod " (e)"26 page 8, line 25, for "the giving" read "the manner of giving'27 page 10, line 9, for "proptsed' read "proposed"biu no 128 of 198<> - the representation of the people (amendment) bili^ 1988 a billfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1950 and thei representation oj the people act, 1951 'be it enacted by parliament in the thirty=ninth year of the republie of india as follows:— chapter i p reliminaryshort title wd com-(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint; and different dates 'may be appointed for different provisions of this act and any reference 10 in any provision to the comniencement of this act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision chapter ii am fncm ta^t of the reprf-sentation ok the people act, 19502 in part iia of the representation of the people act, 1950, after section 13c the following section shall be inserted, namely: —amendaeot of act 48of 1950"13cc ! he ofticers referred to in this part and any other officer 5 or staff employed in connection with the preparation, revision and correction of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections shall be deemed to be on deputation to the election commission for the period during which they are so employed and such officers and staff shall, during that period, be subject to the control, super- 10 intendence and discipline <f the election commission"  chapter iiichid slcctoral (mbcers district election ofbcers, etc, deemed to be on deputation to election commisiiaaa m en d m en ts of the r epresent^tion of thb p eople a ct 1951\inebd- bomi of •ectian 23 in section 2 of the representation of the people act, 1951 (here- 43ofirja after in this chapter referred to as the principal act), after clause (e), 13 the following clause shall be inserted, namely: —•{/) "political party" means an association or body of individual citizens of india registered with the election commission as a politi­cal party under section 29a;'4 in section 8 of the principal act,— 20•f mcliob<(a) for sub-sections (/) and <2), the following sub-sections shall be substituted, namely: —" (1) a person convicted of an offence punishable under—(o) section 153a (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence 23 language, etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) or section 171e ((rffence of bribery) or section 171f (ofltence of undue influence or personation at an elec­ tion) or sub-section (1) or sub-secti'»n (2) of section 376 or section 376a or section 376b or section 376c or section 376d (oltences relating to rape) 01 section 498a (offence of crudty towards a woman by husband or relative of a husband) or sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) of section 505 (statement creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes or offence relating to such statement in any place of 35 worship or in any assembly engaged in the performance of religious worship or religious cerenjonies) of the indian penal code; or(b) the protection of civil rights act 195& which pro­vides for punishment for the preaching and practice of ''untouchability'', and for the enforcement of any disability arising therefrom; or(c) section 11 (importing or exporting of profalmltd goods) of the customs act, 1962; or1m7 ^(d) sections 10 to 12 (offence of being a member of an association declared unlawful, offence relatinr; to dealing with funds of an unlawful association offence relating to contravention of an order made in respect of -a notified place) of the unlawful activities (prevention) act, 1967; orlik  1973(c) the foreign exchange (regulation) act, 1973; or1 of 1985(/) the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act, 1985; ori of 198710(g) section 3 (offence of committing terrorist acts) or section 4 (offence of committing disruptive activities) of the terrorist and disruptive activities (prevention) act, 1987; or13(h) section 125 (offence of promoting enmity between desses in connection with the election) or section 135 (remo­val of ballot papers from polling stations) or section 135a (offence of booth capturing) or clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 136 (offence of fraudulently defacing or fraudu­lently destroying any nomination paper) of this actshall be disqualified for a period of six years from the date of such conviction20(2) a person convicted by a court in india for the contra­vention of—(a) any law providing for the prevention of hoarding or profiteering; o r(b) any law relating to the adulteration of food or drugs;or258 of 1961(g) any provisions of the dowr>- prohibition act, 1961;or||if 1988(d) any provisions of the commission of sati (preven­tion) act 1987,and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than six months, shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a farther period of six years since his release35(3) a person convicted by a court in india for any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years [other than any offence referred to in sub-section (/) or sub-section (2)] shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release ";40(b) sub-section (5 ) shall be renumbered as sub-section (4) there­of, and in sub-section (4) as so renumbered, for the words, brackets and figures "in sub-section (/) and sub-section (2)" the words, brackets and figures "in sub-section (/), sub-section (2) or sub­section (3)" shall be substituted5 after section 28 of the principal act, the following section ahall be inserted, namely:—| inwrtioa   |     ||------------|-----|| of new     |     || mctioa     |     || 2ta       |     || rmurnioi   |     || ocbcer    |     || presiding  |     || offlc«r,   |     || etc,      |     || dmmad      |     || to b od   |     || d ^ u -    |     || tioato     |     || blactiaa   |     || com       |     |- "28a the returning officer, assistant returning officer, presid­ing officer, polling officer and any other officer appointed under this part, and any police officer designated for the time being by the 5 state government, for the conduct of any elections shall be deemed to be on deputation to the election commission for the period com­mencing on and from the date of the notification calling for auch elections and ending with the date of declaration of the results oi such elections and such officers shall, during that period, be subject 10 to the control, superintendence and discipline of the election commisbion''€ after part iv of the principal act, the following part shall be inserted, namely: —ibswlioaafsmrputiva "part iva r egistratiok of political pahtiks6onvithtbcomof29a (1) any association or body of individual citizens of india calling itself a political party and intending to avail itself of the provisions of tws part shall make an application to the election conrniission for its registration as a political party for the purposes 20 of this acf(2) every such application shall be made,—tiobbmdbodieamp^tiealparties(a) if the association or body is in existence at the commencement of the representation of the people (amendment) act; 1988 within thirty days next following such commence- 25 ment; im(b) if the association or body is formed after such com­mencement, within sixty days next following the date of its formation(3) every application under sub-section (1) shall be signed by 30 the chief executive officer of the association or body (whether such chief executive officer is known as secretary or by any other desig­nation) and presented to a secretary to ihe commission or sent to such secretary by registered post(4) every such application shall contain the following particulars, namely: —(a) the name of the association or body;(b) the state in which its head office is situate;(c) the address to which letters and other communications meant for it should be sent;(d) the names of its president, secretary, treasurer and other office-bearers;(c) the numerical strength of its members, and if there are categories of its members, the numerical strength in each category; (f) whether it has any local units; if so, at what levels;(g) whether it is represented by any member or members in either house of parliament or of any state legislature; if so, the number of such member or members10(5) the application under sub-section (4) shall be accompanied by a copy of the memorandum or rules and regulations' of the asso­ciation or body, by whatever name called, and such memorandum or rules and regulations shall contain a specific provision that the asso­ciation or body shall bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of india as by law established and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy, and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of india ■(c) the commission may call for such other particulars as may deem fit from the association or bodyit15(7) after considering all the particulars as aforesaid in its possession and any other necessary and relevant factors and afte giving the representatives of the association or body reasonable opportunity of being heard, the commission shall decide either to register the association or body as a political party for the purposes of this part, or not so to register it; and the commission shall com­municate its decision to the association or body:20provided that no association or body shall be registered as a political party under this sub-section unless the memorandum or rules and regulations of such association or bpdy conform to the provisions of sub-section (5)25(8) the decision of the commission shall be final(9) after an association or body has been registered as a poli­tical party as aforesaid, any change in its name, head office, oflscebearers, address or political principles, policies, aims and objects and any change in any other material matters shall be communicated to the commission without delay"307 in section 33 of the principal act, in sub-section (i), after the proviso, th® following proviso shall be inserted, namely: —amftudment «f section 3335trovided further that in the case of a local authorities' consti­tuency, graduates' constituency or teachers' constituency, the refere»ce to "an elector of the constituency as proposer" shall be construed as a reference to "ten per cent, of the electors of the constituency or ten such electors, whichever is less, as proposers"'amend­ment of saatira8 in section 39 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), in the proviso, clause (aa) shall be relettered as clause, (ob) thereof, and before clause^  (ab) as so relettered, the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—(oa) the reference in the opening paragraph of sub-section (1) of section 33 to "an elector of the constituency as proposer" shall be construed as a reference to "ten per cent, of the elected members or of the members of the legislative assembly of a state or of the m tm - bers of the electoral college of a union territory, as the case may be, or ten membei:s concerned, whichever is less, as proposers":provided that where as a result of the calculation of the per­centage referred to in this clause, the number of members arrived 3 at is a fraction, if the fraction so arrived at is more than one-half it shall be counted as one, and if the fraction so arrived at i« less than one-half it shall be ignored;'9 in section 58 of the principal act,—amend­ment of aaction s8(o) in sub-section (1), after clause (a), the following clause shall jq be inserted, nam ely:—" (laa) any voting machine develops a mechanical failure during the course of the recording of votes; or";(b) in sub-sectioo (2), in clause (b), after the words "result of the election or that", the words "the mechanical failtire of the voting 15 machine or" shall be inserted10 after section 58 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, nam ely:— i 'insertion of new section 58a58a (i) if at any election,— '(o) booth capturing has taken place at a polling station or 20 in such number of polling stations as is likely to affect the result of such election or that the result of the poll at that polling station cannot be ascertained; or adjoiunnentof poll or countermanding of election on th^ ground of boooi ci«>turing(b) booth capturing takes place in any place for counting of votes in such a manner that the result of the counting at that 25 place cannot be ascertainedthe returning officer shall forthwith report the m atter to the elec­tion commission(2) the election commission shall on the receipt of a report from the returjiing ofiicer under sub-section (i) and after taking all 30 material circumstances into account, either—(a) declare tha+ the poll at that polling station be void, ap­point a day, and fix the hours, for taking firesh poll at that polling station and notify the date so appointed and hours so fbced in such manner as it may deem fit; or 35(h) if satisfied that in view of the large number of polling stations involved in booth capturing the result of the election is likely to be affected or that booth capturing, had affected count­ing of votes in puch a manner as to affect the result of the election, countermand the election in that constituency- 40ex t innfition—in this section "booth capturing" shall have the same meaning as in section 135a'11 after section 61 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—inbertion of new section 61avotingmachinesatelections'61 a notwithstanding: anything contained in this act or the rules ^ made thereunder, the giving and recordhig of votes by voting machi­nes in such manner as may be prescribed, may be ad t^ed  in such constituency or constituencies as the election commission may, having regard to the circumstances of each case, specify-explanation—for the purpose of this section, "voting machine" means any machine or apparatus whether operated electronically or10 otherwise used for giving or recording of votes and any reference toa ballot box or ballot paper in this act or the rules made thereundershall, save as otherwise provided, be construed as including a refer­ence to such voting machine wherever such voting machine is used at any election'15 12 in section 77 of the principal act, in sub-section (1), explanation2 shall be omittedamend­ment ot section 7713, in section 123 of the principal act,— amendm sntof(a) after clause (7) and before the explanation, the following section clause shall be inserted, namely:— 12320 " (8) booth capturing by a candidate or his agent c^r l»y otherperson";(b) in the explanation, after clause (3), the following clause shall be inserted, namely; —'(4) for the purposes of clause (8) '"booth capturing" shall 25 have the same meaning as in section 135aamend­ ment of section 12714 in section 127 of the principal act, in sub-section (1), for the words ' shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred and fifty rupees", the words "shall be pimishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine which may extend30 to one thousand rupees or with both" shall be substituted15 after section 135 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:— iinsertionofnewsecti<mi135a35offenceofbootfecapturing'135a whoever commits an offence of booth capturing shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years and with fine, and where such offence is committed by a person in the service of the government, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to three years and with fineexplanation— ^for the purposes of this section, "booth capturing" includes, among other things, all or any of the following activitie, namdy;— |(a) seizure of a polling station by any person or persons, making polling authorities surrender the ballot papers ox voting 5 machines and doing of any other act which affects the orderly conduct of elections; |(b) taking possession of a polling station by any person or persons and allowing only his or their own supporters to exer­cise their right to vote and prevent others from voting; 10(c) threatening any elector and preventing him from going tc the polling station to cast his vote;(d) seizure of a place for counting of votes by any person or persons, making the counting authorities surrender the ballot papers or voting machines and the doing of anything which affects 15 orderly counting of ballot papers;(e) taking possession of a place for counting of votes;(/) doing by any person in the service of government, of all or any of the aforesaid activities or aiding or conniving at, any such activity in the furtherance of the prospects of the jq election of a candidate'1 61 section im of the principal act, in sub-section (2) ,—(i) after clause (c), the following clause shall be inserted, n a m e ly :-" (ee) the ^ving and recording of votes by means of voting 25 m adiines and the procedure as to voting to be followed at pol­ling stations where such machines are used;";(ii) after clause (g), the following clause shall be insertad, nam ely:—" (fifjr) the procedure as to counting of votes recorded by 30 means of voting machines;";(iti) in clause (h), for the words "ballot boxes", the words "ballot boxes, voting machines" shall be substituted-the election law, se far as elections to the parliament and state legislature are concerned, is contidn^d ih the ref>^^efttatioh of the people act 1950 and the reprtsejtitation of the p ^ l e  act, 1991 the forliier d ^ ls  with the tnstters pertaining to dlfictions prior to th stage of actual elections and the latter deals with the ic tu d  conduct of elwtions and all matters connected therewith these two acts have been aih^hded periodically in order to bring about improvements tii the electloft system in the light of the experience gdirted in the working of these acts2 our election system has stood the test of time several rounds of electioris artd by-elections hare been held by the election commissioh and the poll has, on the whole, been fr^e and fair thi people of ifsdia have also ^howti considerable mattirity in exfercising their right of fftlnchim3 the question of introducing electoral reforms and making suitable changes in the election law to prevent the occurrence of corrupt prac­tices which vitiate the conduct of free and fair elections, have been under consideration for some time now the experience gained over the years, also emphasises the need for further strengthening the mcftsures for ensuring free and fair elections tlie le c tio n  commlssnm has also forwarded several proposals for electoral reforms4 the various proposals for electoral refortns wete widely debated government were keen to bring about necestery elector^ reiorms - consultations were held with the political parties in order to a ^ rta in  their specific views in the matter keeping in view the various sugges­tions, it has been decided to bring about amendments in the existing election laws i5 the proposals contained in the present bill are briefly explained b<^low: —(>) at present, all the work relating to the preparation, revision and correction of the electoral rolls and the actual conduct of elec­tions, is carried out by the designated oflrcers of the state govern­ments concerned it is felt that the provisions of the rerresentation of the people act, 1950 and the representation of the people act 1951 in this regard should be clearly defined so that during the relevant period, these officers would, while discharging functions relating to elections, be under the control, superintendence and dis­cipline of the election commission(ii) at present, there is no statutory definition of political p u ty  in the election law the recognition of a political party and the allotment of symbols for each party are presently regulated under tiie election symbols (reservation and allotment) order, '§ 68 it is felt that the election law should define political party and lay down the procedure for its registration it is also felt that the poli­tical parties should be required to include a specific provision in the memorandum or rules or regulations governing their functioning that they would fully be committed to and abide by the principles enshrined in the preamble to the constitution(iii) section 8 of the representation of the people act, 1951, deals with disqualification on the ground of copviction for c e r t ^  offences it is proptsed to include more offences in this section so as to prevent persons having criminal record enter into public life(iv) for the purpose of preventing frivolous candidates in res­pect of election to the council of states and the legislative council of states, it is proposed to increase the number of proposers to ten per cent, of the total electorate or ten proposers, whichever is less(w) technology has made very rapid strides thereby favourably affecting several fields of human activity and leading to betterment all roimd it is felt that appropriate modem electronic processes should be deployed, side by side, with the existing conventional sys­tems in the w ting process since the representation of the people act, 1951 specifically makes mention only of the ballot paper s3rstem of voting, it is proposed to make suitable amendments in the act in order to facilitate the use of electronic voting machines(vi) booth capturing and rigging of elections had been on the increase in the recent past this evil practice takes different forms, ranging from physical threat to the voter to forcible occupation o£ polling stations a large part of our electorate consists of people who are poor and also belong to weaker sections of the society it is, therefore, necessary to deal mith this evil firmly the election law, as it stands, does not contain any provisions to deal with this offence it has, therefore, been propos^ to include specific and penal provisions in the representation of the people act, 1951, to deal with this offence and to make it also as a corrupt practice(rii) the present penalty for disturbing election meetings is only a meagre fine of rs 250/- it is proposed to modify this pro­vision by providing for a term  of imprisonment for three months and also enhance the quantum of the fine to rs 1,000/-(viii) the bill also includes certain consequential amendmentsn ew  d elhi; b shankaranandthe 9th december, 1988clause 11 of the bill seeks to insert a new section in the representa­tion of the people act, 1951, to facilitate the polling of votes by voting: machines in addition to the existing ballot paper system2, k the bill is fnacted and brought into operation resulting in the introduction of the electronic voting machines, an additional expeiditure from the consolidated fund of india is likely it is proposed that the machines may be introduced in the first phase, in consatuencies identified as sensitive by the election commission such constituen­cies may nxmiber about 150 the electronic voting machine is produced indigenously and as per present estimates each machijie is likely to cost about rs 5,000 the total expenditure likely for introducing the elect­ronic voting machines in all these sensitive constituencies would be of the order of rs 75 crores if the electronfb voting machines are to be introduced in all the polling stations of the country, then the total financial burden will be about rs- 250 crores the machines have a fairly long life of 18 to 20 years and may require only a negligible am­ount for annual maintenance-3 the bill if enacted and brought into operation would not involve any other expenditure either recurring or non-recurringclavise 16 of the bill seeks to amend section 169 of the representation of the people act, 1951 relating to powers of the central government to make rules the additional matters being included in sub-se(?tion(2) of section 169 in relation to which rules may be made inter alia relate to the giving and recording of votes by means of voting machines and tlie procedure as to voting to be followed at polling stations where such machines will be used; the procedure as to counting of votes re­corded by means of voting machines and the safe custody ci the voting machines \2 the matters in respect of which rules may be made are matters relating to procedure and detail and it may not be practicable to pro­vide them in the bui itself the delegation of legislative power is therefore, of a normal character e x tra c ts from  th e  represem tation op th e  pmplk act, 1951 (43 op 1951) [10] m c2- interpretation— (j) in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—8 disqu9lific«tion on conviction for certain offences—(1) a per­son convicted of an offence punishable under section 153a or section 171e or section 171f or sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) of section 505 of the indian penal gjde (46 of 1860), or under the protection of civil rights act, 1955 (22 of 1955) or under section 125 or section 135 or clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 136 of this act shall be disqualified for a period of six years from the date of such conviction(2) a person convicted by a court in india for any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be dis­qualified from the date of such conviction and shall c<mtinue to be disqualified for a further period of five yearg since hi$ r^ease:provided that a person convicted by a court in india for the con­travention of any law providing for the prevention of hoarding or pro­ fiteering or of adulteration of food or drugs and gentenced to impri­sonment for not less than six months shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of five years since his release-(3) notwithstanding anything in sub-section (2) and sub-section (2), a disqualification under either sub-section shall not, in the case of a person who on the date of the conviction is a member of parliament or the legislature of a state, take effect until three months have elap­sed from that date or, if within that period an appeal or application for revision is brought in respect of the conviction or the sentence, until that appeal or application is disposed of by the court 39 nomination of candidates at other elections — (j)  (2) the provisions of sections 31 to 38, excluding sub-sections (2) and (5) of section 33 and clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section34 shall apply in telation to any such election as they apply in rela­ tion to an election in any constituency;provided that— 58 fresh poll in the case of destruction, etc, of ballot boxes— (1) if at any election,— i(a) any ballot box used at a polling station or at a place fixed for the poll is unlawfully taken out of the custody of the presiding officer or the returning officer, or is accidentally or intentionally destroyed or lost, or is damaged or tampered with, to such an extent, that the result of the poll at that polling station or place cannot be ascertained, or i(b) any such error or irregularity in procedure as is likely to vitiate the poll is committed at a polling station or at a place fixed for the poll, the returning officer shall forthwith report tlie m atter to the election commission ,(2) thereupon the election commission shall, after taking all materi­al circumstances into account, either—i(b) if satisfied that the result of a fresh poll at that polling station or place will not, in any wiay, affect the result of the election or that the error or irregularity in procedure is not material, issue such directions to the returning officer as it may deem proper for the further conduct and completion of the election127 dtslurbaiices of election meetings - (1) any person who at a public meeting to which this section applies acts, or incites others to act, in a disorderly m anner for the purpose of preventing the transac­tion of the business for which the meeting was called together, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred and fifty rupees169 power to make rules—(1) - • - •(2) in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide f(w all or any of the follow­ing matters, namely:—(h) the safe custody of ballot boxes,, ballot papers and other election papers, the period to r which stich paper shall be pieserved and the inspection and production of such papers; a billfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1950 and the representation of the people act 1951{shrr b slutnkaranand, minister o / law and justice)