Prepare six clusters: adult suffrage, common electoral roll, SC/ST representation, delimitation, NOTA, and RPA 1950 versus RPA 1951. Frequent traps claim that voting is simply a Fundamental Right, a reserved seat has separate voters, NOTA cancels an election, or the 106th Amendment already operates. Each claim is wrong or incomplete.
2. Constitutional map
Article
Rule
Exam cue
325
One general roll for each territorial constituency; no exclusion or special roll only on religion, race, caste or sex.
Common roll, not communal electorate.
326
Direct Lok Sabha and Assembly elections rest on adult suffrage: Indian citizenship, age 18, subject to lawful disqualifications.
Voting age and eligibility.
327
Parliament may legislate on elections, rolls and delimitation.
Central election laws.
328
Subject to Constitution and Parliamentary law, a State may legislate for elections to its House or Houses.
Subordinate State power.
329
Clause (a) protects delimitation/allotment laws from court challenge; clause (b) channels an election challenge through the prescribed election petition.
Not a blanket bar on every remedy.
3. Universal adult franchise
Wealth, education, property, tax payment, religion, caste and sex are not voting qualifications. The voter must be an Indian citizen, reach the prescribed age on a qualifying date, be ordinarily resident for registration and avoid statutory disqualification. The 61st Amendment Act, 1988, effective 28 March 1989, changed Article 326 from 21 to 18 years. Age alone does not permit polling: the name must be in the constituency's electoral roll.
4. Electoral-roll rules under RPA 1950
Section
Rule
16
Disqualification if not an Indian citizen; declared of unsound mind by a competent court; or currently disqualified under election law for corrupt practice/connected offence.
17
No registration in more than one constituency.
18
No registration more than once in the same constituency.
19
At least 18 on a qualifying date and ordinarily resident in the constituency.
20
House ownership alone does not establish ordinary residence; temporary absence does not by itself end it.
7. SC/ST reserved seats: no separate electorate
Point
Lok Sabha
State Assembly
Basis
Article 330
Article 332
Broad allocation
As nearly as possible, population proportion in the State/UT or relevant part.
As nearly as possible, population proportion in the State.
Electors
All eligible voters in the constituency.
All eligible voters in the constituency.
Reserved element
Candidate eligibility for the seat.
Candidate eligibility for the seat.
8. Duration of representation
9. Women's reservation: the 106th Amendment
Provision
Meaning
330A
About one-third of directly elected Lok Sabha seats for women, including about one-third of SC/ST-reserved seats.
332A
Parallel provision for State Assemblies.
334A
Operation follows delimitation undertaken after publication of relevant figures of the first census conducted after commencement of the Amendment.
Rotation
After each subsequent delimitation as Parliament determines by law.
Current caution
The official Constitution marks commencement as yet to be notified; do not treat the reservation as already operating in present Lok Sabha or Bihar Assembly elections.
10. Delimitation
Delimitation fixes territorial constituency boundaries and identifies reserved constituencies within the constitutional-statutory framework. It pursues broadly equal population representation, compact geography, administrative convenience, communication and constitutionally required representation. Exact mathematical equality is not always possible, but unexplained imbalance weakens “one person, one vote, one value”.
11. Freeze versus redrawing base
Question
Position
Lok Sabha allocation/readjustment
Articles 81 and 82, subject to constitutional freezes.
State Assembly size/readjustment
Article 170, subject to the freeze.
84th Amendment
Continued the relevant freeze until figures of the first census after 2026 are published.
87th Amendment
Substituted 2001 for 1991 as the population base for territorial readjustment and linked reservation references in the 2002 exercise.
12. Delimitation chronology
14. Bihar snapshot
Item
Verified figure
Assembly constituencies
243
SC-reserved
38
ST-reserved
2
Latest delimitation-order year shown by ECI
2008
Voters in a reserved constituency
All registered electors on the common roll.
15. NOTA
In PUCL v. Union of India (27 September 2013), the Supreme Court protected secrecy for voters rejecting all candidates and directed a “None of the Above” facility. NOTA records secret rejection; it is not a binding right to recall or reject the whole election. Even if NOTA leads, the highest-polling contesting candidate wins under present parliamentary/Assembly rules. NOTA is also excluded from valid candidate votes used for security-deposit calculation.
16. RPA 1950 versus RPA 1951
RPA 1950
RPA 1951
Seat allocation and delimitation framework
Conduct of elections
Voter qualifications and electoral rolls
Candidate/member qualifications and disqualifications
Ordinary residence and registration
Nomination, poll, count and election disputes
Electoral map and electorate
Corrupt practices, offences and party registration
17. Electoral-reform tools
Problem
Instrument
Purpose
Roll exclusion/duplication
Continuous updating, four qualifying dates, claims and objections
Inclusion and accuracy with due process.
Hidden candidate background
Affidavit/Form 26 and disclosure law
Specified criminal cases, assets, liabilities and education.
Electronic opacity
VVPAT with EVM
Voter-visible paper audit trail; used at every polling station in Lok Sabha 2019.
Unrecorded rejection
NOTA
Secret expression that no listed candidate is preferred.
Money/inducement
Expenditure monitoring, accounts, observers and enforcement
Fairness and accountability.
Population imbalance
Independent statutory delimitation
More equal territorial representation.
20. Official PYQ status
No question below is labelled an official BPSC PYQ because complete official wording and options were not verified from a Commission booklet. These are original BPSC-style questions.