JUDICIAL GUARDIANSHIP OF ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY: CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES AND EVOLVING JURISPRUDENCE IN INDIA

Abstract

This study explains how Indian courts shape elections through their decisions. It uses doctrinal research: reading the Constitution, the Representation of the People Acts, and leading Supreme Court judgments. The analysis shows a clear balance. Courts avoid stopping elections while they are underway, but give strong remedies after results. Key cases have been analysed as together they make “free and fair elections” a basic constitutional value, require candidate disclosures, restrict appeals to religion or caste, enforce immediate disqualification on conviction, and back electronic voting with paper audit trails. The chapter also explains the Election Commission’s wide but reviewable powers, the high bar for recounts, and the main remedies: setting aside an election, declaring another candidate elected, recounting, and issuing directions. Ongoing challenges include slow disposal of election petitions, uneven enforcement of disclosure rules and the Model Code of Conduct, and new risks from digital campaigning and misinformation.