Question

The minimum age prescribed to avail voting rights was reduced to 18 years from 21 years in 1989 by the ______________________.
(A) 42nd Constitutional Amendment
(B) 44th Constitutional Amendment
(C) 61st Constitutional Amendment
(D) 73rd Constitutional Amendment

Answer 1

Hint: We need to know what constitutional amendment is and analyses each of the given amendments. Constitutional Amendments are changes or modifications of supreme constitutional laws made by directly altering the text written in the Constitution. These are enacted by gaining majorities in a legislature. A Constitutional Amendment can be initiated only by the introduction of a Bill in either House of Parliament. The Bill must then be passed in each House and earn a special majority of at least 2/3 of the total membership of the house.

Complete answer:
Let us analyze what changes were made in each of the given amendments.
(A) 42nd Constitutional Amendment: The 42nd Constitutional Amendment simply modified the description of India from a "sovereign democratic republic" to a "sovereign, socialist secular democratic republic".
(B) 44th Constitutional Amendment: The 44th Constitutional Amendment in 1978, passed by the ruling Janata Party at that time, to undo any changes that were brought about in the 42nd amendment during the time of emergency under the ruling of Indira Gandhi.
(C) 61st Constitutional Amendment: The voting rights were reduced from 21 to 18 in the year 1988. This was achieved under the 61st Constitutional Amendment Act of India by amending Article 326 of the Constitution.
(D) 73rd Constitutional Amendment: The 73th Amendment Constitutional proposes the Gram Sabha as the foundation of the Panchayat Raj System to perform functions and powers entrusted to it by the State Legislatures.
So, the correct answer is Option C.

Note: The 61st Constitutional Amendment Bill was introduced by B.Shankaranand. It gained the majority and was passed by the Lok Sabha on 15th December 1988 and passed the Rajya Sabha on 20th December 1988. On 28th March 1989, it came into force under the President of India, Ramaswamy Venkataraman (at that time). Only 5 out of the 25 existing State Legislatures at that time did not support the Amendment Bill.