• Consolidated Fund of India

Article 266(1) of the Constitution provides for the establishment of the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) and the Consolidated Fund of States(CFS).

What forms the CFI?

1. All the tax revenues received by the Union government, including both the direct and the indirect tax revenues.
2. All the non-tax revenues received by the Union government such as dividends from the Public Sector Undertakings(PSU), license fees, interest received by the Union on the loans provided, etc.
3. Loans raised by the Union government by the issuance of treasury bills.
4. Internal and external borrowings by the Union government.
5. Repayment of loans to the Union government.

No amount can be withdrawn from the CFI without the authorisation of the Parliament.

What forms the CFS?

1. All the tax revenues received by the State government, including both the direct and the indirect tax revenues.
2. All the non-tax revenues received by the State government such as dividends from the Public Sector Undertakings(PSU), license fees, interest received by the State government on the loans provided, etc.
3. Loans raised by the State government by the issuance of treasury bills.
4. Internal and external borrowings by the State government.
5. Repayment of loans to the State government.

No amount can be withdrawn from the CFS without the authorisation of the respective State Legislatures.

• Contingency Fund of India

Article 267(1) of the Constitution provides for the establishment of the Contingency Fund of India. Unlike the Consolidated Fund of India, the Contingency Fund is maintained for a specific purpose that is, to meet the unforeseen urgent expenditures. A corpus of ₹ 500 crores is maintained in this fund. The President is authorised to make advances from this fund without the prior permission of the Parliament. Similarly, article 267(2) provides for the establishment of the Contingency Fund of State and the Governor is authorised to make advances from this fund without the prior permission of the State Legislature.

24. ELECTIONS

• Introduction

Articles 324 to 329 in Part XV of the constitution deal with the electoral system in India. Article 324 provides for the establishment of the Election Commission of India(ECI), an independent body endowed with the responsibility of conducting free and fair elections to the Parliament, the state legislatures, the offices of President and Vice President. The constitution abolished the system of separate electorates and established equality of all citizens in the matters of electoral franchise. The Parliament can make provisions with respect to all the matters relating to elections to the Parliament and the state legislatures. The state legislatures can also make provisions with respect to matters relating to the elections to state legislatures such as the preparation of electoral rolls and other matters. But they cannot override the legislations of Parliament. The orders of the Delimitation Commission cannot be questioned in the courts. Article 323B empowers the Parliament and the state legislatures to establish a tribunal for the adjudication of election disputes. No such tribunal has been instituted so far.

• Election Machinery

1. Article 324 provides for the establishment of the ECI. It consists of a Chief Election Commissioner and two other Election Commissioners, appointed by the President.
2. The ECI nominates or designates an officer of the state government or the Union Territory(UT) administration as the Chief Electoral Officer of the state or UT in consultation with the state government or the UT administration.
3. The ECI nominates or designates an officer of the state government as the District Election Officer(DEO) to supervise the election process in the district in consultation with the state government.
4. The ECI nominates or designates an officer of the government or a local authority as the Returning Officer(RO) for a Parliamentary or an assembly constituency. The ECI appoints one or more assistant Returning Officers to assist the RO.
5. The ECI appoints an officer of the government or a local authority as the Electoral Registration Officer(ERO) for the preparation of the electoral rolls in consultation with the state government or the UT administration.
6. The DEO appoints a Presiding Officer(PO) for every polling station. The PO is assisted by polling officers appointed by the DEO. In case of an UT, the PO and the polling officers are appointed by the Returning Officer.
7. The ECI nominates officers of government as ‘Observes’ who observe election expenditure and other general matters and report directly to the ECI.