MUMBAI, Jan 5: Following a series of amendments to the Representation of People Act, there will be drastic changes in the election process during the ensuing mid-term polls.Chief Electoral Officer D K Shankaran told media persons today that the nomination of a candidate for election to the Parliament will be required to be subscribed by one proposer if he/she has been set up by a recognised political party.In case of independent or nominees of the unrecognised political parties, his/her candidature will have to be subscribed by 10 proposers from the constituency. Secondly, no person shall be nominated as a candidate from more than two Parliamentary constituencies.The security deposit amount too has been increased to Rs 10,000 for open category candidates and Rs 5,000 for scheduled caste or scheduled tribe nominees, Shankaran added.The ballot papers will also witness major changes. As against the practice of printing the names of candidates in alphabetical order, now there will be three blocks on the ballot papers. The first block will be for recognised political parties, second for unrecognised but registered parties and the third block will be for independent candidates.Shankaran said the Election Commission has prescribed an affidavit to be filed by every candidate stating that he has not been convicted in any criminal case. Replying to a question, Shankaran said Maharashtra witnessed an increase of 1.72 per cent in the number of electorates. Currently the number of electorates is 5.62 crore, which is about 9.51 lakh more than during the previous elections to Parliament.
