61st Amendment Act, 1988
The voting age for elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies was lowered from 21 to 18 years old by the 61st Amendment Act of the Indian Constitution in 1988. The Lok Sabha and Assemblies elections are governed by Article 326 of the Indian Constitution, which was sought to be changed by the bill.
According to Article 326 of the Constitution, each State’s general assembly and House of the People elections must be held under the principles of adult suffrage, which means that candidates must be at least 21 years old. It has been discovered that numerous nations have set the legal drinking age at 18. In our nation, several state governments have established the voting age of 18 for local government elections.
The Lok Sabha debated the bill on December 14 and 15, 1988, passing it on December 15 after making an appropriate modification to replace the word “Sixty-second” in Clause 1 with “Sixty-first.” The Rajya Sabha considered the bill on December 16, 19, and 20, 1988, and on December 20, 1988, it adopted the Lok Sabha’s amendment.
What is the 61st Amendment of the Indian Constitution?
Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure is remembered for many important decisions. One of the most important decisions among them was to give the right to vote to the youth of 18 years. On December 20, 1988, the right to reduce the voting age was from 21 to 18 years. On December 20, 1988, legislation was approved in Parliament to reduce the voting age from 21 to 18 years. There was also opposition to this decision. However, according to him, youth power is necessary for nation-building. Rajiv Gandhi’s decision to reduce the voting age from 21 to 18 years increased 5 crores of young voters.