What is the B-Form?

• Rakesh Dubbudu

There is a host of forms one needs to fill for contesting an election in the country. One of these forms is called the Form-B or more commonly known as the B-Form. But, what is this form all about? Why is so much importance attached to this form?

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There is every chance that you must have heard about  the B-Form during elections. This is probably the most important form for any citizen planning to contest elections on a party ticket. But what is a B-Form or Form-B?

Filing the Nomination
Once the elections have been notified by the Election Commission, interested candidates file their nomination. Nomination Paper has different formats for different elections.

• Nomination Paper in Form 2A for contesting election to the Lok Sabha
• Nomination Paper in Form 2B for contesting election to the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly).
• Nomination Paper in Form 2C for contesting election to the Rajya Sabha

Similarly there are other forms for contesting the Legislative Council elections and some special forms for certain Assembly constituencies in Sikkim.

An Affidavit has to be filed along with the Nomination Form
The affidavit in form 26 has to be filed along with the nomination papers. The affidavit contains the following information of the candidates

• Particulars relating to criminal antecedents, if any, (cases of convictions and all pending cases)
• Details of PAN and status of filing of Income tax return (ITR) of self, spouse and dependents. The recent amendments have made it mandatory for candidates to disclose to income as declared in the ITR for the last five years along with those of the spouse, dependents and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)  where the candidate is  a Coparcener
• Details of the assets (movable and immovable etc.). The recent amendments have made it mandatory for candidates to also disclose details of all deposits or investments in Foreign banks and any other  institution abroad, and details of all assets and liabilities in foreign countries
• Liabilities/dues of candidate, spouse and all dependents to government and public financial institutions
• Details of profession or occupation of candidate and spouse
• Highest educational qualification of the candidate
• Contact details including telephone number, e-mail ID, social media accounts etc.
• Profession & Sources of Income of self & spouse

The candidates are required to fill up all columns in this form and no column can be left blank. If there is no information about any of the items, remarks such as ‘NIL’ or ‘Not Applicable’ or ‘Not Known’ has to be indicated in those columns. If a candidate fails to fill the blanks, the nomination paper is liable to be rejected by the Returning Officer at the time of scrutiny of nomination papers.

For more details on form-26 and the details to be filled in that form, go through this detailed story.

Then what is the B-Form?
In the relevant nomination form, candidates indicate if they are put up by a political party or contesting the election as an independent.

Those candidates, who indicate that they are put up by a political party, are required to submit two other forms in addition to the forms above, to prove that they are indeed put up by a political party.

• • Form A: This form indicates the list of persons who are authorized to sign the Form-B that contains the names of Candidates put up by political parties. This form has to be signed by the President or the Secretary of the Political Party along with the seal of the party. This form also has specimen signatures of the authorized persons. For instance, the following ‘Form A’ has the signature of well known Telugu actor turned politician Pawan Kalyan, the president of Janasena Party, authorizing him to sign the Form-B.

• Form B: Form B or more commonly known as the B-Form is signed by the authorized person of the party indicating the name of the candidate who is put up by that political party. The filled in form has to be provided in a specific format. The form also has a provision to name a substitute in case the nomination of the approved candidate is rejected.This form is proof that a particular candidate is put up by a political party. The B-Form ensures that he is allotted the reserved symbol of the political party along with all the other advantages that come with the reserved symbol.

A candidate will be considered an independent and will not be allotted the reserved symbol of the party unless his name is mentioned in the B-Form. Hence a lot of importance is attached to the B-Form and it is often given at the last minute to avoid rebels etc.

For instance, in the B-Form of Janasena president & Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan, no substitute is named.

In the following B-Form issued by the Congress party for a Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana, a substitute is named.