bill no lii of 2008 the representation of the people (second amendment) bill, 2008 a billfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1950  and the representation of the people act, 1951be it enacted by parliament in the fifty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:— chapter i preliminary1 (1) this act may be called the representation of the people (second amendment)act, 2008short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint chapter ii amendments to the representation of the people act, 19502 in section 24 of the representation of the people act, 1950,—43 of 1950amendment of section 24(i) in clause (a), for the words "chief electoral officer", the words "district magistrate or additional district magistrate" shall be substituted;(ii) after clause (a), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—"(b) to the chief electoral officer, from any order of the district magistrate or the additional district magistrate under clause (a)  above"43 of 1950amendment of the second schedule3 in the second schedule to the representation of the people act, 1950, against serial number 18 relating to the state of mizoram, in column 7, for the entry "38", the entry "39" shall be substituted chapter iii amendments to the representation of the people act, 195143 of 1951amendment of section 8a4 in the representation of the people act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), in sub-section (1) of section 8a, for the words "as soon as may be after such order takes effect", the words "as soon as may be within a period of three months from the date such order takes effect" shall be substituted5 in section 34 of the principal act, in sub-section (1),—amendment of section 34(i) in clause (a), for the words "a sum of  ten thousand rupees or where the candidate is a member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, a sum of  five thousand rupees", the words "a sum of  twenty-five thousand rupees or where the candidate is a member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, a sum of  twelve thousand five hundred rupees" shall be substituted;(ii) in clause (b), for the words "a sum of  five thousand rupees or where the candidate is a member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, a sum of  two thousand five hundred rupees", the words "a sum of  ten thousand rupees or where the candidate is a member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, a sum of  five thousand rupees" shall be substituted 6 in section 123 of the principal act, in clause (7),—amendment of section 123(i) for the words "from any person in the service of the government", the words"from any person whether or not in the service of the government" shall be substituted;(ii) after sub-clause (g), the following sub-clause shall be inserted, namely:—"(h) class of persons in the service of a local authority, university, government company or  institution or concern or undertaking appointed or deputed by the election commission in connection with the conduct of elections:"48 of 19517 after section 126 of the representation of the people act, 1951, the following sections shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new sections 126a and126b126a (1) no person shall conduct any exit poll and publish or publicise by means of the print or electronic media or disseminate in any other manner, whatsoever, the result of any exit poll during such period, as may be notified by the election commission in this regardrestriction on publication and dissemination of result of exit polls, etc(2) for the purposes of sub-section (1), the election commission shall, by a general order, notify the date and time having due regard to the following, namely:— (a)   in case of a general election, the period may commence from the beginning of the hours fixed for poll on the first day of poll and continue till half an hour after closing of the poll in all the states and union territories;(b) in case of a bye-election or a number of bye elections held together, the period may commence from the beginning of the hours fixed for poll on from the first day of poll and continue till half  an hour after closing of the poll:provided that in case of a number of bye-elections held together on different days, the period may commence from the beginning of the hours fixed for poll on the first day of poll and continue till half an hour after closing of the last poll (3) any person who contravenes the provisions of this section shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with bothexplanation—  for the purposes of this section,—(a) ''exit poll'' means an opinion survey respecting how electors have voted at an election or respecting how all the electors have performed with regard to the identification of a political party or candidate in an election;(b) ''electronic media'' includes internet, radio and television including internet protocol television, satellite, terrestrial or cable channels, mobile and such other media either owned by the government or private person or by both;(c) ''print media'' includes any newspaper, magazine or periodical, poster, placard, handbill or any other document;(d) ''dissemination'' includes publication in any 'print media' or broadcast or display on any electronic mediaoffences by companies126b (1) where an offence under sub-section (2) of section 126a has been committed by a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to the company for the conduct of, the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and  punished accordingly:provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment provided in this act if he proves that the offence was committed without his   knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence(2)   notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordinglyexplanation— for the purpose of this section,—(a) "company" means any body corporate, and includes a firm or other association of individual; and(b) "director" in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm' statement of objects and reasons0in any parliamentary form of government and in a democracy, the process of election has to be free, fair and equitable during the years, it has been felt that it is necessary to take some need-based measures to remove certain loopholes noticed in the representation of the people act, 1950 (43 of 1950) and the representation of the people act, 1951 (43 of 1951) in july, 2004, the election commission of india had forwarded a set of 22 proposals on electoral reforms to the government for consideration2 while considering the proposals of the election commission, it was considered appropriate to examine certain proposals in respect of the electoral reforms the following five proposals have been examined by the government which relates to amendments of the aforesaid acts of 1950 and 1951 the said amendments are as follows:—(a) the representation of the people act, 1950:—appointment of the appellate authority within the district against the orders of the electoral registration officers (amendment of section 24);(b) the representation of the people act, 1951:—(i) simplification of procedure for disqualification of a person found guilty of corrupt practices (specifying a time limit in section 8a);(ii) increase in the security deposit of the candidates nominated for elections (amendment of section 34);(iii) inclusion in section 123(7) of all officials appointed in connection with the conduct of elections so as to bring them within the ambit of corrupt practices, if they indulge in furtherance of the prospects of the candidates at elections; and(iv) restricting the publication of results of all exit polls by whatever means till the last poll in an election is held, by insertion of new sections 126a and 126b this is considered necessary due to the complexities of the election process, which is increasing day-by-day, and as such elections are being held in several phases in such staggering of election schedules over a large period of time it is felt that the telecast of exit polls after each phase of polling affects the outcome in the subsequent phase of elections  it is believed that such telecast of exit polls affect the turnout of voters' also4 the representation of the people (second amendment) bill, 2008 seeks to achieve the above said objectivesnew delhi;                                                                                                hans raj bhardwajthe 20th october, 2008 annexure extract from the representation of the people act, 1950 (43 of 1950)    24 an appeal shall lie with such time and such manner as may be prescribed—appeals(a) to the chief electoral officer, from any order of the electoral registration officer under section 22 or section 23    the second schedule(see sections 7 and 7a)total number of seats in the legislative assembliesname of the state/number of seats in the housenumber of seats in the houseunion territoryas constituted on the basis ofas subsequently constitutedthe delimitation of parliamentaryas per the delimitation ofand assembly constituenciesparliamentary and assemblyorder, 1976 as amended fromconstituencies order, 2008time to timetotalreservedreservedtotolreservedreservedfor thefor thefor thefor thescheduled scheduledscheduled scheduledcastestribescastestribes12345671 states:18  mizoram40394038     extracts from the representation of the people act, 1951 (43 of 1951)|     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|-----|disqualification on ground of corrupt practices8a (1) the case of every person found guilty of a corrupt practice by an order under section 99 shall be submitted, as soon as may be after such order takes effect, by such authority as the central government  may specify in this behalf, to the president for determination of the question as to whether such person shall be disqualified and if so,  for what period:provided that the period for which any person may be disqualified under this subsection shall in no case exceed six years from the date on which the order made in relation to him under section 99 takes effect     deposits34 (1) a candidate shall not be deemed to be duly nominated for election from a constituency unless he deposits or causes to be deposited,—(a) in the case of an election from a parliamentary constituency, a sum of ten thousand rupees or where the candidate is a member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, a sum of five thousand rupees; and(b)  in the case of an election from an assembly or council constituency, a sum of five thousand rupees or where the candidate is a member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, a sum of two thousand five hundred rupees: provided that where a candidate has been nominated by more than one nomination paper for election in the same constituency, not more than one deposit shall be required of him under this sub-section      part vii corrupt  practice  and  electoral  offences chapter i—corrupt practicescorrupt practices123 the following shall be deemed to be corrupt practices for the purposes of this act,—     (7) the obtaining or procurring or attempting to obtain or procure by a candidate or his agent or, by any other person with the consent of a candidate or his election agent any assistance (other than the giving of vote) for the furtherance of the prospects of that candidate's election, from any person in the service of the government and belonging to any of the following classes, namely:—(a) gazetted officers; (b)  stipendiary judges and magistrates; (c)  memebrs of the armed forces of the union; (d) members of the police forces; (e) excise officers;(f) revenue officers other than village revenue officers known as lambardars, malguzars, patels, deshmukhs or by any other name, whose duty is to collect land revenue and who are remunerated by a share of, or commission on, the amount of land revenue collected by them but who do not discharge any police functions; and(g) such other class of persons in the service of the government as may be prescribed: provided that where any person, in the service of the government and belonging to any of the classes aforesaid, in the discharge or purported discharge of his official duty, makes any arrangements or provides any facilities or does  any other or thing, for, to, or in relation to, any candidate or his agent or any other person acting with the consent of the candidate or his election agent (whether by reason of the office held by the candidate or for any other reason), such arrangements, facilities or act or thing shall not be deemed to be assistance for the furtherance of the prospects of that candidate's election     ———— a billfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1950 and the representation of the people act, 1951————(shri hans raj bhardwaj, minister of law and justice)gmgipmrnd—3633rs(s5)—23102008