EL1213 | Election Laws

The course is titled ‘elections laws’, indicating inclusion of multiplicity of laws, some of which are already completed at various stages of law school by the aspiring candidates of the course. The foundations of the course is in political science and constitutional law. It starts with the concept of democracy, gravitates to representative democracy, the right to vote, election administration and position of political parties in the constitution and statutes. The areas that could be new to the students are election administration, election disputes, election finance and regulation of political parties. These are regulated by various statutes and guidelines.

Commencement of the course is with a conceptual clarity on political representation in a democracy. Using the context of contemporary India the inviolability of this notion along with the right to vote with the value attached to each vote will be explored. The next part of the course is on election administration which is complex in nature. The course would focus on certain key aspects of election administration. It will touch upon: delimitation of constituencies in the Representation of People Act 1950, institutional set up of election administration, corrupt practices in election, disqualifications due to conviction, and election disputes. The course will not be focusing on the rest of the areas of the Representation of the People Act 1951. Registration and functioning of political parties and campaign finance in detail shall be the concluding part of the course.

The course will be taught in a seminar mode where the subject teacher will play the role of an active facilitator. Course will be divided into different segments and pre-assigned to students to prepare and lead the discussion. Rest of the class is expected to contribute and enrich the discourse. Class participation therefore is a key component not only when one is leading the seminar but also as a participant/discussant.