Polity & Governance CA One Year 2019-20 Set-1 – Free PDF Download

1. NPP given National Party Status.
2. JJP given State Party Status.
3. Increase in the number of supreme court judges.
4. Pardoning powers of a president.

Q) Consider the following statements :

A) There are 8 national parties in India.

B) National party status once given can’t be revoked.

C) If a party has “State party” status in minimum 4 states, it qualifies as a national party.

Options :

1. A & C are correct
2. B & C are correct
3. Only B is correct
4. Only C is correct

National Party status ::

Parties :-

1. Indian National Congress (INC).
2. BJP.
3. BSP.
4. CPI.
5. Communist Party of India (Marxist).
6. TMC.
7. NCP.
8. National People’s Party.

• The National People’s Party (NPP) was recognised as the 8^th national party by the Election Commission of India, making it the first regional party of the north-east to be accorded the status.
• The National People’s Party (NPP) was founded in 2013 by the current Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s father and former Lok Sabha Speaker, late PA Sangma.

Conditions for Recognition as a National Party :-

• A party is recognised as a national party if any of the following conditions is fulfilled as per Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
• If it secures 6 % of valid votes polled in any four or more states at a general election to the Lok Sabha or to the legislative assembly; and, in addition, it wins four seats in the Lok Sabha from any  state or states; Or
• at a general election; and these candidates are elected from threIf it wins two per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha e states; Or
• If it is recognised as a state party in four states.

Conditions for Recognition as a State Party :-

• A party is recognised as a state party in a state if any of the following conditions is fulfilled.
• If it secures 6% of the valid votes polled in the state at a general election to the legislative assembly of the state concerned; and, in addition, it wins 2 seats in the assembly of the state concerned; Or
• If it secures 6% of the valid votes polled in the state at a general election to the Lok Sabha from the state concerned; and, in addition, it wins 1 seat in the Lok Sabha from the state concerned. Or
• If it wins 3% of seats in the legislative assembly at a general election to the legislative assembly of the state concerned or 3 seats in the assembly, whichever is more; Or
• If it wins 1 seat in the Lok Sabha for every 25 seats or any fraction thereof allotted to the state at a general election to the Lok Sabha from the state concerned. Or
• If it secures 8% of the total valid votes polled in the state at a General Election to the Lok Sabha from the state or to the legislative assembly of the state. This condition was added in 2011.

NPP was given the national party status for fulfilling the following conditions:

1. In the general election to the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal, the party polled 14.55% (Polling more than 6% of the total valid votes in the last general election) of the valid votes.  The NPP, in addition, won five out of the sixty seats in the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh. Based on above mentioned two criteria, the party fulfilled the requirements for recognition  as State Party in the State of Arunachal Pradesh.
2. Thereby, after its recognition as State party in Arunachal Pradesh, it has become a recognized State party in four States i.e. Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Thus the Party  fulfilled the eligibility condition for being recognized as National Party. Further, as per the request  of the Party, the symbol “Book” has been allotted as the reserved symbol for the ‘National People’s  Party’.

Benefits:

1. If a party is recognised as a State Party’, it is entitled for exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates set up by it in the State in which it is so recognised, and if a party is recognised as  a `National Party’ it is entitled for exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates set  up by it throughout India.
2. They also get broadcast/telecast facilities over Akashvani/Doordarshan during general elections.
3. Political parties are entitled to nominate “Star Campaigners” during General Elections. A recognized National or State party can have a maximum of 40 “Star campaigners” and a registered un-recognised party can nominate a maximum of 20 ‘Star Campaigners”. The travel expenses of star  campaigners are not to be accounted for in the election expense accounts of candidates of their

• Comminist Party of India is likely to lose its National Party Status after it won just two Lok Sabha seats in recently concluded General Elections.
• The CPI along with the BSP and NCP were facing prospects of losing their National Party Status after 2014 LS Elections as well. However, they got a reprieve as the Election Commission in 2016 amended its  rules, whereby it will review.

JJP gets State Party Status :-

• Deputy Chief Minister Jannayak Janta Party-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has been recognised as a ‘state party’ in Haryana by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
• Accepting the JJP’s request, the ECI has allotted ‘key’ as the ‘reserved symbol’ of the party in the state.
• JJP won 10 out of 90 Assembly seats in the Assembly elections held in October 2019.

Judges of the supreme court ::

• Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Bill of 2019.
• Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to increase the strength of judges in Supreme Court from the present 31 to 34 (i.e. by 10%), including Chief Justice of India (CJI).
• Cabinet has approved a bill to amend the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956.
• The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 originally provided for a maximum of ten judges (excluding the CJI).
• This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 in 1977.
• The working strength of the Supreme Court was, however, restricted to 15 judges by the cabinet (excluding the chief Justice of India) till the end of 1979. But the restriction was withdrawn at the request  of the chief justice of India. In 1986, the strength of the top court was increased to 25, excluding the CJI.  Subsequently, the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2009 further augmented the  strength of the court from 25 to 30.

Q) Consider the following statements about judge of the supreme court.

A) He can resign his office by writing to the Chief Justice of India.

B) The Removal of Supreme Court judge is based on two grounds – proved misbehavior or incapacity.

C) The President can appoint a judge of the Supreme Court as an acting Chief Justice of India.

Options :

1. A & C are correct
2. B & C are correct
3. A & B are correct
4. Only A is correct

Supreme court judge Eligibility Criteria :-

• The Indian Constitution says in Article 124 [3] that in order to be appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court of India, the person has to fit in the following criteria:
• He/She is a citizen of India and has been for at least five years a Judge of a High Court
• or has been for at least ten years an advocate of a High Court or is, in the opinion of the President, a distinguished jurist.

Appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court :-

• The judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President. The CJI is appointed by the President after consultation with such judges of the Supreme Court and high courts as he deems necessary.
• The other judges are appointed by the President after consultation with the CJI and such other judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts as he deems necessary.
• The consultation with the chief justice is obligatory in the case of appointment of a judge other than Chief justice but the consultation with Chief Justice is not binding on the President.

Tenure of Judges :-

• The Constitution has not fixed the tenure of a judge of the Supreme Court. However, there are 3 provisions in this regard:
• He holds office until he attains the age of 65 years. Any question
• He can resign his office by writing to the President.
• He can be removed from his office by the President on the recommendation of the Parliament.

Removal of Judges of the Supreme Court :-

• Article 124(4) mentions Removal regulations of the Supreme court judge
• A judge of the Supreme Court can be removed from his office by an order of the President.
• The President can issue the removal order only after an address by Parliament has been presented to him in the same session for such removal.
• The address must be supported by a special majority of each House of Parliament (ie, a majority of the total membership of that House and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House  present and voting).
• The grounds of removal are two—proved misbehaviour or incapacity.
• No judge of the Supreme Court has been impeached so far. Impeachment motions of
• Justice V Ramaswami (1991–1993) and Justice Dipak Misra (2017-18) were defeated in the Parliament.

Q) Consider the following statements about pardoning powers of the president

A) Article 72 of the Constitution empowers the President to grant pardons to persons who have been tried and convicted

B) Granting of clemency by the President or Governor can be challenged in court

C) The pardoning power of the Governor is under Article 161 of the Constitution

Options :

1. All are correct
2. B & C are correct
3. A & B are correct
4. Only A is correct

• President commutes 20 death sentences in 9 years.

• Article 72 of the Constitution empowers the President to grant pardons to persons who have been tried and convicted of any o”ence in all cases where the:

1. Punishment or sentence for an o”ence against a Union Law
2. Punishment or sentence is by a court-martial (military court)
3. Punishment is a Death sentence.

• Pardon: It removes both the sentence and the conviction and completely absolves the convict from all sentences, punishments, and disqualifications.
• Commutation: It denotes the substitution of one form of punishment with a lighter form of punishment. For example, a death sentence may be commuted to rigorous imprisonment.
• Remission: It implies reducing the period of the sentence without changing its character. For example, a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for five years may be remitted to rigorous imprisonment for one year.
• Respite: It denotes awarding a lesser sentence in place of one originally awarded due to some special fact, such as the physical disability of a convict or the pregnancy of a woman o”ender.
• Reprieve: It implies a stay of the execution of a sentence (especially that of death) for a temporary Its purpose is to enable the convict to have time to seek pardon or commutation from the President.

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