 8m no 29 of 1989 the representation of the people (amendment) bill, 1989a bill further to amend the representation of the people act, 1950 be it enacted by parliament in the fortieth year of the republic of india as follows:-short title 43 fil 1'50 ameddment ofaectioo 9~ 1 this act may be called the representation of the people (amendment) act, 1989 5 2 in section 9 of the representation of the people act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), after clause (a), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-"(aa) make such amendments in the delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies order, 1976 as appear to it to be 10 necessary or expedient for consolidating with that order any notification or order relating to delimitation of parliamentary or assembly constituencies '(including reservation of sleats for the scheduled castes or the scheduled tribes in such constituencies) issued under any central act;" ameocl mento{ section 14 15 3 in section 14 of the principal act, to clause (b), the following proviso shall be added, and shall be deemed to have been so added with effect from the 28th day of march, 1989 namely:-'provided that "qualifying date", in relation to the preparation or revision of every electoral roll under this part in the year 1989 shall 20 be the 1st day of april, 1989' 4 in section 19 of the principal act, in clause (a), for the words "twenty-one years", the words "eighteen years" shall be substituted, and shan be deemed to have been so substituted with effect from the 28th day of march, 1989 i 5 in the fourth schedule to the principal act, under the heading 5 "mahatashtra", the entry "3 town committees" shall be omitted 6 all things done and all steps taken, before the commencement at this section in relation to the preparation or revision of electoral rolls under part iii of the principal act in the year 1989 shall, in so far as they are in conformity with the provisions of the principal act, as 10 amended by sections 3 and 4 of this act, be deemed to have been done or taken under the principal act as amended by those sections as if the principal act as so amended was in force at the time such things were done or such steps were taken  statement of objects and reasonsthe constitution (sixty-first amendment) act, 1988 is an historic step in reducing the age of voting from 21 to 18 years and thus providing opportunity of participation to younger generation in the functioning of parliamentary demooracy it has, therefore, as a consequential measure, become necessary to amend the representation of the people act, 1950 2 the election commission started the process of revision of electoral rolls covering all those who have now become eligible to vote for this purpose, 1st of april, 1989 has been proposed to be the qualifying date it is, therefore, necessary to amend section 14 of the 1950-act and to validate the actions taken by the election commission in this regard it is also necessary that section 19 of the 1900-act should be amended to provide 18 years as the voting age 3 opportunity is also being availed of to amend section 9 of the 1950-act for empowering the election commission to consolidate all information relating to delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies it is also proposed to omit the reference to 'town committees in the fourth schedule to the 1950-act so as to keep the same in conformity with the maharashtra municipalities act, 1965 4 the bill seeks to achieve the above objects new delhi; b shankaranand the 30th march, 1989 - - - - 9 (1) the election cqmmission may, fr~,m time to ual" ,by ~otiftca· tion published in the gazette of india and in the official gazette of the state coneemed,-- - - - - power of election commission to maid tam delimitation order up-todate  part iii electoral rolls for assembly oonstituencdsdefini-hons 14 in this part, unless the context otherwise requires,-- - - - - (b) "q\ullifying date", in relatioll to the preparation or revision of every electoral roll under this part, means the 1st day of january of the year in which it is so prepared or revised - - - - - 19 subject to the foregoing provisions of this part, every person who-conditiod8 of regiatration - (a) is not less than twenty-one years of age on the qualifying date, and - - - -  the fourth schedule[see section 27 (2)] local authorities for purposes of elections to legislative councils - - - - - maharashtra - - - - - 3 town committees - - - - - t; 4  a billfurther to amend the representation cf the people act 1950 (shri b shankaranand, minister of law and justice) 