Electoral Politics Summary Class 9 Social Science Chapter 3

Introduction

• An election is a process through which people choose their representatives at regular intervals.

What makes an election democratic?

• Everyone should have one vote and every vote should have equal value.
• Parties and candidates should be free to contest elections and should offer some real choice to the voters.
• Elections must be held regularly after every few years.
• The candidate preferred by the people should get elected.
• Elections should be conducted in a free and fair manner where people can choose as they really wish.

What is system of elections in India?

General Election

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

By-election

• Sometimes election is held only for one constituency or two to fill the vacancy caused by death or resignation of a member.

Electoral Constituencies

• The country is divided into different areas based on population for the purpose of elections which are called electoral constituencies.
• For Lok Sabha elections, the country is divided into 543 constituencies.
• Similarly, each state is divided into a specific number of Assembly constituencies.

Reserved Constituencies 

• Some constituencies are reserved for people who belong to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Voter’s List

• The list of people who are eligible for voting is prepared by the Election Commission of India before election.
• In India, all the citizens aged 18 years and above has the right to vote, regardless of his or her caste, creed, colour, religion or gender.

Nomination of Candidates

• Anyone who can be a voter can also become a candidate in elections.
• However, minimum age of in order to be a candidate the minimum age is 25 years.

Election Campaign

• The campaigns take place for a two-week period between the announcement of the final list of candidates and the date of polling.

Polling and Counting of Votes

• The final stage of an election is the day when the voters cast or ‘poll’ their vote.

What Makes Elections in India Democratic?

Independent Election Commission

• In India, elections are conducted by an independent and very powerful Election Commission (EC) which 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, CEC is not answerable to the President or the government.

Acceptance of election outcome

• The ruling parties routinely lose elections in India both at the national and state level.
• In India about half of the sitting MPs or MLAs lose elections.

Challenges to free and fair elections in India

• Candidates and parties with a lot of money may not be sure of their victory but they do enjoy a big and unfair advantage over smaller parties and independents.
• 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 ‘ticket’ 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.