The voting age in India was reduced from twenty-one years to eighteen years by which Constitutional Amendment?
- A.Forty-fourth Amendment
- B.Fifty-second Amendment
- C.Sixty-first Amendment
- D.Seventy-third Amendment
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, the Sixty-first Amendment. The Constitution (Sixty-first Amendment) Act, 1988 amended Article 326 and lowered the qualifying age for a voter from twenty-one to eighteen years, and it took effect in March 1989, so the general election of 1989 was the first in which eighteen-year-olds voted. Option A, the Forty-fourth Amendment of 1978, undid much of what the Forty-second Amendment had done during the Emergency, restored the term of the Lok Sabha to five years and removed the right to property from the list of fundamental rights. Option B, the Fifty-second Amendment of 1985, added the Tenth Schedule and brought in the anti-defection law, which is a different reform of the same decade. Option D, the Seventy-third Amendment of 1992, gave constitutional status to the panchayats and added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule. Remember the chain 1985, 1988 and 1992 in that order.
Read the full article: Political Parties and Electoral Reforms: Laws and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhich Article of the Constitution vests the superintendence, direction and control of elections in the Election Commission of India?
- A.Article 324
- B.Article 326
- C.Article 329
- D.Article 330
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Article 324 places the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of all elections to Parliament, to the state legislatures and to the offices of President and Vice-President in the Election Commission of India, and this is the Article the Commission relies on when…
Read the full explanation →The Elephant is a symbol of which Indian political party?
- A.National Congress Party
- B.Communist Party of India
- C.Bahujan Samaj Party
- D.Rashtriya Janata Dal
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The elephant is the reserved symbol of the Bahujan Samaj Party, founded by Kanshi Ram in 1984; because the elephant is also used by another party in Assam and Sikkim, the Election Commission allots it to the Bahujan Samaj Party elsewhere, a detail that shows how reserved symbols work under…
Read the full explanation →The anti-defection law is contained in which Schedule of the Constitution of India?
- A.Ninth Schedule
- B.Tenth Schedule
- C.Eleventh Schedule
- D.Twelfth Schedule
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The Tenth Schedule was added by the Fifty-second Amendment in 1985 and it disqualifies a member of Parliament or of a state legislature who voluntarily gives up the membership of the party on whose ticket the seat was won, or who votes or abstains against the party direction; the Speaker…
Read the full explanation →Under which section of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 is a political party registered with the Election Commission of India?
- A.Section 29A
- B.Section 33A
- C.Section 123
- D.Section 8
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Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 is the provision under which an association or body of individual citizens applies to the Election Commission for registration as a political party, and the application must carry a specific undertaking of true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, to…
Read the full explanation →Reserved election symbols are allotted to recognised political parties under an Order of which year?
- A.1951
- B.1961
- C.1968
- D.1989
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The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 was issued by the Election Commission under Article 324 and the Conduct of Elections Rules, and it governs the recognition of national and state parties, the reservation of symbols for them, the list of free symbols for other candidates, and disputes between…
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