Par panel bats for spl magistrates to deal with electoral

As electioneering in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur reaches is crescendo, the Parliamentary Committee on Law has asked the government to deploy special prosecutors and magistrates to handle cases of electoral disputes so that they are settled in a time-bound manner.
In its latest report tabled in Parliament yesterday, the Committee recommended that "cases registered during the (election) period should be handled by special prosecutors and magistrates in a time bound manner".
The Election Commission has told the Committee that it supports the recommendation.
"Recommendation of the Committee may be endorsed and it may be added that all cases of electoral offences should be vigorously pursued and taken to their logical conclusion and should not be withdrawn midway," the poll panel has been quoted as saying in the report of the standing committee.

The parliamentary panel said that in 1999, the Election Commission had written to the government and had proposed appointment of Additional Judges in the High Courts to try elections petitions for speedy disposal.
The Law Commission in its 255th Report on Electoral Reforms had also endorsed the Commission's proposal.

It had suggested amendments in election laws for the purpose.
The major laws dealing with elections in the country are the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which mainly deals with the preparation and revision of electoral rolls and the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which deals, in detail, with all aspects of conduct of elections and post-election disputes.

The Supreme Court has held that where the enacted laws are silent or make insufficient provision to deal with a given situation in the conduct of elections, the Election Commission has the residuary powers under the Constitution to act in an appropriate manner.
Any voter or candidate can file an election petition if he or she thinks there has been malpractice during the election. An election petition is not an ordinary civil suit, but treated as a contest in which the whole constituency is involved.
Election petitions are tried by the High Court of the state involved, and if upheld can even lead to the restaging of the election in that constituency.