Previous year question - Electoral Politics - Social Studies (SST) Class 9

Short Answer Type Question

Q.1. Describe the procedure of voting on the polling day.    [CBSE 2016]
Ans. (a) On the election day, the eligible voters go to the nearest polling booth to vote.
(b) A mark is put on the finger of the voter who votes as an identification mark so as to avoid any person voting more than once.
(c) A ballot paper or EVMs are used to record the votes. A voter presses the button against the name of the candidate he or she wants to vote for.

Q.2. What is the meaning of free and fair elections?   [CBSE 2016] 
Ans. It means people participate in the electoral process and give votes according to their choices. The parties are free to contest elections and candidates preferred by the people are elected.

Q.3. What is meant by ‘seat’ in elections? Explain with example.    [CBSE 2015]
Ans. The electoral constituencies are counted as ‘seats’, for each constituency represents one seat in the assembly. For example, when we say that ‘Lok Dal won 60 seats’ in Haryana, it means that candidates of Lok Dal won is 60 assembly constituencies in the state and thus Lok Dal had 60 MLAs in the state assembly.

Long Answer Type Question

Q.1. Describe the challenges to free and fair elections in India.     [CBSE 2016]
Ans. Challenges to the elections in India are:
(a) Candidates and parties with a lot of money may not be sure of their victory, but they do enjoy an advantage over smaller parties and independent candidates.
(b) In some parts of the country, candidates with criminal connection have been able to secure a ticket from major parties.
(c) Some families tend to dominate political parties. Tickets are distributed to members of these families.
(d) Very often elections offer little choice to ordinary citizens as both the major parties are similar to each other in their policies and practices.
(e) Smaller parties and independent candidates suffer a huge disadvantage as compared to the bigger parties.