ELECTORAL

POLITICS
 CONTENTS
• Elections
• Why elections
• What makes election democratic?
• Is it good to have political competition?
• What is our system of election?
• What makes election democratic in India?
• conclusion
 ELECTIONS
• Election, procedure that allows members of an
organization or community to choose
representatives who will hold positions of
authority within it.
• The most important elections select the
leaders of local, state, and national
governments.
• The chance to decide who will govern at these
levels serves as an opportunity for the public
to make choices about the policies, programs,
and future directions of government action.
• At the same time, elections promote
accountability.
• The threat of defeat at the polls exerts
pressure on those in power to conduct
themselves in a responsible manner and take
account of popular interests and wishes when
they make their decisions.
WHY ELECTIONS?
•Elections take place regularly in
any democracy. We know that
there are more than 100 countries
in the world in which elections take
place to chose people’s
representatives.
 •But why do we need elections?
• A rule of people is possible without any
elections if all the people can sit together
everyday and take all the decisions.
•But we already know that it is not possible in an
large community.
•Nor it is possible for everyone to have the time
and knowledge to take decisions on all matters.
•Therefore in most democracies people rule
through their representatives.
 CONTD…
• 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 ELECTION
DEMOCRATIC?
Conditions of a democratic elections:
First, everyone should be able to choose. This
means that everyone should have one vote and
every vote and every vote should have equal value.
Second, there should be something to choose
from. Parties and candidates should be free to
contest elections and should offer some real choice
to the voters.
Third, the choice should be offered at
regular intervals. Election must be
held regularly after every few years.
Fourth, the candidate preferred by
the people should get elected.
Fifth, elections should be conducted
in a free and fair manner where
people can choose as they really
wish.
IS IT GOOD TO HAVE POLITICAL
COMPETITION?
Elections are thus all about political
competition. This takes competition takes
various forms. The most obvious form is the
competition among political parties. At the
constituency level, it takes the form of
competition among several candidates. If
there is no competition, elections will
become pointless.
 But is it good to have political competition?

Clearly, an electoral competition has many demerits. 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.
Some people say that this pressure to win electoral
fights dose not allow sensible long-term policies to be
formulated. Some good people who may wish to
serve the country do not enter this arena. They do not
like the idea being dragged into healthy competition.
WHAT IS OUR SYSTEM OF ELECTIONS?
Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha (Assembly) elections
are held after every five years. After five years the
term of all elected representatives comes to an
end. The Lok sabha or vidhan sabha stands
‘dissolved’. Elections are held in all constituencies
at the same time either on the same day or within
a few days. This is called a general election.
Sometimes elections is held only for one
constituency to fill the vacancy caused by death or
resignation of a member. This is called a by-
election
 ELECTORAL
CONSTITUENCIES
In our country we follow an area based
system of representation. The country
is divided into different areas for
purposes of elections. These areas are
called electoral constituencies. The
voters who live in an area elect one
representative.
 For Lok Sabha elections, the country is
divided into 543 constituencies. The
representative elected from each
constituency is called a Member of
parliament or an MP.
One of the features of democratic election
is that every vote should have equal
value. That is why our constitution
requires that each constituency should
have a roughly equal population living
within it.
 CONTD…
Similarly, each state is divided into specific
number of Assembly constituencies. In this case,
the elected representative is called the member
of Legislative Assembly or an MLA. Each
parliamentary constituency has within it several
assembly constituencies. The same principle
applies for Panchayat and Municipal elections.
Each village or town is divided into several
ewardsi that are like constincutencies. Each
ward elects one member of the village or the
urban local body.
 CONTD…
Sometimes these constituencies are
counted as sates for each
constituency represents one seat in
the assembly. When we say that
elok dal won 60 seats in Haryana,
it means that candidates of Lok Dal
won in 60 assembly constituencies
in the state and thus Lok Dal had
60 MLAs in the state assembly.
 RESERVED CONSTITUENCIES

• The makers of our constitution thought of a special

system of reserved constituencies are reserved for the
weaker sections. Some constituencies are reserved for
people who belong to the Scheduled castes [SC] and
Scheduled Tribes [ST].
• In a SC reserved constituency only someone who belongs
to the Scheduled Castes can stand for election.
• Similarly only those belonging to the Scheduled Tribes can
contest an election from a constituency reserved for ST.
Currently, in the Lok Sabha 79 seats are reserved for the
Scheduled Castes and 41 for the Scheduled Tribes.
 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.
• This list is officially called the Electoral Roll and
is commonly known as the Voters List.
• This is an important step for it is linked to the
first condition of a democratic election:
everyone should get an equal opportunity to
choose representatives.
 CONTD…
LOK SABHA CONSTITUENCIES
• Universal adult Total constituencies = 543
General = 423
franchise: In this Reserved (SC) =84
Reserved (ST)=47

practice it means Andhra Pradesh

STATES CONSTITUENCIES

Arunachal Pradesh
42
2

that everyone Assam

Bihar
Chhattisgarh
14
40
11

should have one Goa

Gujarat
Haryana
2
26
10

vote and each vote

Himachal Pradesh 4
Jammu and Kashmir 6
Jharkhand 14

should have equal

Karnataka 26
Kerala 20
Madhya Pradesh 29
Maharashtra 48

value. Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
2
2
1 UNION TERRITORIES
Nagaland 1
Orissa 21 Andaman & Nicobar 1
Punjab 13 Chandigarh 1
Rajasthan 25 Dadra &Nagar Haveli
Sikkim 1 Daman &Diu 1
Tamil Nadu 39 Delhi 7
Tripura 2 Lakshadweep 1
Uttar Pradesh 80 Pondicherry 1
Uttaranchal 5
West Bengal 42
 ELECTION CAMPAING
• The main purpose of election is to give
people a chance to choose the
representatives, the government and the
policies they prefer. Therefore it is necessary
to have a free and open discussion about
who is a better representative, which party
will make a better government or what is a
good policy. This is what happens during
election campaigns.
• In our country such 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 mobilize their supporters.
• According to our election law, no party or candidates
can:
• Bribe or threaten voters.
• Appeal to them in the name of casts or religion.
• Use government resources for election campaign
spend more than rupees 20 lakh in a constituency in an
assembly election.
• Use any place of worship for election propaganda.
• Use government vehicles, aircrafts and officials for
election
• Once elections are announced, ministers shall not lay
foundation stones of any projects, take any big policy
decisions or make any promises of providing public
facilities.
 Why do you
bother? You can
go, I got your
vote cast!!
 • POLLING AND COUNTING OF VOTES
• The final stage of an election is the day when the voters cast or
‘poll’ their vote. That day is usually called the election day.
CANDIDATE PARTY VOTESPS POLLED %OF VOTES
Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi INC 312432 37.76
Basawaraj Patil Sedum BJP 254548 30.82
Vithal Heroor JD (S) 189001 22.84
Suryakant Nimbalkar BSP 26723 3.23
Sanganna IND 15212 1.84
Arun Kumar KNDP 7155 0.86
Chandrashekara Patil
Bhagavanreddy B IND 6748 0.52
Hamid Pasha Sarmast MUL 3900 0.47
Baswawant rao AIFB 3671 0.44
Revansiddappa
Sheelwanth
Sandesh C Bandak USYP 3380 0.41
 WHAT MAKES ELECTIONS IN
INDIA DEMOCRATIC?
• We get to read a lot about unfair practices in
elections like:
• Inclusion of false names and exclusion 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; and
• Intimidation of voters and rigging on the polling
day.
 INDEPENDENT ELECTION
COMMISION
• Very few election commissions in the world have
such wide-ranging powers as the election
commission of India.
• EC takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and
control of elections from the announcement of
elections to the declaration of results.
• It implements the code of conduct and punishes
any candidate or party that violates it.
• During the election period, the EC can
order the government to follow some
guidelines, to prevent use and enhance
its chances its chances to win election,
or to transfer some government officials.
• When on election, or to transfer some
government officers work under the
control of the EC and not the
government.
 Column1
160
INDIA Do you think vote makes dif -
140 UK ference?
120
100
80 Has effect
Has no effect
60 Don’t know
40
20
0
1991 2005

Those who participate in any

70 election related activity in India.
35
60
30
50
25
40
30 20

20 15
10 10
0 5
INDIA US
s C SC ST te k c
st OB hi ac ni
r ca W Bl sp
a 0
pe Hi Column1
Up 1996 1998 1999 2004
election year
Social groups
 THE OUTCOMES OF INDIA’S
ELECTIONS SPEAKS FOR ITSELF:

• The ruling parties routinely lose elections in India both at

the national and state level. In fact in every two out of the
three elections held in the last fifteen years, the ruling
party lost.
• In the US, an incumbent or ‘sitting’ elected representative
rarely loses an election. In India about half of the sitting
MPs lose election.
• Barring very few disputed elections, the electoral
outcomes are usually accepted as ‘people’s verdict’ by the
defeated party.
What was need to say that
we have distributed tickets
only amongst suitable and
winnable family relations?
CHALLENGES TO FREE AND FAIR
ELECTIONS.
• All this lead to a simple conclusion: elections in India
are basically free and fair. The party that wins an
election and forms government dose so because
people have chosen it over its rivals.
• can an ordinary citizen hope to win election?
Questions of this kind bring the many limitations and
challenges of Indian elections to our attention. These
include:
• Candidates and parties with lot of money may not be
sure of their victory but they do enjoy a big and unfair
advantage over smaller parties and independents.
 CONTD…
• In some parts of the country, candidates with criminal
connection have been able to push others out of the
electoral race and to secure a tickets from major
parties.
• Some families tend to dominate political parties;
tickets are distributed to relatives from these families.
• Very often elections offer little choice to ordinary
citizens, for both the major parties are quite similar to
each other both in policies and practice.
• Smaller parties and independent candidates suffer a
huge disadvantage compared to bigger parties.
 CONCLUSION..
These challenges exist not just in India but also
in many established democracies. These
deeper issues area matter of concern for
those who believe in democracy. That is why
citizens , social activists and organiza-
tions have been demanding
reforms in our
electoral system.
Thank-you