https://www.mytutor.co.

uk/

https://www.thehindu.com/

INTRO

What is First-past-the-post system?

The first-past-the-post (FPTP) system is also known as the simple majority system. In this
voting method, the candidate with the highest number of votes in a constituency is
declared the winner. This system is used in India in direct elections to the Lok Sabha and
State Legislative Assemblies. While FPTP is relatively simple, it does not always allow for a
truly representative mandate, as the candidate could win despite securing less than half the
votes in a contest. In 2014, the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata
Party won 336 seats with only 38.5% of the popular vote. Also, smaller parties representing
specific groups have a lower chance of being elected in FPTP.

First-past-the-post system fair or unfair?

Advantages:
1) it's simple (each member of the electorate can vote for one candidate), 2) it
tends to lead to strong governments (the system favours the two major
parties, ensuring one party has a majority of seats in the Commons, often
giving the government a clear mandate to rule), 3) it promotes non-
extremist policies and parties (a party has to have both concentrated and
broad support across the country to gain notable numbers of seats, which
encourages the centralisation of policy to appeal to the greatest number of
voters)

Disadvantages:
1)you don't need a majority of support to win a seat (you only need
one more vote (a plurality) than the runner-up to win a seat, meaning if
there was a left-wing party candidate with 35% of the vote, and two
right wing candidates from different parties with 33% and 32% of the
vote each, the seat would go to the left wing candidate, even though
more people wanted a right wing candidate. 2) the result is often very
un-proportional (if the previous example occured in every constituency
in the UK, Parliament would be entirely made up of left wing party MPs
even though 65% of the public would have voted for right wing
candidates). 3) FPTP encourages 'safe seats' and thus wasted votes (in
constituencies where the socioeconomic factors are such that one
particularly party continually gets voted in, such as Tory stronghold in
Wokingham, anyone in that constituency who doesnt want to vote for
the Conservatives has effectively 0 choice, and their voted is wasted -
this can often lead to disallusionment with the system, and spoiled
ballot papers.