Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act, 1950

Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1950

• Key Provisions
  • Lays down procedures for delimitation of constituencies.
  • Provides for the allocation of seats in the House of the People and in the Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Councils of States.
  • Lays procedure for the preparation of electoral rolls and the manner of filling seats.
  • Lays down the qualification of voters.
• Delimiting Constituencies
  • The President of India has been conferred the power to amend orders delimiting constituencies, only after consulting the ECI.
  • In Lok Sabha, there is a reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
  • The ECI has the power to determine the constituencies to be reserved for scheduled tribes in the states of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.
• Allocation of seats: As far as possible, every state gets representation in the Lok Sabha in proportion to its population as per census figures.
• Electoral Rolls
• The 1950 Act permits the registration of persons in electoral rolls who are ordinarily resident n a constituency and persons holding:
  • Service qualification such as a member of armed forces, member of the armed police force of a state, serving outside the state, or central government employees posted outside India.
  • Certain offices in India declared by the President in consultation with ECI.
  • The wives of such persons are also deemed to be ordinarily residing in India. There is a proposal for making some provisions gender-neutral by replacing the term ‘wife’ with ‘spouse’.
• Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)
  • Each state to have a CEO nominated or designated by the ECI in consultation with the state government to supervise the election work in the State/ UTs.
  • The ECI also nominates or designates an officer of the state as the District Election Officer (DEO)in consultation with the state government
    • The DEO works under the overall superintendence and control of the CEO.
  • Electoral Registration Officer (ERO)
    • The ERO is responsible for the preparation of the electoral roll for each constituency (parliamentary/assembly).
    • An appeal against the order of the ERO during the update of the electoral rolls now lies with District Magistrate.
  • Returning Officer(RO)
    • RO is responsible for the conduct of the election in a constituency and returns an elected candidate.
    • The ECI nominates or designates an officer of the government or local authority as the RO in consultation with the state government.
  • Power to make rules under the act is conferred to the Central government, which can exercise this power in consultation with the ECI.
    • The Civil Courts have also been barred to question the legality of any action of the ERO regarding revision of electoral rolls.
  • Voting Rights: In 2010, voting rights were extended to citizens of India living abroad.