Mohinder Singh Gill case
Also called: Mohinder Singh Gill v. Chief Election Commissioner (1978) · Topic: Elections and the Electoral System · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
This is a 1978 Supreme Court judgment, Mohinder Singh Gill v. Chief Election Commissioner. It held that Article 324 is a "reservoir" of power, a stock of power the Election Commission can draw on where election laws are silent. This lets the ECI handle new situations that no law foresaw. The power has limits: the ECI must act fairly and must stay within the laws made by Parliament. The case is the basis for much of the ECI's day-to-day authority.
Example
The Model Code of Conduct, the rules on how parties and governments behave during elections, is not a law. The ECI enforces it through its Article 324 powers, as this judgment allows.
Don't confuse with
- A.C. Jose case (1984): this case marked the limit of the reservoir. The ECI could not bring in EVMs on its own without a law, so where Parliament's law governs, the ECI cannot go beyond it.
Related concepts
- Gujarat election reference
- Chief Electoral Officer
- District Election Officer
- Returning Officer
- Presiding Officer
- Election observers