What is the 61st Amendment of the Indian Constitution?
By BYJU'S Exam Prep
Updated on: September 11th, 2023
The 61st Amendment of the Indian Constitution reduced the voting age in the Legislative Assemblies and the Lok Sabha from 21 to 18 years. In 1988, the Constitution (61st Amendment) Act was enacted to amend Article 326 of the Indian constitution.
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61st Amendment Act in the Constitution
On December 13, 1988, the Constitution (Second Amendment) Bill, 1988, which would have implemented The Constitution (Sixty-first Amendment) Act, was introduced in the Lok Sabha (Bill No. 129 of 1988).
B. Shankaranand, the water resources minister at the time, introduced it. Article 326 of the Indian Constitution, which deals with elections for the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies using adult suffrage, was amended by the proposed bill.
- After introducing the 61st amendment to the Indian constitution, the voting age was officially reduced from 21 to 18 years for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies.
- First introduced on 13 December 1988 by B. Shankaranand, the bill was debated in the Lok Sabha on 14 and 15 December 1988 and was officially passed on 20 December 1988.
- The Lok Sabha debated the bill on December 14 and 15, 1988, and on December 15, 1988, it was passed after adopting a formal amendment to change the word “Sixty-second” in Clause 1 of the bill to “Sixty-first.”
- The Rajya Sabha debated the bill on December 16, 19, and 20, 1988, and on December 20, 1988, it adopted the Lok Sabha’s amendment.
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