The Constituent Assembly convened in the year 1946 had members conversant with the objects of freedom, having back ground of knowledge and sacrificed their time for the cause of the freedom of the country. The first Lok Sabha was lead by Pandit Jawarlar Lal Nehru as the leader of the house. The first priority of the members was the interest of the country and followed by the interest of the public. The members had sound education and experience in their own fields.
Mahatama Gandhi was the leader of the ideology. The Constituent Assembly followed the ideology to its hilt. The Constitution was awarded with the Preamble providing the desired elements of freedom. It was expected by the members of the Constituent Assembly that the future members will follow the spirit of the Preamble while amending the Constitution. The Constitution was provided with Fourth Chapter laying down the Directive Principles. The Constitution was kept flexible to the great extent and the Articles could be amended as considered fit and appropriate by the two third majority. The Constitution was based on the concept that the House shall be one body to take the decision through majority vote of the members and the members were expected to caste their vote through their own conscious. In addition the Acts governing the subjects of Union of India were to be framed to keep the spirit of the Preamble and the Directive Principles as the first consideration. The further liberty was also given to the member of the House that these two guiding spirits i.e. preamble and the Directive Principles cannot be brought before judiciary.
We the “People of India” expected that the spirit of the Preamble and the Directive Principles will to bring justice, equality, fraternity and brother hood amongst the subjects of Union of India. The results are extremely discouraging. The subjects are divided by religion, caste. Creed, place of birth and over and above the division by concept of urban and rural. The States were divided to smaller States and the demand for the further division of the States was generated before every election of the Parliament. The standard of the conduct of the Parliament and Assemblies is not worth discussing. It can only be concluded that it is at the lowest ebb. Further deterioration may only be saved by rule of Governor.
The most important factor in the House is the quality of the members and their capability to put forth the issues of the public interest. The second factor is the time allowed to the member to express his point of view as conceived by his own experience and knowledge. Presently, there are hardly few occasions in the Parliament or the State Assemblies to have a purposeful, convincing and touching the depth of the heart debates on the subjects of public interest.
The Article 100 (d) of the Constitution had given the open opportunity to the Parliament to lay down the qualifications of the Member of Parliament and the similar open opportunity is available under Article 173(c) of the Constitution for lying down the qualifications of the Member of Legislative Assemblies. There is no law framed under these two Articles to ensure Citizens of knowledge, good experience and high moral character to present them selves as the proposed candidates for the Parliament or State Assembly elections. The only qualification laid down in the Constitution is age of the Citizen. It clearly precipitates that the intentions of the Constituent Assembly was allowing the Parliament to lay down the qualifications of the members under provision of Article 100(d)/ Article 173(c) after gaining the experience of the conduct in the Houses. Now the time is mature enough that these two Articles are given cognizance.
The Section 4 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, pertains to qualification of Member of Parliament, unfortunately the Sub Paras (a) to (d) are high lighting the disqualifications of the candidates proposing for the election to the Parliament or the State Assembly. There is no Section laying down the qualifications of the candidates for election. Similar are the contents of Section 5 of the Representative of People Act, 1951 for Members of legislative Assembly. We as the democratic country had gained sufficient experience and the time is ripe enough to lay down the qualifications of the Citizens opting to become the Members of the Parliament or State Assemblies. We the "people of India" at present are paying for very heavy salaries, allowances and perks to the Members of the Parliament / State Assemblies. In addition, there is provision of the pensions to all the members of the past parliaments / State Assemblies. Thus, it is justified, equitable, reasonable and in the interest of the country that the qualifications may be laid down with out any loss of time for Members of Parliament and Members of legislative Assembly. Hence to achieve these objects Sections 4 to 11B of The Representation of People Act, 1951 shall be required to be amended to suit these requirements.
Now the major question arises as to what should be the qualifications of the candidate proposing himself for the election? There will be number of proposals and many arguments in support of these proposals. The essential qualifications of the candidate for election are considered as under:-
1. Citizen from the same Constituency.
2. Good moral character.
3. Knowledge of the Constitution of India.
4. Knowledge of the Acts passed by the Parliament and applicable to his State.
5. Knowledge of the present policies of the Central Government and of the State Government of his residence.
The voter card held with the citizen will reflect the place of his residence to establish that the candidate is from the same Constituency. That the applicant is bearing good moral character may be certified by the District Collector of the District of the candidate. The certificate may high light the status of the disqualification parameters as made applicable after amending the Sections 4 to 11B of The Representative Act, 1951.
Now the question arises as to how to certify the knowledge of the candidate with respect to Constitution of India and the Acts applicable? It will be worthwhile that an all India examination of the citizens twice a year is conducted by the Election Commission. The citizen passing this examination with 60% marks and above may be issued a certificate of the knowledge of the items listed from 3 to 5. This certificate shall entitle the citizen to make him competent to file application for election to Parliament or State Assembly.
We the "people of India” is to create a movement through the Members of the Parliament of the Constituency to accept this proposal in principle and amend suitably The Representation of People Act, 1951.
Er. Amar Singh, President,
Society for Justice
E-mail: dhawalamar@gmail.com
