Representation of the People Act and Elections · UPSC Civil Services

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper III: General Studies II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations):

Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.

Part XV (Articles 324 to 329): superintendence of elections by the Election Commission, single general electoral roll, adult suffrage, Parliament’s power to make election law, bar on courts interfering in electoral matters
Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners: Anoop Baranwal (2023) and the 2023 Act on their appointment and terms

Allocation of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures; delimitation (read with the Delimitation Acts)
Preparation and revision of electoral rolls; qualifications for registration as a voter
Election machinery: Chief Electoral Officer, District Election Officer, Electoral Registration Officer
Seats in the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils; Council constituencies of local authorities, graduates and teachers
Overseas electors: registration of Indian citizens living abroad (section 20A, added in 2010)
Delimitation Commissions set up under the Delimitation Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002

Qualifications and disqualifications for membership; disqualification on conviction (section 8) and Lily Thomas (2013)
Registration of political parties (section 29A); reporting of contributions (section 29C)
Administrative machinery: returning officers, presiding officers, observers
Election process: notification, nominations, scrutiny, withdrawal, polling, counting; contesting from two constituencies (section 33(7))
Electronic voting machines (section 61A) and VVPAT; postal ballots; overseas electors
Election expenses and accounts (section 77); disqualification for failure to lodge accounts (section 10A)
Corrupt practices (section 123) and electoral offences; bar on campaigning in the last 48 hours (section 126)
Election petitions to the High Court; appeals to the Supreme Court; by-elections within six months (section 151A)
Adjournment of polls and countermanding for booth capturing (sections 58 and 58A); paid holiday on polling day (section 135B)
Open ballot in Rajya Sabha elections (2003 amendment, upheld in Kuldip Nayar, 2006)

Office of profit (Article 102(1)(a)) and the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959
Conduct of Election Rules, 1961; Registration of Electors Rules, 1960
Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968: recognised and registered parties, disputes over symbols
Tenth Schedule: disqualification on grounds of defection, decided by the presiding officer

Disclosure of criminal antecedents, assets and education by candidates: Association for Democratic Reforms (2002) and PUCL (2003)
NOTA option (PUCL, 2013)
Electoral bonds struck down (Association for Democratic Reforms v Union of India, 2024)
Model Code of Conduct: nature, enforcement, demand for statutory backing
Linking electoral rolls with Aadhaar (Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021)
Reform proposals: Dinesh Goswami Committee (1990), Indrajit Gupta Committee on state funding (1998), Law Commission reports, simultaneous elections, remote voting for migrants, decriminalisation of politics, inner-party democracy