INCURRING OF ELECTION EXPENDITURE IN EXCSS OF PRESCRIBE LIMITS

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INCURRING OF ELECTION EXPENDITURE IN EXCSS OFPRESCRIBE LIMIT

CHAPTER -1INTRODUCTION

India is a country inhabited by people of different religions, castes andlanguages, attributingto its richness and vivacity, as also its diversity. In this scenario of diversities, what is of utmost importance is the basic sense of unit)' andintegrity that binds together the people all over the country. Unity indiversity is a unique feature of India, owing a great deal to theconstitutional system adopted way back in 1950, to guide and mould thedestiny of crores of people in the years ahead. The Constitution of India,which declares the country a sovereign socialist secular democraticrepublic, provided the much needed strong frame, binding together thediverse colours of religion, caste and languages into a single compositerainbow.Now, that India has recently celebrated its golden jubilee of independence, which it achieved on the historic day of 15 August 1947from British rule, the roots of democracy have been firmly established inthe country and it is looked upon by the whole comity of nations the worldaround, as one of the most stable democracies on the globe.The apexcourt of the land has rightly described it as an 'oasis of democracy’Election Laws, Practice and Procedure if we look around and compare therecord of its democratic functioning with that of the othernations who also got freedom from foreign rule more or less around thesame time.

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Democracy is one of the inalienable basic features of the Constitution of India and forms part of its basic structure.

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Democracy is government by the people. It is a continual participativeoperation, not a cataclysmic, periodic exercise. The little man, in hismultitude, marking his vote at the poll does a social audit of hisParliament plus political choice of his proxy. Although the full flower of participative government rarely blossoms, the minimum credential of popular government is appeal to the people after every term for arenewal of confidence. So we have adult franchise and general electionsas constitutional compulsions.

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The concept of democracy as visualised by the Constitution presupposesthe representation of the people in Parliament and state legislatures bythe method of election.

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CHAPTER-2HISTORY OF ELECTIONS IN ANCIENT INDIA

Elections in India are not a new phenomenon or a new concept born inmodem times. Taking decisions to run their affairs, be they at the level of individual families or at the community level, collectively and with theconsensus of all concerned, has been the pervading philosophy of Indianway of life from times immemorial. Our ancient scriptures dating back toVedic age are filled with references to republics and democraciesprevailing in various parts of ancient India. The ancient historians haverecorded graphic details of the people choosing their own heads.ganapaties, of the great Vaishali ganarajya, thousands of years back, tolead them in times of peace and war. They were assisted by other wise

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Kesavanand Bharati vs State of Kerala AIR 1973 SC 1461.

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Mohinder Singh Gill and Anor v Chief Election Commissioner and OrsAIR 1978 SC 851.

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NP Ponnusivami v Returning Officer, Namakkal AIR 1952 SC 64

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men and nobles in their decision-making, like the present council of ministers. Tracing the history of elections and evolution of representativegovernments in India, the Election Commission of India observed in itsreport after the first general elections in independent India in 1951-52:...republican forms of government existed in many parts of ancient India There are numerous references to such Governments in the Buddhistliterature. Even in the 4th Century BC, there was a republican federationknown as the Kshudrah-Malla Sangba, which offered strong resistance toAlexander the Great. The Greeks have left descriptions of many otherrepublican states in India, some of which were described by them as puredemocracies while others were said to be 'aristocratic republics'.Although, full details of the working of the republican forms of government in ancient India are not available, it is known that in some of these republics every adult male member had the right to vote and to bepresent in the general assembly, which decided all public affairs. With theincrease of population and the growing complexities of the socialstructure, it became increasingly difficult for all citizens to assemble atone place for the purpose of deliberation on state affairs, and graduallythis resulted in the evolution of some kind of representative government.We find numerous references to election, referendum, voting, ballotpapers, etc., in the history of the Hindu polity'. The nature of franchise for election to the popular assemblies is not fullyknown. While in the aristocratic republics, the basis appears to have beena family, in other states, all adult male persons, who were not otherwisedisqualified, appear to have had the right to vote. By naturalisation, evenforeigners could become citizens, and acquire the right of vote.

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