 bill no 10  of  2011 the representation of the people (amendment) bill, 2011 byshri l rajagopal, mpabillfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1951be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-second year of the republic of india as follows:—1  (1) this act may be called the representation of the people (amendment) act,2011short title, extent and commencement5(2) it extends to the whole of india(3) it shall come into force with immediate effectamendment of section 743 of 19512  in section 7 of the representation of the people act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), after clause (a), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—10"(aa) the expression "bandh", "dharna" and "rasta roko" means use of force,intimidation or physical or mental coercion aimed at restricting or curtailing free movement of the people and the vehicles including public transport or closure of shops, offices or business establishments by use of force;"amendment of section 83  in section 8 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), after clause (c), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—"(d) any law relating to organizing of "bandh", "dharna" or "rasta roko""54  after section 29c of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section 29d10"29d notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, if the commission is satisfied that a political party, recognized either as a national party or as a state party, has organized or given a call for bandh, dharna or rasta roko, the commission may, after taking into account all the available facts and circumstances and after giving the party a reasonable opportunity of showing cause, either suspend, subject to such terms as the commission may deem appropriate, or withdraw the registration and recognition of such party"power of commission to suspend or withdraw recognition of a registered political party for organizing bandh, dharna or rasta roko statement of objects and reasonsindia is a democratic country and in democracy every citizen has a right to express his/her point of view but, at the same time, there are ways and means to ventilate grievances or points of view the indian constitution does not allow violence or permits anyone to obstruct freedom of others or prevent others to enjoy their rights or destroy public/private property article 51a(i) imposes a fundamental duty on every citizen of this country to safeguard public property and to abjure violencepolitical parties, ngos, individuals and many other organisations now-a-days, resort to bandhs, dharnas or rasta rokos for each and every  grievance in order to express their displeasure or discontent against the decisions of the government even though they have every right to register their protest, unfortunately, individuals and political parties are going to the extent of forcefully obstructing general public from performing their day-today duties, forcing shopkeepers or business establishments to close their shops/offices or creating an atmosphere which force public transport  to stay off the roads or prevent vehicluar traffic from plying on the roads these kinds of coercive methods are not only causing a lot of inconvenience to people but also loss to the tune of crores of rupees to  the government the political parties are not concerned about people but about the political mileage they would get out of such activitiesover a decade ago, the supreme court, in a landmark verdict, held that calls for bandhs  are ''illegal and unconstitutional''  means of protest in 1998, a three-judge bench headed by the then chief justice of india, js verma upheld a kerala high court ruling banning bandhs but political parties continue to call for bandhs  thereby disrupting  public life and trampling on basic fundamental rights of citizens who are not participating in bandhsin  september, 2005, the supreme court again made its view clear when it directed the shiv sena and the bjp to first pay rupees twenty lakh each as the fine imposed on them by the bombay high court in 2004 for having called a mumbai bandh the previous year the apex court came down on political parties heavily for organizing bandhs and holding society to ransomin view of the above, the bill seeks to amend the representation of the people act,1951 with a view to disqualify from contesting elections the individuals who give call for  or participate in bandh, dharna or rasta roko upon conviction and also for deregistration and derecognition of national or state parties if they are involved in bandh, dharna or rasta rokothe bill seeks to achieve above objectivenew delhi;l rajagopalfebruary 3, 2011 annexure extract from the representation of the people act, 1951      part ii qualification and disqualifications      chapter iii— disqualifications for  membership of parliament and state legislaturesdefinition7 in this chapter,—(a) ''appropraite government''  means in relation to any disqualification for being chosen as or for being a member of either house of parliament, the central government, and in relation to any disqualification for being chosen as or for being a member of the legislative assembly or legislative council of a state, the state government;     definition8 (1)  a person convicted of an offence punishable under—     (2)  a person convicted for the contravention of —(a)   (b)   (c)  any provisions of the dowry prohibition act, 1961 (28 of 1961); 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 further period of six years since his release      lok  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1951————(shri l rajagopal, mp)gmgipmrnd—6355ls(s3)—25-02-2011