The Representation of the People Act, 1951

This Act may be called the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, (a) each of the expressions defined in section 2 or sub-section (1) of section 27 of theRepresentation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950), but not defined in this Act, shall have the samemeaning as in that Act; (b) "appropriate authority" means, in relation to an election to the House of the People or theCouncil of States 1***, the Central Government, and in relation to an election to the LegislativeAssembly or the Legislative Council of a State, the State Government; 2[(bb) "chief electoral officer" means the officer appointed under section 13A of theRepresentation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950);] (c) "corrupt practice" means any of the practices specified in section 123 3***; 4[(cc) "district election officer" means the officer designated or nominated under section 13AA ofthe Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950);] (d) "election" means an election to fill a seat or seats in either House of Parliament or in theHouse or either House of the Legislature of a State 5*** 6***; 8[(e) "elector in relation to a constituency" means a person whose name is entered in the electoralroll of that constituency for the time being in force and who is not subject to any of thedisqualifications mentioned in section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950);] 9[(f) "political party" means an association or a body of individual citizens of India registeredwith the Election Commission as a political party under section 29A;] (g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; 4[(h) "public holiday" means any day which is a public holiday for the purposes of section 25 ofthe Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (26 of 1881);] 10[(i)] "sign", in relation to a person who is unable to write his name, means authenticate in suchmanner as may be prescribed. 11* * * * * 12* * * * * (2) For the purposes of this Act, 13*** a Parliamentary constituency, an Assembly constituency, aCouncil constituency, a local authorities' constituency, a graduates' constituency and a teachers'constituency shall each be treated as a constituency of a different class. (3) Any requirement under this Act that a notification, order, rule, declaration, notice or list issued ormade by any authority shall be published in the Official Gazette, shall, unless otherwise expresslyprovided in this Act, be construed as a requirement that the notification, order, rule, declaration, notice orlist shall (a) where it is issued or made by the Central Government, be published in the Gazette of India; (b) where it is issued or made by a State Government, be published in the Official Gazette of theState; and (c) where it is issued or made by any other authority, be published in the Gazette of India if itrelates to an election to, or membership of, either House of Parliament 14*** and in the OfficialGazette of the State if it relates to an election to, or membership of, the House or either House of theLegislature of a State. (4) Where, under any of the provisions of this Act, anything is to be prescribed, different provisionsmay be made for different cases or classes of cases. 15* * * * * 16* * * * * 15* * * * *

1[3. Qualification for membership of the Council of States.] A person shall not be qualified to bechosen as a representative of any State 2*** or Union territory in the Council of States unless he is anelector for a Parliamentary constituency 3[in India]].

A person shall not be qualified to be chosen to fill a seat in the House of the People 1*** 2***, unless-- (a) in the case of a seal reserved for the Scheduled Castes in any State, he is a member of any of the Scheduled Castes, whether of that State or of any other State, and is an elector for any Parliamentary constituency; (b) in the case of a seat reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in any State (other than those in the autonomous districts of Assam), he is a member of any of the Scheduled Tribes, whether of the Slate or of any other State (excluding the tribal areas of Assam), and is an elector for any Parliamentary constituency; (c) in the case of a seat reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous districts of Assam, he is a member of any of those Scheduled Tribes and is an elector for the Parliamentary constituency in which such seat is reserved or for any other Parliamentary constituency comprising any such autonomous district; 3*** 4[(cc) in the case of the seat reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the Union territory of 5[Lakshadweep], he is a member of any of those Scheduled Tribes and is an elector for the Parliamentary constituency of that Union territory; 6***] 7[(ccc) in the case of the seat allotted to the State of Sikkim, he is an elector for the Parliamentaryconstituency for Sikkim;] (d) in the case of any other seat, he is an elector for any Parliamentary constituency.

A person shall not be qualified tobe chosen to fill a seat in the Legislative Assembly of a State unless (a) in the case of a seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes or for the Scheduled Tribes of thatState, he is a member of any of those castes or of those tribes, as the case may be, and is an elector forany Assembly constituency in that State; (b) in the case of a seat reserved for an autonomous district of Assam, 1*** he is a member of a2[Scheduled Tribe of any autonomous district] and is an elector for the Assembly constituency inwhich such seat or any other seat is reserved for that district; and (c) in the case of any other seat, he is an elector for any Assembly constituency in that State: 3[Provided that for the period referred to in clause (2) of article 371A, a person shall not be qualifiedto be chosen to fill any seat allocated to the Tuensang district in the Legislative Assembly of Nagalandunless he is a member of the regional council referred to in that article.]