How India Votes Election Laws, Practice and Procedure

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Description
It is a matter of immense satisfaction to me that our book How Indian Votes is serving its intended purpose - evident from the fact that the Fourth Edition of the book is now in your hands. The third Third Edition book was Published towards the end of 2013 on the eve of the General Elections to the Lok Sabha and several state legislative assemblies which were then due in the first half of 2014, with a view to apprising all stakeholders of the latest developments in the laws, practice and procedures relating to the conduct of elections. Needless to say that the said general election to the Lok Sabha held in to March-May 2014 was the largest man-managed event in the world ever, surpassing all earlier such events, in terms of sheer size and magnitude. Another aspect of personal satisfaction for me was that I,too, had to play a constrictive role, as Legal Advisor to the Election Commission of India, in the conduct of such mammoth exercise involving nearly 840 million electors of senior functionaries who acted as Chief Electoral Officers, District Election Officers, Electoral Registration Officers, Returning Officers and their supporting staff personally told me that whenever they were confronted with a complex issue, they first looked into our book and , in most of the cases, found a satisfactory answer thereto in the book.  
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Contents
Chapter 1.    Introduction
Chapter 2.    Parliament of India
Chapter 3.    State Legislatures
Chapter 4.    The President of India and The Vice-President of India
Chapter 5.    The Election Commission and Election Machinery
Chapter 6.    Delimitation of Constituencies
Chapter 7.    Electoral Rolls and Electors’ Identity Cards
Chapter 8.    Qualification and Disqualification for Membership of Parliament and
                      State Legislatures
Chapter 9.     Election Programme
Chapter 10.   Nominations, Security and Withdrawals of Candidatures
Chapter 11.   Political Parties and Election Symbols
Chapter 12.   Campaign Period
Chapter 13.    Poll
Chapter 14.   Counting of Votes
Chapter 15.   Declaration of Results and Constitution of Houses
Chapter 16.   Electoral Corrupt Practices and Electoral Offences
Chapter 17.   Election Disputes
Chapter 18.   Conclusion
Appendices
I    -     Council of States
II   -     House of the People
III  -    State Legislative Assemblies
IV  -    State Legislative Councils
V   -    Local Authorities' Constituencies of State Legislative Councils
VI  -    Presidents of India
VII -     Presidential Election, 2012
VIII -    Vice-Presidents of India
IX   -    Election Commission of India - Model Code of Conduct for the Guidance of
            Political Parties and Candidates
X    -    Counting of Votes Under Proportional Representation System by Means of Single Transferable Vote - Sample Result Sheet
XI   -    Extracts from the Constitution
XII  -    Indian Penal Code, I860
XIII  -   The Representation of the People Act, 1950
XIV  -   The Representation of the People Act, 1951
XV   -   The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952
XVI  -    Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners
            and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991
XVII -    The Delimitation Act, 2002
XVIII -   The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960
XIX   -   The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961
XX   -    The Prohibition of Simultaneous Membership Rules, 1950
XXI  -    The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968
Index
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Author Details
V.S Rama Devi has held the distinguished office of Governor of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. She was also the Chief Election Commissioner of India in 1990. She also held several other eminent positions, like, Secretary General, Rajya Sabha; Secretary, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law; Member Secretary, Law Commission of India. She has" represented India in several international fora and conferences all over the world and holds prominent positions in various international and national bodies, like, Statute Law Society of London, the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association, Governor on the Court of Governors of Administrative Staff College of India. She has also been conferred significant awards and honorific titles by the President of India and other eminent institutions in diverse fields. Besides co-authoring the first edition of this book, she has also written several literary works, and is a regular contributor on legal topics.
S.K. Mendiratta is the Legal Advisor to the Election Commission of India and Delimitation Commission of India. He has served the Election Commission of India for 42 years in various capacities as Director (Law), Principal Secretary, etc. In 2004, he functioned as UN appointed International Member (Election Commissioner) of Afghanistan Joint Electoral Management Body, which conducted the first ever Presidential election in Afghanistan, under the aegis of the United Nations. Earlier, he also worked as technical resource person in electoral laws and procedures in South Africa, Nigeria, Malawi, Sweden, South Korea and Bhutan under the Commonwealth Secretariat, IFES, IDEA, NDI and UNDP. Apart from co-authoring the first edition of this book, he has also authored volume 16 of the Halsbury's Laws of India, dealing with election laws.
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