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Section 19 in The Presidential And Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952
19.
/871Statement of Objects and Reasons.-Article 54 of the Constitution provides that the President of India shall be elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of (a) the elected members of both Houses of Parliament, and (b) the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States, and article 55 prescribes the manner in which the election shall be held. Article 66 provides that the Vice-President shall be elected by the members of both Houses of Parliament assembled at a joint meeting. Article 71 (1) lays down that doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with the election of a President or Vice-President shall be inquired into and decided by the Supreme Court. Article 71(3) authorises Parliament to regulate by law, subject to the provisions of the Constitution, any matter relating to or connected with the election of a President or Vice-President.The Bill seeks to provide for the conduct of elections to the offices of President and Vice-President, the decision of disputes arising out of or in connection with such elections, the corrupt practices and other offences at or in connection with such elections and other ancillary matters.Amendment Act 5 of 1974-Statement of Objects and Reasons.-Experience has revealed that persons offer themselves as candidates to the highest office of President without even a remote chance of getting elected. Another matter which is of equal, if not greater concern, is the light-hearted manner in which persons resort to a Court of law for challenging the election to the office of the Head of the State. It is found that the absence of some minimum safeguards in the provisions of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, encourages persons to do so. It is, therefore, considered necessary to amend the Act to make the following provisions, namely:-(1) A prospective Presidential candidate should get the support of at least forty electors of whom at least twelve electors shall be members of Parliament and at least twenty-four shall be members of State Legislative Assemblies. A prospective Vice-Presidential candidate should get the support of at least ten electors.(2) A prospective candidate should deposit a sum of two thousand five hundred rupees, which amount shall be liable to be forfeited in case the candidate fails to secure one-sixth of the number of votes necessary to secure the return of a candidate.(3) There should be a minimum of forty electors joined together as petitioners for challenging an election to the office of President and of these forty electors at least twelve should be members of Parliament and at least twenty-four should be members of the State Legislative Assemblies. There should be a minimum of ten electors joined together as petitioners for challenging an election to the office of the Vice-President.(4) The ground relating to the offence of bribery or undue influence for challenging an election to the office of President or Vice-President should be omitted altogether.(5) The fact that the nomination of any candidate (other than the successful candidate) who has not withdrawn his candidature has been wrongly accepted should no longer constitute a ground for declaring the election of a candidate to be void unless such acceptance has materially affected the result of the election.2. The opportunity is being taken to make certain other amendments which have been suggested by the Election Commission and which are explained in the notes on clauses.Amendment Act 20 of 1977-Statement of Objects and Reasons.-Prior to the Constitution (Thirty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1975, article 71 as it then stood, specifically provided that doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with the election of a President or Vice-President shall be inquired into and decided by the Supreme Court whose decision shall be final. New article 71 substituted by the Constitution (Thirty-ninth Amendment) Act, however, empowered Parliament to constitute an authority or body for inquiring into and deciding doubts and disputes relating to Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections and further provided that the decision of such authority or body shall not be called in question by any Court.On the 3rd February, 1977, the President promulgated an Ordinance to amend the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, so as to substitute a new part for Part III of that Act providing for the setting up of an authority consisting of nine members-three to be nominated by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha-one of whom shall be the Chief Justice or retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and another a person having knowledge of election law, three to be elected by the Lok Sabha and the remaining three to be elected by the Rajya Sabha. In addition to this substantive provision constituting the authority, the Ordinance contained certain other provisions relating to procedure and matters of detail. In that Ordinance the scope and amplitude of the offences of bribery and undue influence were circumscribed so that those expressions would not have the meanings assigned to them in Chapter IX-A of the Indian Penal Code, but would be merely corrupt practices having the meanings assigned to those expressions in the Representation of the People Act, 1951.After the general election, Government decided not to replace that Ordinance by Parliamentary legislation and the Ordinance was allowed to lapse. Government consider that it is not only appropriate, but also desirable to restore the position obtaining prior to the Constitution (Thirty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1975, with regard to the forum for the trial of election petitions challenging Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections, including the scope and amplitude of the offences of bribery and undue influence.The Bill seeks to achieve the above object by making an amendment in the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, so as to specifically provide as required by new article 71, that the Supreme Court shall be the authority for the trial of disputes relating to the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections and thus restore the earlier position.[14th March, 1952]An Act to regulate certain matters relating to or connected with elections to the offices of President and Vice-President of India.Be it enacted by Parliament as follows:-| The Act has been extended to the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli by Regulation 6 of 1963.It has been extended to Sikkim with modifications, see S.O. 564(E)/77, Gazette of India, dated 16.7.1977. |