Events

Speaker:
Mr. Chakshu Roy, Head of Legislative and Civic Engagement, PRS Legislative Research

Moderator:
Dr. Namita Wahi, Senior Fellow, CPR & Founding Director, Land Rights Initiative

This is the fifth in a series of talks on “Legal History” as part of the Land Rights Initiative Speaker Series. This series is part of the Land Rights Initiative’s 10 year anniversary celebrations.

This event will be held in hybrid mode at the CPR Conference Room and online over Zoom. Please register below to attend either in person or via Zoom. Refreshments will be served.

About the talk:
Following centuries of colonial rule, the adoption of the Constitution of India in 1950 transformed Indians overnight from subjects to citizens. Citizenship empowered Indians to elect their representatives at the federal and state levels on the basis of the principle of universal adult suffrage enshrined in Article 326 of the Constitution. Article 324 of the Constitution mandated the creation of an independent body, namely the Election Commission of India to “superintend, direct and control” elections to Parliament, state legislatures, and the offices of the President and the Vice President of India. To facilitate the conduct of elections by the Election Commission of India, Parliament enacted the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Representation of the People Act, 1951 and a series of rules were framed to effectuate such legislation, including the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961. Pursuant to these laws, the first general elections to Lok Sabha and all State Legislative Assemblies were held together in 1951-52. That practice continued over three subsequent general elections held in the years- 1957, 1962 and 1967. However, due to the premature dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969, the cycle got disrupted for the first time in 1970. The Fourth Lok Sabha itself was dissolved prematurely and elections were held in 1971. Over the next 50-plus years, India didn’t have simultaneous elections.

Since 2017, the NITI Aayog and the BJP led NDA government have proposed a return to simultaneous elections in India highlighting that asynchronous elections negatively impact administrative and developmental activities in the poll-bound states/regions and the larger governance process in general. The NITI Aayog white paper and Law Commission Reports also note that simultaneous elections would bring about tremendous cost savings for political parties and the government. Indian elections are costly and despite stringent campaign finance regulations in India pursuant to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, campaign funding has remained opaque and the regulations have historically been observed more in the breach. The Electoral Bonds scheme introduced by the government in 2017 ostensibly to bring about transparency in electoral funding was itself struck down by the Supreme Court in 2024 as violative of the voters’ Right to Information about political funding under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and for undermining electoral democracy in India. Against the backdrop of the contentious history of electoral reforms in India, the Speaker will evaluate electoral laws and practices to illuminate the considerations against which we must examine the proposed electoral reforms and elucidate whether these reforms will achieve their stated objectives.

About the speaker: 
Mr. Chakshu Roy is the Head of Legislative and Civic Engagement at PRS Legislative Research. PRS is a unique institution that provides non-partisan research support to national and state legislators in India. More than 400 legislators at the national level and thousand-plus legislators across 25 states regularly reach out to PRS for research on legislative and policy issues.

Mr. Roy is an expert on legislative functioning and parliamentary procedures. Over the last 18 years, he has anchored legislative strengthening programs for legislators and parliamentary staff nationally and internationally. He writes about issues related to laws and the Indian Parliament. The public service broadcasters Sansad TV and Doordarshan regularly invite him to demystify legislative developments. He has conceptualised and developed India’s pioneering online database of all state laws, and has conducted capacity-building workshops for over a thousand journalists on tracking the work of legislators.

Before joining PRS, Mr. Roy worked as a lawyer, specialising in real estate law, commercial contracts, and corporate law. He was selected as an INK Fellow in 2010 and holds Bachelor’s degrees in Commerce and Law from Delhi University.