CIVICS

ELECTORAL POLITICS
Elections: An election is a process through which people choose their representatives at regular intervals.
In an election, the voters make many choices:

• They can choose who will make laws for them.

• They can choose who will form the government and take major decisions.
• They can choose the party whose policies will guide the government and law-making.

What Makes an Election Democratic?

[ques: What are the minimum conditions needed for a democratic election?]

The minimum conditions of a democratic election include the following points.

1. Everyone should be able to choose their own representative through one vote and every vote
should have equal value.
2. Parties and candidates should be free to contest elections and should offer some real choice to the
voters.
3. Elections must be held regularly after every few years.
4. The candidate preferred by the people should get elected.
5. Elections should be conducted in a free and fair manner where people can choose as they really
wish.
Political competition is good for people as:

[ques: How political competition motivates the political leaders to serve the people?]

1. Regular electoral competition provides incentives to political parties and leaders.

2. Political parties know that if they raise issues that people want to be raised, their popularity and
chances of victory will increase in the next elections. On the contrary, if they fail to satisfy the voters
with their work, they will not be able to win again.
3. If a political party is motivated only by the desire to be in power, despite that, it will be forced to
serve the people.
Political competition not good for people as:

• It creates a sense of disunity and ‘factionalism’ in every locality

• Different political parties and leaders often level allegations against one another.
• Parties and candidates often use dirty tricks to win elections.
• The pressure to win electoral fights does not allow sensible long-term policies to be formulated.
• good people who may wish to serve the country do not enter this arena as they do not like the idea
of being dragged into unhealthy competition.

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What Is Our System of Election?

Elections are held in India in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha (Assembly) regularly after every five years. After
five years, the term of all the elected representatives comes to an end and the Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha
stands ‘dissolved’.

Elections held in all constituencies at the same time, either on the same day or within a few days, are
called General Elections.

Sometimes elections are held only for one constituency to fill the vacancy caused by the death or
resignation of a member. This is called a By-Election.

Electoral Constituency

India is divided into different areas for the purpose of elections. These areas are called electoral
constituencies. The voters living in an area elect one representative.

• For the Lok Sabha elections, India is divided into 543 constituencies. The representative elected
from each constituency is called a Member of Parliament or an MP.
• Each state is divided into a specific number of Assembly constituencies. In this case, the elected
representative is called the Member of the Legislative Assembly or an MLA. Each Parliamentary
constituency has within it several assembly constituencies.
• Each village or town is divided into several ‘wards’ that are like constituencies. Each ward elects one
member of the village or the urban local body. Sometimes these constituencies are counted as
‘seats’, for each constituency represents one seat in the assembly.

Reserved Constituencies

Some constituencies are reserved for people who belong to the Scheduled Castes [SC] and Scheduled
Tribes [ST] are called Reserved Constituencies.

 In the Lok Sabha, 84 seats are reserved for the SC and 47 for the ST.
 In many states, seats in rural (panchayat) and urban (municipalities and corporations) local bodies
are now reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBC).
 one-third of the seats are reserved in rural and urban local bodies for women candidates

Why Constitution makers made Reserved Constituencies?

• The Constitution were worried that in an open electoral competition, certain weaker sections may
not stand a good chance to get elected to the Lok Sabha and the state Legislative Assemblies.
• They may not have the required resources, education and contacts to contest and win elections
against others.
• Those who are influential and resourceful may prevent them from winning elections.
• Depriving our Parliament and Assemblies the voice of a significant section of our population making
our democracy less representative and less democratic.

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Voters’ List

• In a democratic election, the list of those who are eligible to vote is prepared much before the
election and given to everyone, which is officially called the Electoral Roll and is commonly known
as the Voters’ List.
• It is the responsibility of the government to get the names of all the eligible voters put on the
voters’ list. As new persons attain voting age names are added to the voters’ list and those who
move out of a place or are dead are deleted from the list.
• A complete revision of the list takes place every five years.
• The voters are required to carry Election Photo Identity Card [EPIC] when they go out to vote so
that no one can vote for someone else. But the card is not yet compulsory for voting as voters can
show many other proofs of identity.

• Criminals and persons with unsound mind are denied the right to vote.

Significance of voter’s list

➢ This is an important step for it is linked to the first condition of a democratic election that
everyone should get an equal opportunity to choose representatives.

➢ Every citizen has the right to vote, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated,
regardless of his or her caste, religion or gender.

➢ In universal adult franchise, everyone should have one vote and each vote should have
equal value as all of them are human beings with their own needs and views. That is why all
of them deserve to have an equal say in decisions that affect them.

Nomination of Candidates

• Anyone who can be a voter can also become a candidate in elections.

• The candidate should be a minimum of 25 years of age.
• Political parties nominate their candidates who get the party symbol and support. Party’s
nomination is often called party ‘ticket’
• Every person who wishes to contest an election has to fill out a ‘nomination form’ and give some
money as a ‘security deposit’.
[Ques: should a citizen do if he or she wants to contest the elections?]
• A new system of declaration has been introduced on direction from the Supreme Court were
candidate has to make a legal declaration, giving full details of:

1. Serious criminal cases pending against the candidate,

2. Details of the assets and liabilities of the candidate and his or her family
3. Educational qualifications of the candidate.
This information is made available to the public so that voters can make their decision on the basis of the
information provided by the candidates.

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Election Campaign

• The election campaigns are conducted to have a free and open discussion about who is a better
Representative and, in turn, which party will make a better government.
• In India, Election Campaigns take place for a two-week period between the announcement of the
final list of candidates and the date of polling.
• During this period, the candidates contact their voters, political leaders address election meetings
and political parties mobilise their supporters.
• In election campaigns, political parties try to focus public attention on some big issues that get
them to vote for their party on that basis.

• Some of the successful slogans given by different political parties in various elections:

1. Garibi Hatao: given by Indira Gandhi(congress) in 1971 promising to reorient all the policies
of the government to remove poverty from the country.
2. Save Democracy: given by Janata Party under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan in 1977
promising to undo the excesses committed during Emergency and restore civil liberties.
3. Land to the Tiller: used by left front in 1977 in Bengal assembly elections
4. Protect the Self-Respect of the Telugus: used by N. T. Rama Rao, the leader of the Telugu
Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections in 1983.

• According to India’s Election Law, no party or candidate can:

➢ Bribe or threaten voters.
➢ Appeal to them in the name of caste or religion.
➢ Use government resources for election campaigns.
➢ Spend more than 25 lahks in a constituency for a Lok Sabha election or more than 10 lahks
in a constituency in an Assembly election.
If any political party does so, their election can be rejected by the court.

• According to Model Code of Conduct no party or candidate can:

1. Use any place of worship for election propaganda.
2. Use government vehicles, aircraft and officials for election.
3. Once elections are announced, ministers shall not lay the foundation stones for any
projects, take any big policy decisions or make any promises of providing public facilities.

Polling and Counting of Votes

The final stage of an election when the voters cast or ‘poll’ their vote is called election day.
The voting is done in the following manner.

1. Every person whose name is on the voters’ list can go to a nearby polling booth.
2. Once the voter goes inside the booth, the election officials identify her, put a mark on her finger and
allow her to cast her vote.
3. An agent of each candidate is allowed to sit inside the polling booth and ensure that the voting
takes place in a fair way.
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Two methods of voting:

1. A ballot paper is a sheet of paper on which the names of the contesting candidates, along with
party names and symbols, are listed. The ballot paper was used earlier.
2. Electronic voting machines (EVM) are used to record votes.

• The machine shows the names of the candidates and the party symbols.
• The voter has to just press the button against the name of the candidate she wants to give her vote
to.
• Once the polling is over, all the EVMs are sealed and taken to a secure place.
• A few days later, all the EVMs are opened, and the votes secured by each candidate are counted.
• The candidate who secures the highest number of votes from a constituency is declared elected.
Unfair practices in elections

Newspapers and television reports often put allegations on candidates of using unfair practices in elections
such as:
 Inclusion of false names and exclusion of genuine names in the voters’ list;
 Misuse of government facilities and officials by the ruling party;
 Excessive use of money by rich candidates and big parties
 Intimidation of voters and rigging on the polling day.

What Makes Election in India Democratic?

1) Independent Election Commission
• In India, elections are conducted by an independent body the Election Commission (EC).
• The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is appointed by the President of India.
Powers of the election commission:
1- EC takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and control of elections, from the announcement of
elections to the declaration of results.
2- It implements the Code of Conduct and punishes any candidate or party that violates it.
3- During the election period, the EC can order the government to follow some guidelines, to prevent
the use and misuse of governmental power to enhance its chances of winning elections or to
transfer some government officials.
4- When on election duty, government officers work under the control of the EC and not the
government.

Ques: In which way does the Election Commission enjoy the same kind of independence as the judiciary?
Answer: The Election Commission enjoys the same kind of independence that the judiciary enjoys.

• The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is appointed by the President of India but, once appointed, he is not
answerable to the President or the government.
• It is virtually impossible for it to remove the Chief Election Commissioner.
• Election Commission can reprimand the government and administration for their lapses
• When election officials come to the opinion that polling was not fair in some booths or even an entire
constituency, they order a repoll.
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2) Popular Participation
• The quality of the election process can also be checked by seeing the participation of people.
• People’s participation in the election is measured by voter turnout figures. Turnout indicates the
per cent of eligible voters who actually cast their vote.
• People’s participation in India:
[ques: What are the changing trends of people’s participation in elections in India?]

 In India, the poor, illiterate and underprivileged people vote in larger proportion as
compared to the rich and privileged sections.
 Common people in India feel that through elections, they can bring pressure on political
parties to adopt policies and programmes favourable to them.
 The interest of voters in election-related activities has been increasing over the years.
 More than half of the people identified themselves as being close to one or the other
political party

3) Acceptance of Election Outcome

One final test of the freedom and fairness of the election is the outcome of the election.

[ques: how does the outcome of India’s elections speaks for itself?]

1. The ruling parties routinely lose elections in India both at the national and state level.
2. In the US, an incumbent or ‘sitting’ elected representative rarely loses an election. In India, about
half of the sitting MPs or MLAs lose elections.
3. Candidates who are known to have spent a lot of money on ‘buying votes’ and those with known
criminal connections often lose elections.
4. Barring very few disputed elections, the electoral outcomes are usually accepted as ‘people’s
verdicts’ by the defeated party.

Challenges to Free and Fair Elections

There are many limitations and challenges to Indian elections. These include:

1. Candidates and parties with a lot of money enjoy a big and unfair advantage over smaller parties.
2. Candidates with criminal connections have been able to push others out of the electoral race and to
secure a ‘ticket’ from major parties.
3. Tickets are distributed to relatives of the influential families of political party.
4. Elections offer little choice to ordinary citizens as major parties are quite similar to each other, both
in policies and practice.
5. Smaller parties and independent candidates suffer a huge disadvantage compared to bigger parties.

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