Context: Government is looking into the possibility of allowing non-resident Indians to vote online. Current procedure for voting of overseas voters: Prior to 2010, an Indian citizen who was an eligible voter and had lived in another country for more than six months could not vote in elections. After the Representation of the People (Amendment) …
Who is a Star Campaigner? A star campaigner can be described as persons who are nominated by parties to campaign in a given set of constituencies. These persons are, in almost all cases, prominent and popular faces within the party. There is no specific definition according to law or the Election Commission of India. Star …
Context: Law and Justice Minister told the Rajya Sabha that the Centre was not planning on amending the Representation of the People Act, 1951 to enable a common electoral roll and simultaneous elections to all electoral bodies in the country. What is the Common Electoral Roll? Under the Common Electoral Roll, only one voter list will be used for Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and other elections. …
Read basics of Electoral Bonds from Prelims Notes. Arguments against Electoral Bonds Scheme: Anything but transparent: Ensuring citizens have access to information is an essential feature of a democracy. But the electoral bond scheme has tainted the democratic process, by destroying the notion of transparency in political funding. No obligation on parties: The parties and …
Electoral Bonds : Need for Judicial Intervention – UPSC GS2 Read More »
Context: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to seize the election symbol or deregister a political party that promises or distributes “irrational freebies” from public funds before elections. Freebies in Indian Politics: Political parties promise to offer free electricity/water supply, monthly allowance to unemployed, daily wage workers and …
Current Process of appointment of EC and CEC: The Chief election commissioner and other ECs are appointed by the President on recommendations of the central government. This raises a question of partisan behaviour of officials towards the ruling party. Appointment of Election Commissioners falls within the purview of Article 324(2) of the Constitution. Although the …
Need to reform selection process of Election Commission – UPSC GS2 Read More »
New Expenditure Limits: Election Commission has raised the expenditure limit of candidates as follows: Lok Sabha Elections: Rs 95 lakh up from Rs 70 lakh Assembly Elections: Large States: Rs 40 lakh up from Rs 28 lakh Small States: Rs 28 lakh up from Rs 20 lakh Such changes are made by amending the Conduct of Elections Rules. Facts: …
Context: A letter written by the Law Ministry states that the Principal Secretary to PM ‘expects‘ the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to be present during a discussion. EC’s independence and credibility has come into question in the recent phase of state elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Kerala. The Madras High Court blamed …
Key electoral reforms approved by the Cabinet: Linking Aadhaar with electoral roll Linking of the Aadhaar Card with the Voter ID will be allowed on a voluntary basis. This will help remove duplication and strengthen the sanctity of the electoral rolls. Voting by Special Procedure Gender Neutral Currently, an Army man’s wife is entitled to be …
Representation of People Act Amendment 2021 – UPSC GS2 Read More »
Context: The SC asked ECI “to create a dedicated mobile application containing information published by candidates regarding their criminal antecedents”. The supreme court observed that criminalisation in the Indian political system is growing day by day. The Court also observed that “Persons involved in the criminalisation of the political system should not be permitted to …