Candidate - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition candidate

Definition :

Candidate [fr. Candidatus, Lat., clothed in white], a competitor, one who solicits or proposes himself for a place or office. The name is derived from the toga candida in which competitors at Rome were habited. In the (English) Corrupt Practices Acts the expression has a specially extensive meaning. Corrupt and Illegal practices (English) Prevention Act, 1883, s. 63, by which, with a saving for a person nominated without his consent-

In the Corrupt Practices Prevention Acts, as amended by this Act, the expression 'candidate at an election' and the expression 'candidate' respectively mean, unless the context otherwise requires, any person, elected to serve in Parliament at such election, and any person who is nominated as a candidate at such election, or is declared by himself or by others to be a candidate on or after the day of the issue of the writ for such election, or after the dissolution or vacancy in consequence of which such writ has been issued.

Making certain false statements about a candidate is an illegal practice, and may also be restrained by injunction. [see (English) Municipal Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Practices) Act, 1911]

Article 71(3) which vests power in Parliament to regulate by law any matter relating to or connected with the election of a President or Vice-President is subject to the other provisions of the Constitution which include Article 58 but merely because a candidate is qualified under Article 58 it does not mean that he is exempt from compliance with the regulating the mode and manner in which nominations should be filed. If the petitioner does not comply with the requirements of such a law passed in exercise of the power under Article 71(3) he cannot properly claim to be duly nominated and he would not be a 'candidate' for election, Charan Lal Sahu v. Shri Fakruddin Ali Ahmed, (1975) 4 SCC 832: AIR 1975 SC 1288.

A person who has been or claims to have been duly nominated as a candidate at any election, and any such person shall be deemed to have been a candidate as from the time when, with the election in prospect, he began to hold himself out as a prospective candidate, Jyoti Basu v. Debi Ghosal (1982) 1 SCC 691: AIR 1982 SC 983: (1982) 2 SCR 318. [Representative of the People Act (43 of 1951), s. 82, 86(4), 87(1)]

In the matter of claim to candidacy, a person who claims to have been duly nominated is on par with a person who, in fact, was duly appointed, Charan Lal Sahu v. Giani Zail Singh (1984) 1 SCC 390: AIR 1984 SC 309: (1984) 2 SCR 6 (312). [Presidential and Vice Presidential Election Act (31 of 1952)]

'Candidate' means a person who has been nominated as a candidate, at any election. [Indian Penal Code 1860, s. 171A (a)]

A person who has been or claims to have been nominated as a candidate, at any election, and any such person shall be deemed to have been a candidate as from the time when, with the election in prospect, he began to hold himself out as a prospective candidate, Raj Krushna Bose v. Binod Kanungo, AIR 1954 SC 202 (204): 1954 SCR 913. [Representation of the People Act, 1951, s. 79(b)]