Government of India Act 1935

PART VII Bihar.

General requirement as to residence.

1 (1) No person shall be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for a territorial constituency unless he resides in the constituency.

(2) A person shall be deemed to reside within a constituency if he ordinarily lives therein, or has his family dwelling therein which he occasionally occupies, or maintains therein a dwelling-house ready for occupation which he occasionally occupies.

Qualifications dependent on taxation.

2 Subject to the provisions of Part I of this Schedule and to any overriding provisions of this Part of this Schedule, a person shall be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for a territorial constituency if he was assessed during the previous financial year to income tax or was, in the previous financial year, assessed to an aggregate amount of not less than one rupee eight annas in respect of municipal tax or is assessed, otherwise than in the Santal Parganas, to chaukidari tax of an annual amount of not less than nine annas :

Provided that, in relation to the original preparation of electoral rolls and revisions thereof within three years from the commencement of Part III of this Act, this paragraph shall have effect as if there were substituted for the reference to nine annas a reference to twelve annas.

Qualifications dependent on property.

3 Subject as aforesaid, a person shall also be qualified to be included in the electoral roll of any territorial constituency if he either—

(a) occupies land or buildings situate in the notified area of Jamshedpur in respect of which he is liable to pay an annual rent of not less than twenty-four rupees; or

(b) holds land in the Province, not situated in the notified area of Jamshedpur or an area in which municipal tax or chaukidari tax is levied, for which he is liable to pay a rent of not less than six rupees per annum or a local cess of not less than three annas:

Provided that in relation to land within the Santal Parganas this paragraph shall have effect as if there were substituted for the reference to six rupees, in relation to the original preparation of electoral rolls and revisions thereof within three years from the commencement of Part III of this Act, a reference to five rupees, and thereafter a reference to three rupees eight annas.

Educational qualification.

4 Subject as aforesaid, a person shall also be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for any territorial constituency if he is proved, in the prescribed manner, to have passed the matriculation examination of any prescribed university or an examination prescribed as at least equivalent to any such examination or, if it is so prescribed, any other prescribed examination not lower than a final middle school examination.

Qualification by reason of service in His Majesty's forces.

5 Subject as aforesaid, a person shall also be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for any territorial constituency if he is a retired, pensioned or discharged officer, non-commissioned officer or soldier of His Majesty's regular military forces.

Additional qualification for wome.

6 Subject as aforesaid, a person who is a woman shall also be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for any territorial constituency if she is the pensioned widow or pensioned mother of a person who was an officer, non-commissioned officer or soldier of His Majesty's regular military forces, or if her husband possesses the qualifications requisite for the purposes of this paragraph, or if she is shown in the prescribed manner to be literate:

Provided that, in relation to the original preparation of electoral rolls and revisions thereof within three years from the commencement of Part III of this Act, this paragraph shall have effect as if the words " or if she is shown in the prescribed manner to be literate " were omitted therefrom.

7 A husband shall be deemed to possess the qualifications requisite for the purposes of the last preceding paragraph if—

(a) in the previous financial year he was assessed to income tax; or

(b) he is a retired, pensioned or discharged officer, noncommissioned officer or soldier of His Majesty's regular military forces; or

(c) he was in the previous financial year assessed in the Province to an aggregate amount of not less than three rupees in respect of municipal tax; or

(d) he is assessed in the Province, otherwise than in the Santal Parganas, to an annual sum of not less than two rupees eight annas in respect of chaukidari tax; or

(e) he occupies land or buildings situate in the notified area of Jamshedpur in respect of which he is liable to pay rent of not less than one hundred and forty-four rupees per annum; or

(f) he holds land in the Province, not situated in the notified area of Jamshedpur or an area in which municipal tax or chaukidari tax is levied, in respect of which he is liable to pay rent of not less than twenty-four rupees per annum or a local cess of not less than twelve annas.

Special provisions as to Muhammadan women's constituency.

8 No man shall be included in the electoral roll for, or be entitled to vote at any election in, any Muhammadan constituency specially formed for the election of a person to fill the seat reserved for women.

Interpretation, &c.

9 (1) In this Schedule, in relation to Bihar—

• " municipal tax " means a tax or rate levied in a municipality constituted under the Bihar and Orissa Municipal Act, 1922, in an area in respect of which a notification has issued under section three hundred and eighty-eight of that Act, or in a cantonment, or in the area administered by the Patna Administration Committee;

• " chaukidari tax " means any tax levied under the Village Chaukidari Act, 1870, the Chota Nagpur Rural Police Act, 1914, or section thirty of the Bihar and Orissa Village Administration Act, 1922.

(2) Where property is held or payments are made jointly by, or assessments are made jointly on, the members of a joint family, the family shall be adopted as the unit for deciding whether the requisite qualification exists and, if it does exist, the person qualified shall be, in the case of a Hindu joint family, the manager thereof, and in other cases the member authorised in that behalf by the family themselves.

(3) Where property is held or payments are made jointly by, or assessments are made jointly on, persons other than the members of a joint family, all such persons shall be regarded as a single person for deciding whether the requisite qualification exists, and if it does exist, then, subject to the provisions of Part I of this Schedule and to any overriding provisions of this Part of this Schedule, one and one only of those persons shall be qualified and the person to be qualified shall be selected in the prescribed manner.