What is Article 324 of Constitution of India

Under the Article 324 of the Indian Constitution, Election Commission of India gets the power to direct, control, and conduct elections to all Parliament, to the Legislature of every state and of elections to the offices of the President and Vice President held under the Constitution.

The Election Commission shall consist of the Chief Election Commissioner and such number of other Election Commissioners, if any, as the President of India may from time to time fix and the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners shall, subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by Parliament, be made by the President

The Article 324 came to light when Election Commission Wednesday banned campaigning in nine West Bengal constituencies from 10 pm Thursday night.

This was a first of such an unprecedented step where the Election Commission took this decision after the  recent violence in Kolkata in the last 24 hours after BJP and TMC (trinamool congress of west bengal) supporters clashed on the streets Tuesday.

Through its order, the Election Commission ruled that no person will be allowed to :

(a) convene, hold, attend, join or address any public meeting or procession in connection with an election,

(b) display to the public any election matter by means of cinematograph, television or similar apparatus, or

(c) propagate any election matter to the public by holding, or by arranging the holding of, any musical concert or any other entertainment with a view to attract members of the public”.

Election Commission also ordered the removal of Principal Secretary (Home) and Additional Director General, CID from their postings in West Bengal.

Part XV of the Constitution of India consists of Articles on Elections. Article 324 comes under the Part XV of the the Constitution of India.

In Mohinder Singh Gill & Anr vs The Chief Election Commissioner and Others (December 2, 1977), the Supreme court, held that Article 324 “operates in areas left unoccupied by legislation and the words ‘superintendence, direction and control’ as well as ‘conduct of all elections’ are the broadest terms“.

The Constitution of India has not defined these terms.

Click for more Current Affairs Issues

Click for Daily Adfree The Hindu Epaper PDF