Final Lap 2024

POLITY

Basic Structure Doctrine • Article 13 is a limitation on a “law” which takes away or

abridges the rights conferred by Part III of the
Constitution.
• “Law” includes ordinance, order, bye-law, rule,
regulation, notification, custom or usage having in the
territory of India the force of law.
• “Law” doesn’t include Constitutional Amendment under
Article 368.
• Basic Structure acts as a limitation on Constitutional
Amendment under Article 368.
• Propounded in Keshavanand Bharti case – 24 April, 1973
• Independence of district judiciary – part of basic
structure (All India Judges Association vs UoI, 2023)

National Capital Territory of • Creates a statutory authority – National Capital Civil

Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023 Services Authority (NCCSA) – to make recommendations
to LG regarding transfer posting, vigilance and other
incidental matters.
• Gives discretionary powers to LG in certain matters

Important Articles:
• Art 239AA – Special provisions wrt Delhi –
o Legislative Assembly to have power to make
laws on matters in State List and Concurrent
List except police, public order and land.
o CoM < 10% of total members in Legislative
Assembly.
o CM appointed by President
• Art 239AB – failure of constitutional machinery in
Delhi

Right to Silence • Right to silence emanates from Article 20(3), which

states that no one can be compelled to be a witness
against himself
• Protection is limited only to criminal proceedings
• Right is not available to a person being interrogated
under Customs Act, 1962, or Foreign Exchange
Management Act, 1999, since the person is not “accused
of an offence” and isn’t entitled to a lawyer
• In Nandini Satpathy v. P.L. Dani case, SC stated that
compelling a person to answer a question within the
limits of police station may result in a violation of Article
20(3).

Personality Rights • right of a person to protect his/her personality under the

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Right to Walk
Places of Worship Act, 1991
Uniform Civil Code
Kui language
Minority Institutions
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right to privacy or property.
• It includes name, voice, signature, images or any other
feature easily identified as markers of personality.
• Personality rights or their protection are not expressly
mentioned in any statute in India but are traced to fall
under the right to privacy and the right to property.
• Punjab has become the first state to implement the
'right to walk' + Right to walk make it mandatory for all
road-owning agencies, including the NHAI, to provide
footpaths and cycle tracks on the road.
● It was passed as a special law to “to prohibit conversion
of any place of worship and to provide for the
maintenance of the religious character of any place of
worship as it existed on the 15 August, 1947
● The law kept the Ayodhya temple out of its purview,
mainly because it was the subject of prolonged
litigation.
● Doesn’t apply to monuments and sites covered by
Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and
Remains Act, 1958.
● UCC refers to same set of civil laws applicable to all
citizens of India in their personal matters such as
marriage, divorce, custody, adoption and inheritance
● Under Article 44 (Directive Principles of State Policy) of
the Constitution
● Different religious communities are currently governed
by a system of personal laws, which have been codified
over the years through various pieces of legislation
● Goa is, at present, the only state in India with a UCC
(Portuguese Civil Code of 1867).
● ‘Personal Laws’ are a subject under concurrent list of
constitution.
• Proposal by Odisha cabinet to include Kui in 8th Schedule
of the Constitution
• Schedule 8 consists of 22 languages currently.
• The term ‘minority’ not defined in the Constitution but
mentioned in Art 29, 30, 350A, 350B.
• National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 defines
‘minority’ as any community notified as such by the
Central government.
• Currently, 6 communities notified – Muslims, Christians,
Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsi, Jains
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Nari Shakti Vandan [Constitution
(106th Amendment)] Act, 2023
Delimitation Commission
No Confidence Motion
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• Parliament passed Constitution (106th Amendment) Act,
2023, to provide for one-third reservation to women in
the Lok Sabha (Article 330A), State Assemblies(Article
332A) and the assembly of NCT of Delhi (Article 239AA)
• It also includes reservation of 1/3rd seats for women
under total number of seats reserved for SCs/STs under
Article 332
• Provisions of this act shall come into effect after
delimitation after the first census taken after the
commencement of this act
• Provisions relating to reservation of seats for women
shall cease to have effect after the expiration of 15
years. Reservation for women, however, can be
extended by the Parliament by law.
• Periodic rotation of seats reserved for women after
each subsequent delimitation as Parliament may by law
determine
• Provisions of this act shall not affect any representation
in legislative assemblies and the Lok Sabha until their
dissolution.
• Article 82: Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after
every Census to establish a Delimitation Commission.
• Function: To determine the number and boundaries of
constituencies to make population of all constituencies
nearly equal. To identify seats to reserve for SC/ST
• Composition: retd. SC judge, CEC, State EC
• Powers of a civil court
• Orders have force of law and cannot be questioned
before any court.
• Article 75(3)/Article 164(2) of the Constitution - the
Council of Ministers are collectively responsible to the
Lok Sabha
• For testing this collective responsibility, the rules of Lok
Sabha provide a particular mechanism – a motion of no-
confidence. The procedure is specified under Rule 198 of
the Lok Sabha. Constitution does not mention either a
Confidence or a No Confidence Motion.
• Any Lok Sabha MP, who can garner the support of 50
colleagues, can, at any point of time, introduce a motion
of no-confidence against the Council of Ministers
• A no-confidence motion can be moved only in the Lok
Sabha. It cannot be moved in the Rajya Sabha.
• If a no-confidence motion is passed, the government
must resign.
• There have been 27 no-confidence motions introduced
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 Final Lap 2024

in the Lok Sabha since independence. The first no-

confidence motion against the administration of the
then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was presented in
the Lok Sabha in August 1963
• Recently, 28th No Confidence was raised and was won
successfully by Govt.

Parliamentary Privileges • Parliamentary privileges are certain rights and

immunities enjoyed by MPs/MLAs, individually and
collectively, so that they can “effectively discharge their
functions”.
• These rights are also given to those individuals who
speak and participate in any committee of the
Parliament, which includes the Attorney General of India
and the Union Ministers.
• not available to President/Governor.
• When any of these rights and immunities are
disregarded, offence is called a breach of privilege and is
punishable under law of Parliament.
• Special privileges are enshrined under Article 105 (for
Parliament) and Article 194 (for state legislature) of
Constitution.
• Parliament, till now, has not made any special law to
exhaustively codify all the privileges.
• One of the privileges is that a member of Parliament
cannot be arrested in a civil case 40 days before the
commencement of the session or committee meeting
and 40 days thereafter.
• Parliament is the sole authority to ascertain if there has
been a breach or contempt of the House— no court is
entrusted with this power. A member of the House can
raise a question involving a breach of privilege with the
consent of the Chairman or Speaker.

Privilege Committee • It is a parliamentary standing committee present in both

Houses of Parliament.
• LS: consists of 15 members nominated by Speaker
• RS: consists of 10 members nominated by Chairman
• Function: Investigate questions involving the breach of
privileges of House or members, as referred to it by
presiding officer of Houses.

Expulsion of Lawmakers • The expulsion of an MP can be on a constitutional basis

or legal (Rules of the house) basis.
• Constitutional basis: An MP found guilty of breach of
privileges or contempt of the house can be suspended
from the house or face expulsion.

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Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha
Rule 176 and Rule 267 of Rules of
Procedure and Conduct of
Business in the Council of States.
Anti-Defection Law
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• Legal basis of suspension and expulsions: To ensure
smooth proceedings and maintain order, the Presiding
Officer of the House has the power to force a Member
to withdraw from the House. In cases of extreme
misconduct, the House may expel a member “to rid the
House of persons who are unfit for membership” under
Rules 373, 374, 374A of LS and Rules 255, 256 of RS.
• Consists of not more than 15 members
• members nominated by the Speaker for a term of one
year.
• Functions:
o To examine a complaint relating to the unethical
conduct of a member referred to it by the
Speaker.
o Make recommendations and formulate a code of
conduct for Members.
o Suggest amendments to the code of conduct.
• The First Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha was set up in
2000 and of Rajya sabha in 1997.
• Rule 176 allows for a short-duration discussion, not
exceeding two-and-a-half hours, on a particular issue.
• Under Rule 267, a Rajya Sabha MP has the special power
to suspend the predecided agenda of the House, with
the approval of the Chairman.
• Tenth Schedule inserted in the Constitution in 1985 by
the 52nd Amendment Act.
• It lays down the process by which legislators may be
disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding
Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other
member of the House.
• The decision on question as to disqualification on
ground of defection is referred to the Chairman or the
Speaker of such House, and his decision is final. Subject
to judicial review (Kihoto Hollohan v Zachillhu, 1992)
Grounds of Defection
• If a member of a House belonging to a political party:
o Has voluntarily given up his membership of such
political party, or
o Votes, or abstains from voting in such House,
contrary to the direction of his political party.
• If an independent candidate joins a political party after
the election.
• If a nominated member of a house joins any political
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 Final Lap 2024

party after the expiry of six months from the date when
he becomes a member of the legislature.

Exemptions from disqualification

• If a member's original party merges with another party:
o The member is not disqualified if they join the new
merged party.
o The member is also not disqualified if they choose
not to join the merged party and decide to
function as a separate group. For the merger to be
valid, at least two-thirds of the members of the
original party in the legislature must agree to the
merger.
• If a person is elected as the Speaker of Lok Sabha or the
Chairman of Rajya Sabha then he could resign from his
party, and rejoin the party once he vacates that post.

Parliamentary Secretariat • Article 98/187: Each House of Parliament/State

Legislature shall have a separate secretarial staff.
• Function: to provide secretarial assistance, prepare and
publish a record of day to day proceedings, serve
parliamentary committees, payment of salaries and
allowances.
• Parliament may by law regulate the
• recruitment, and the conditions of service of persons
appointed, to the secretarial staff of either House.
• Speaker and Chairman can create new posts in
respective secretariat.
• Secretary-Generals of both houses hold ranks
equivalent to that of the Cabinet Secretary. However, in
the table of precedence, the Cabinet Secretary is placed
at the 11th position, whereas the Secretary, Lok Sabha/
Rajya Sabha are placed at the 23rd position.

Article 142 • provides Supreme Court power, to do “complete

justice” in any matter pending before it.
• While powers under Article 142 are sweeping in nature,
SC has defined its scope and extent through various
judgments.

Article 299 • Contracts made by Union or State are in the name of

President or Governor.
• Recently, the Supreme Court has held that the
government cannot claim immunity from the application
of law to a contract merely because one of the parties to
it is the President of India.

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Judicial Appointment
Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel
Narco Analysis Test
Chief Election Commissioner and
other Election Commissioners
(Appointment, Conditions of
Service and Term of Office) Act,
2023
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SC HC
No. of judges Decided by Decided by
Parliament President
Chief Justice Appointed by Appointed by
President President
Other judges Pres in Pres in consultation
consultation with CJI + 2
with CJI + 4
• It is a concept in contractual laws.
• It essentially prevents a “promisor” from backing out of
an agreement on the grounds that there is no
“consideration.”
• It is invoked by a plaintiff (party moving to court in civil
action) to ensure execution of a contract or seek
compensation for failure to perform the contract.
• In narco test, sodium pentothal, also called ‘truth
serum’, is injected into a person which lowers a person’s
self-consciousness, allowing them to speak without
inhibition.
• Supreme Court in Selvi & Ors vs State of Karnataka &
Anr (2010) ruled that narco analysis, brain mapping and
polygraph tests cannot be conducted on any person
without his or her consent.
• Narco analysis report is not admissible as primary
evidence in the court. However, any information or
material that is subsequently discovered with the help
of voluntary administered test results can be admitted,
in accordance with Section 27 of the Evidence Act, 1872.
• The Act replaces the Election Commission (Conditions of
Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of
Business) Act, 1991.
• The legislation aims to bring transparency to the
appointment process, responding to a directive from
the Supreme Court of India in the.
• SC, in Anoop Baranwal v Union of India case, 2023 laid
down that the CEC and ECs shall be appointed by a
committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the CJI and
the Leader of the Opposition of the largest opposition
party in the Lok Sabha.
• The Act addresses the appointment, salary, and removal
of the CEC and ECs.
• Search Committee shall prepare a panel of five persons
for consideration of the Selection Committee, for
appointment as the CEC and other ECs. It is to be
headed by the Minister of Law and Justice and
comprising two other members not below the rank of
Secretary to the Government of India.
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 Final Lap 2024

• Selection Committee: consists of the Prime Minister, a

Union Cabinet Minister, and the Leader of
Opposition/leader of the largest opposition party in Lok
Sabha.
• The salary and conditions of service of the CEC and ECs
will be equivalent to that of the Cabinet Secretary.
Under the 1991 Act, it was equivalent to the salary of a
Supreme Court Judge.
• The Act retains the constitutional provision (Article
324(5)) that allows the CEC to be removed like a
Supreme Court Judge, while ECs can only be removed
on the recommendation of the CEC.

National Party Status • 6 parties recognised by ECI as national parties – BJP,

INC, BSP, CPI(M), NPP, AAP.
• Criteria: fulfil any of the three conditions:
o Winning 2% seats or 11 seats in the Lok Sabha from
at least three different states in the latest general
election;
o Recognition as a state party in at least four states
o Polling 6% of the total valid votes in at least four
states, in addition to winning four Lok Sabha seats.
• Benefits:
o reserved symbol for its candidates contesting from
across the country.
o only one proposer to file nominations of
candidates.
o two sets of electoral rolls free of cost
o dedicated broadcast slots on public broadcasters
Doordarshan and All India Radio during the general
elections.
o 40 ‘star campaigners’ while a registered
unrecognized party can nominate a maximum of 20
‘star campaigners’.

Star Campaigners • They are nominated by political parties to campaign in

each set of constituencies for a specified duration.
• There is no law governing who can or cannot be made a
star campaigner.
• List of star campaigners must be communicated to Chief
Electoral Officer and ECI within a week from election
notification date under section 77(1) of Representation
of People Act (RPA), 1951.
• Recognised political party can have 40 Star campaigners
and an unrecognised (but registered) political party can
have 20.
• Poll Expenditure: As per section 77(1) RPA, 1951, their
travel by air or any other means of transport for
propagating programme of a political party shall not be
counted as expenditure by candidate.

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Electronic Voting Machine (EVM)
Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail
(VVPAT)
Electoral Bonds (EB)
Electronically Transmitted Postal
Ballot System (ETPBS)
NOTA
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• EVM consists of 2 units - Control Unit and a Balloting
Unit.
• The control unit is with the Election Commission-
appointed polling officer; the balloting unit is in the
voting compartment into where voter casts her vote in
secret.
• It runs on a single alkaline battery fitted in the control
unit, and can even be used in areas that have no
electricity.
• manufactured by Electronics Corporation of India
Limited (ECIL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
• can record a maximum of 2,000 votes.
• EVMs were 1st used in 1982 Kerala Assembly elections
(by-election).
• RP Act 1951 was amended in 1988 to allow usage of
EVMs.
• In 2004, EVMs were used for the 1st time in Lok Sabha
elections.
• independent verification system designed to allow
voters to verify that their votes were cast correctly.
• a paper slip is generated bearing name and symbol of
the candidate. The printed slip is visible for 7 seconds in
a viewing window attached to BU in voting
compartment.
• Recently, the Supreme Court declared EB Scheme
unconstitutional.
• Union Budget 2017-18 introduced EBs as interest-free
bearer instruments to cleanse the system of political
funding in the country.
• can only be issued by SBI
• can be purchased only by citizen or body incorporated in
India
• in multiples of 1K, 10K, 1L, 10L, 1C
• available for purchase for 10 days in Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct
• Political Party eligible to receive funds – registered
under RPA, 1951 & >1% votes in last Lok Sabha or state
election.
• Developed by ECI + CDAC
• Voter receives postal ballot in electronic format. He
downloads it, casts the vote and sends it to Returning
Officer through post.
• Electors eligible for ETPBS
o Service voters - armed forces, employed by GoI
outside India
o Overseas electors.
• Not a right to reject
• NOTA votes not counted while deciding winner.
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Section 62 - RPA, 1951
Two Constituency norm
Custodian of Enemy Property for
India
Model Prisons Act 2023
CBI
ED
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• No fresh elections if NOTA secures max votes. Candidate
with highest votes wins.
• Prisoners are not allowed to vote but people under
preventive detention can cast their vote through postal
ballot.
• RPA, 1951 allows a candidate to contest from more than
one seat.
• Amendment in 1996 – set the limit to 2 seats
• a quasi-judicial Authority under the Enemy Property Act,
2017 under Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Enemy property refers to property or assets held or
managed on behalf of an enemy, enemy subject or an
enemy company.
• Enemy means person or country which is an enemy
under Defence of India Act, 1962.
• Function: to manage and preserve the enemy
• properties.
• to replace a British-era Prisons Act, 1894 to overhaul the
prison administration
• focus on the reformation and rehabilitation of inmates
• Prisons is a State subject.
• Terms:
o Parole is a system of conditional release of a
prisoner with suspension of the sentence for a
specific period.
o Furlough is given in cases of long term
imprisonment. The period of furlough granted to a
prisoner is treated as remission (reduction) of his
sentence.
o Bail means procurement of release from prison of
a person awaiting trial or an appeal.
• non-statutory body under Ministry of Personnel, Pension
and Public Grievances
• estd in 1963 on recommendations of Santhanam
Committee.
• governed by Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE)
Act, 1946.
• Headed by CBI Director – appointed by selection
committee (PM, LoP(LS), CJI).
• To investigate crimes in states, CBI needs consent of the
states. It can be – general consent or case specific.
• Recently, states like WB, PB, MN withdrew general
consent.
• Estd in 1952
• Under Deptt of Revenue, Ministry of Finance
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 Final Lap 2024

• Headed by ED Director – appointed as per provisions of

CVC Act, 2003
• Responsible for enforcement of:
o Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA)
o Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA)
o Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA)
o COFEPOSA

Competition Commission of • Statutory body under Competition Act, 2003

India • Under Ministry of Corporate Affairs
• Replaced Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices
(MRTP) Commission
• Function: eliminate practices having adverse effects on
competition

e-governed State • Kerala – first fully e-governed state in India

• It has digitised govt services ensuring prompt and
transparent delivery to citizens.

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