Skip to main content
Article
Is Indian Democracy Dependent on a Statute?
Public Law (2004)
  • Shubhankar DAM, City University of Hong Kong
Abstract
What is the status of a right to vote in the Indian legal system? Is the right a constitutional/fundamental right? Or is it simply a statutory right? Contrary to the decisions of the Supreme Court in the last five decades, this paper argues that the right to vote is a constitutional right: its textual foundation may be located in Article 326. And, in this sense, the Supreme Court has erred in construing the right to vote as a statutory right under the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951. Interpreting the right to vote as a statutory right has larger implications for the nature of Indian democracy. If the Court is correct is construing the right as a statutory one, it would follow that democracy may be extinguished by a simple amendment of the Representation of Peoples Act. Under the Court's current jurisprudence, that which could not be achieved by a constitutional amendment may now be achieved by an amendment of an ordinary statute.
Keywords
  • Right to Vote,
  • Prisoners,
  • India,
  • Judicial Review,
  • Constitution
Publication Date
January 10, 2004
Citation Information
Shubhankar DAM. "Is Indian Democracy Dependent on a Statute?" Public Law Vol. Summer 2004 (2004)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/shubhankar_dam/5/