Article 326

Article 326 of the Constitution is the provision that guarantees elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies are held on the basis of universal adult franchise.

• It's the specific legal anchor for a principle that might otherwise just be a political promise — writing it into the Constitution means no future government can quietly narrow who gets to vote.
• Article 326 sets the voting age at 18 (lowered from 21 by a later constitutional amendment in 1988), and bars disqualification on grounds like caste, religion, sex, or economic status.
• It applies specifically to Lok Sabha and state assembly elections — local body elections in villages and cities are governed by separate provisions and overseen by State Election Commissions instead.
• Knowing which Article does the work is useful beyond trivia: it's the kind of provision courts point to whenever an election rule is challenged for unfairly excluding a group of voters.