Is Indian Democracy Dependent on a Statute?

• Main Author: DAM, Shubhankar
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2004
• Subjects: Public Law and Legal Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research_smu/7; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=sol_research_smu
• Institution: Singapore Management University

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.