Civics : Ln 3 – Electoral Politics

4. What Makes Election in India Democratic?

1. Why Do We Need Elections? 1) Independent Election Commission
 Elections take place regularly in any democracy. In India, elections are conducted by the
 There are more than 100 countries in the world Election Commission (EC). The Chief Election
in which elections take place to choose people’s Commissioner (CEC) is appointed by the President
representatives. of India. Election Commission is independent and
 The mechanism by which people can choose has a wide-range of powers which are:
their representatives at regular intervals and  EC takes decisions on every aspect of conduct
change them whenever they want to is called an and control of elections from the announcement
election. of elections to the declaration of results.
 In an election the voters make many choices:  It implements the Code of Conduct and
 They can choose who will make laws for them. punishes any candidate or party that violates it.
 They can choose who will form the government  During the election period, the EC can order the
and take major decisions. government to follow some guidelines, to prevent
 They can choose the party whose policies will the use and misuse of governmental power to
guide the government and law making. enhance its chances to win elections, or to
transfer some government officials.
 When on election duty, government officers
2. What Makes an Election Democratic? OR work under the control of the EC and not the
Can you illustrate the conditions of the government.
democratic elections? Explain in Detail
 Minimum conditions of a democratic election 2) Popular Participation
include the following points. The quality of the election process can also
 Everyone should be able to choose their own be checked by seeing the participation of people.
representative. People’s participation in the election is
 Parties and candidates should be free to contest measured by voter turnout figures. Turnout
elections and should offer some real choice to the indicates the per cent of eligible voters who
voters. actually cast their vote.
 Elections must be held regularly after every few In India, the poor, illiterate and
years. underprivileged people vote in larger proportion as
compared to the rich and privileged sections.
 The candidate preferred by the people should get
Common people in India feel that through
elected.
elections they can bring pressure on political
 Elections should be conducted in a free and fair
parties to adopt policies and programmes
manner where people can choose as they really
favourable to them.
wish.
The interest of voters in election related activities
has been increasing over the years.
3. Is it Good to have Political Competition?
5. “One final test of the free and fair election
Elections are all about political competition. This
lies in the outcome itself”. Justify the
competition takes various forms. At the
statement with the help of the outcomes of
constituency level, it takes the form of competition
India’s elections.
among several candidates. Here are a few reasons
One final test of the free and fairness of the
that support political competition as being good for
election is the outcome of the election.
people.
The ruling parties routinely lose elections in
 Regular electoral competition provides
India both at the national and state level.
incentives to political parties and leaders.
In the US, an incumbent or ‘sitting’ elected
 Political parties know that if they raise issues representative rarely loses an election. In India,
that people want to be raised, their popularity about half of the sitting MPs or MLAs lose
and chances of victory will increase in the next elections.
elections. Candidates who are known to have spent a
 On the contrary, if they fail to satisfy the voters lot of money on ‘buying votes’ and those with
with their work, they will not be able to win known criminal connections often lose elections.
again Barring very few disputed elections, the
 If a political party is motivated only by the electoral outcomes are usually accepted as
desire to be in power, despite that, it will be ‘people’s verdict’ by the defeated party.
forced to serve the people.
 9. Highlight the benefits of political parties in
6. Write about the Challenges to Free and Fair democracy.
Elections in India. Political parties make an environment of
 Elections in India are basically free and fair. completion.
Sometimes this may not be true for every Political helps in the formation of public opinion.
constituency. There are many limitations and Political parties help in spreading political
challenges to Indian elections. These include: awareness among people.
 Candidates and parties with a lot of money A Political party who won maximum no of seats or
enjoy a big and unfair advantage over smaller gain majority forms the government of a
parties. democratic country.
 Candidates with criminal connections have been A political party, who loses, sits in the opposition
able to push others out of the electoral race and and stops the political party who is in
to secure a ‘ticket’ from major parties. power to become a dictator.
 Tickets are distributed to relatives from their All the political parties are necessary for the
families. democracies and democracies cannot exist
 Elections offer little choice to ordinary citizens without political parties.
as major parties are quite similar to each other,
both in policies and practice.
 Smaller parties and independent candidates 10. What is Our System of Election?
suffer a huge disadvantage compared to bigger Elections are held in India in Lok Sabha and
parties. Vidhan Sabha (Assembly) regularly after every 5
years. After 5 years, the term of all the elected
representatives comes to an end.
7. Highlight any five reasons for which the Elections held in all constituencies at the same
elections are considered essential for any time, either on the same day or within a few days
Representative democracy. is called a General Election. Sometimes elections
A rule of the people is not possible without any are held only for one constituency to fill the
election. Election is a mechanism by vacancy caused by death or resignation of a
which people can choose their representatives at member. This is called a By-Election.
regular intervals and change them if they
wish to do so. Electoral Constituency
It is not possible that all the people sit together and India is divided into different areas for the
take all the decisions directly. purpose of elections. These areas are
Material downloaded from myCBSEguide.com. 3 / 4 called electoral constituencies. The voters who
Elections give the right to the citizens to change live in an area elect one representative.
their representatives if they do not fulfill the For Lok Sabha elections, India is divided
wishes of citizens. Elections are the first into 543 constituencies. The representative elected
requirement for healthy Democracy. Elections from each constituency is called a Member of
barred the representatives to become dictators. Parliament or an MP.
Each state is divided into a specific number
of Assembly constituencies. In this case, the
8. Describe any five unfair means practices elected representative is called the Member of
which are adopted during elections. Legislative Assembly or an MLA.
Sometimes political parties and candidates are Each Parliamentary constituency has within
involved in fraud and malpractices to it several assembly constituencies.
stay ahead of the others. The same principle applies for Panchayat and
During the elections a party or candidates Municipal elections. Each village or town is divided
distribute money to voters. into several ‘wards’ that are like constituencies.
They also distribute wine and gifts to obtain the Each ward elects one member of the village or the
favour of voters. urban local body. Sometimes these constituencies
The candidates appeal the voters in the name of are counted as ‘seats’, for each constituency
caste and religion. represents one seat in the assembly.
The political party that is in power uses government
machinery to won the elections. Reserved Constituencies
Sometimes political parties hired musclemen and Some constituencies are reserved for people
tried to capture the booth. who belong to the Scheduled Castes [SC] and
Scheduled Tribes [ST]. In SC reserved
constituency, only someone who belongs to the
Scheduled Caste can stand for election.
 Only those belonging to the Scheduled  Protect the Self-Respect of the Telugus
Tribes can contest an election from a constituency  According to India’s election law, no party or
reserved for ST. candidate can:
In many states, seats in rural (panchayat)  Bribe or threaten voters
and urban (municipalities and corporations) local  Appeal to them in the name of caste or religion
bodies are now reserved for Other Backward  Use government resources for election campaign
Classes (OBC) and women candidates as well.  Spend more than 25 lakh in a constituency for a
Lok Sabha election or 10 lakh in a constituency
in an Assembly election
Voters’ List If any Political Party does so, their election
In a democratic election, the list of those can be rejected by the court. In addition to the
who are eligible to vote is prepared much before laws, all the political parties in our country have
the election and given to everyone, which is agreed to a Model Code of Conduct for election
officially called the Electoral Roll and is commonly campaigns.
known as the Voters’ List. According to this, no party or candidate can:
It is the responsibility of the government to  Use any place of worship for election
get the names of all the eligible voters put on the propaganda;
voters’ list.
 Use government vehicles, aircraft and officials
The voters are required to carry Election
for elections
Photo Identity Card [EPIC] when they go out to
 Once elections are announced, Ministers shall
vote, so that no one can vote for someone else.
not lay foundation stones of any projects, take
But the card is not yet compulsory for voting
any big policy decisions or make any promises
as voters can show many other proofs of identity,
of providing public facilities
like the ration card or the driving licence.
Polling and Counting of Votes
Nomination of Candidates
 The day when the voters cast or ‘poll’ their vote
Anyone who can be a voter can also become a
is called the election day.
candidate in elections. The candidate should be a
minimum of 25 years age. Every person who  The voting is done in the following manner.
wishes to contest an election has to fill out a  Every person whose name is on the voters’ list
‘nomination form’ and give some money as can go to a nearby ‘polling booth’.
‘security deposit’.  Once the voter goes inside the booth, the
The candidate has to make a legal election officials identify her, put a mark on her
declaration, giving full details of: finger and allow her to cast her vote.
 Serious criminal cases pending against the  An agent of each candidate is allowed to sit
candidate inside the polling booth and ensure that the
 Details of the assets and liabilities of the voting takes place in a fair way
candidate and his or her family  A ballot paper is a sheet of paper on which the
 Educational qualifications of the candidate names of the contesting candidates along with
This information is made available to the party names and symbols are listed.
public so that voters can make their decision on  The ballot paper was used earlier. Nowadays,
the basis of the information provided by the electronic voting machines (EVM) are used to
candidates. record votes.
 The machine shows the names of the candidates
Election Campaign and the party symbols.
The election campaigns are conducted to  The voter has to just press the button against
have a free and open discussion about who is a the name of the candidate she wants to give her
better Representative and in turn, which party will vote to.
make a better government.  Once the polling is over, all the EVMs are sealed
In India, Election Campaigns take place for a and taken to a secure place.
two-week period between the announcement of the  A few days later, all the EVMs are opened and
final list of candidates and the date of polling. the votes secured by each candidate are
During this period the candidates contact counted.
their voters, political leaders address election  The candidate who secures the highest number
meetings and political parties mobilise their of votes from a constituency is declared elected.
supporters.
Some of the successful slogans given by different
political parties in various elections:
 Save Democracy
 Land to the Tiller