AMENDMENT TO CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS RULES PROMULGATED

RIGHT TO INFORMATION FOR VOTERS PROVIDED

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The Government has issued a notification amending the Conduct of Elections Rules 1961 to provide for information to be furnished by candidates under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. It may be recalled that the Representation of the People (Amendment) Ordinance, 2002 was issued on August 24, 2002. It amended the Representation of the People Act, 1951 to provide statutory right to information for the benefit of the voters to enable them to make choice about a candidate.

Section 33 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 already empowers the Central Government to prescribe the form of nomination papers to be filed by the candidates to elections to the Union Legislature or the State Legislatures. However, the existing nomination form does not provide for any information to be given by a candidate either relating to his conviction under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 or any other information relating to criminal cases. The combined effect of the Ordinance and the Notification would be:

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1. A candidate to an election to the Union Legislature or State Legislature would be required to furnish information regarding his conviction, if any, under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. It may be recalled that this Section disqualifies a person from contesting election and for being a member of the Legislature if he is convicted for certain specified offences.

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2. By virtue of the newly inserted Section 33A, apart from the above information, a candidate would be required to furnish information regarding (a) as to whether he has been accused of any offence punishable with imprisonment for two years or more in a pending case in which a charge has been framed, and (b) as to whether he has been convicted for an offence (other than those mentioned in Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951) or sentenced to imprisonment for one year or more. .

It may also be mentioned that although in 1997, the Election Commission of India has issued instructions to the candidates for providing information regarding any conviction for an offence. Later on, it had revised the affidavit to be furnished by the candidates, confining information only in relation to conviction under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The notification issued by the Government in consultation with the Election Commission of India would now provide statutory basis for the information to be given by a candidate for which the Election Commission has issued instructions in exercise of its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution in 1998.

The notification issued by the Government also prescribes the form of affidavit to be given by the candidates for providing information under newly inserted Section 33A in the Representation of the People Act, 1951.