UPSC Prelims 2017 · Question 7 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2017 question on Lok Sabha Nomination Eligibility
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2017
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectPolity
- TopicConstitutional Bodies
- DifficultyEasy
- TypeDirect
For election to the Lok Sabha, a nomination paper can be filed by
Show answer
Answer: C. any citizen of India whose name appears in the electoral roll of a constituency.
Verdict
The answer is any citizen of India whose name appears in the electoral roll of a constituency.
Analysis
To contest a Lok Sabha election a person must be a citizen of India, must be not less than twenty five years of age, and must be registered as an elector for a parliamentary constituency. Registration as an elector somewhere is therefore the operative requirement. The first option is too wide because residence is not citizenship. The second is too narrow because a candidate need not be an elector in the very constituency contested, only in some parliamentary constituency. The fourth omits the electoral roll requirement altogether.
Source
M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity, chapter on Parliament.
How to crack it
When three of the four options describe overlapping levels of the same requirement, rank them from widest to narrowest and locate the exact statutory line rather than choosing on plausibility. Here the ladder runs from resident, to citizen, to citizen on any electoral roll, to elector of that constituency, and the law sits at the third rung. Remembering that the Rajya Sabha domicile requirement was removed in 2003 helps, because it establishes that Indian election law does not tie candidates to a particular place.