Election & Representation Class 11 Political Science

What is the Election System in India?

India is a constitutional democracy with a parliamentary system of government, and at the heart of the system is a commitment to hold regular, free and fair elections.

• These elections determine the composition of the government, the membership of the two houses of parliament, the state and union territory legislative assemblies, and the Presidency and vice-presidency.
• Elections in India are events involving political mobilization and organizational complexity on an amazing scale.

What is “First Past the Post”?

FPTP is a system in which, the entire country is divided into 543 constituencies:

• Each constituency elects one representative.
• The candidate who secures the highest number of votes in that constituency is declared elected.
• It is important to note that in this system whoever has more votes than all other candidates is declared elected.
• The winning candidate need not secure a majority of the votes. This method is called the First Past the Post (FPTP) system.
• This method is also called the Plurality System.

What is Proportional Representation?

• Each party fills its quota of seats by picking many of its nominees from a preference list that has been declared before the elections.
• In this system, a party gets the same proportion of seats as its proportion of votes.

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What type of election system is followed in India?

Comparison of FPTP and PR System of Election

FPTP - First Past The Post 

• The country is divided into small geographical units called constituencies or districts. Every Constituency elects one representative.
• Voter votes for a candidate
• A party may get more seats than votes in the legislature.
• A candidate who wins the election may not get the majority E.g-U.K and India.

Proportional Representation (PR)

• Large geographical areas are demarcated as constituencies. The entire country may be a single constituency. More than one representative may be elected from one constituency
• In this system, a voter votes for the party every party gets seats in the legislature in proportion to the percentage of votes that it gets
• A candidate who wins the elections gets the majority of the votes. Examples: Israel, Netherlands

What are the advantages of the FPTP system?

• The popularity and success of the FPTP system are because of its simplicity.
• The entire election system is extremely simple to understand even for common voters who may have no specialized knowledge about politics and elections.
• A clear choice is presented to the voters at the time of elections. The voters have to simply endorse a candidate or a party while voting.
• Depending on the nature of actual politics, voters may either give greater importance to the party or to the candidate or balance the two.
• The FPTP system offers voters a choice not simply between parties but specific candidates.
• In a constituency-based system like the FPTP, the voters know who their own representative is and can hold him or her accountable.

Why it is believed that ‘FPTP’ would be a good choice instead of ‘PR system’ for a stable government?

• PR-based elections may not be suitable for establishing a stable government in a parliamentary system.
• In order for this system to work, the executive must have a majority in the legislature. Because seats in the legislature are distributed based on vote share, a clear majority is unlikely.
• In a diverse country like India, a PR system would encourage each community to form its own national party.
• In general, FPTP allocates more bonus seats to the largest party or coalition than their vote share would allow. This system allows a parliamentary government to function smoothly and effectively by facilitating the formation of a stable government. In order to win a local election, the FTPT system encourages voters from various social groups to band together.
• The FPTP system has proven to be simple and familiar to ordinary voters.
• Candidates must be members of the community or social group for which the seat is reserved, but all voters in a constituency are allowed to vote.
• According to the Constitution, seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
• This provision was originally set for a 10-year period, but it has been extended until 2020 due to subsequent constitutional amendments. Parliament can decide to extend the reservation period after it expires.

Reservation of Constituencies

Who decides which constituency is to be reserved? On what basis is this decision taken?

• The Delimitation Commission, an independent body, makes the decision on the reservation of constituencies. The President of India appoints the Delimitation Commission, which collaborates with the Election Commission of India.
• The number of seats to be reserved in each state is determined by the proportion of SC or ST residents in that state. The Delimitation Commission examines the population composition of each constituency after drawing the boundaries.
• ST seats are reserved for constituencies with the highest proportion of Scheduled Tribes.
• The Delimitation Commission considers two factors when it comes to Scheduled Castes.
• It selects constituencies with a higher proportion of people from the Scheduled Castes. However, it disperses these constituencies throughout the state.
• This is because the Scheduled Caste population is fairly evenly distributed across the country.

How many times Delimitation Commission changed the boundaries of the nation-state?

• Delimitation Commission has been set up four times - 1952, 1963, 1973 & 2002 under the Acts of 1950, 1962, 1972, 2002.
• 42^nd Amendment, 1976: Seats will remain unchanged till the year 2000.
• 84^th Amendment, 2001: Seats were frozen till 2026.

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Universal Franchise & Right to Contest

• Universal Adult Franchise gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or any other restriction, subject only to relatively minor exceptions.
• Earlier, the voting age or an adult was to be considered above the age of 21. In 1989 this was reduced by the constitution to the age of 18 years through 61^st Amendment, 1989.
• This was known as ‘Universal Adult Franchise’ which states that all citizens are able to participate in the process of selecting their representative.
• This is consistent with the principle of equality and non-discrimination.

Right to Contest Election

• All citizens have the right to stand for election and become the representative of the people.
• There are different minimum age requirements for contesting elections. For example, in order to stand for Lok Sabha or Assembly election, a candidate must be at least 25 years old.
• There is a legal provision that a person who has undergone imprisonment for two or more years for some offence is disqualified from contesting elections.
• There are no restrictions of Income, Education, Class or gender on the Right to Contest Elections.

Independent Election Commission: Article 324: (1)

• The responsibility of conducting all elections to Parliament, State Legislatures, President, and Vice-President under the Indian Constitution lies with the Election Commission. The Commission can either be a single-member or a multi-member body, and is assisted by a Chief Electoral Officer in every state. The conduct of local body elections, however, is not the responsibility of the Election Commission.
• The Election Commission of India was originally a single-member body until two Election Commissioners were appointed just before the 1989 general elections, making it a multi-member body. Since then, the Commission has remained multi-member for greater accountability and power-sharing. The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) presides over the Election Commission, but has no more powers than the other Election Commissioners.
• The CEC and the two Election Commissioners have equal powers to take all decisions relating to elections as a collective body, and are appointed by the President of India on the advice of the Council of Ministers. The Constitution ensures their security of tenure, and they hold office for a term of six years or until they reach the age of 65, whichever is earlier.
• To prevent a ruling party from removing a CEC who refuses to favor it in elections, the President can only remove the CEC before the expiry of the term if both Houses of Parliament make such a recommendation with a special majority.

Election Commission of India

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Functions of Election Commission

The Election Commission has several responsibilities, including:

• Overseeing the preparation of a current and accurate voters' list.
• Ensuring that the voters' list is error-free and does not include the names of non-eligible or non-existent voters.
• Determining the timing of elections and creating an election schedule, which includes important dates such as nomination filing deadlines, scrutiny dates, and polling dates.
• Throughout the entire election process, the Election Commission has the power to make decisions that ensure a free and fair election.
• The Commission can postpone or cancel elections in a specific state, constituency or the entire country if the atmosphere is deemed to be unfavorable for a free and fair election.
• The Commission enforces a model code of conduct for parties and candidates and can order a re-poll or a vote recount if necessary.
• Additionally, the Election Commission recognizes political parties and assigns symbols to each party.

Electoral Reforms

• The current FPTP election system needs to be replaced with some form of PR system to ensure a fair representation of parties based on their vote share.
• A special provision should be made to ensure the election of at least one-third of women to parliaments and assemblies.
• Tighter regulations are needed to curb the influence of money in electoral politics. A government-funded special fund should cover the expenses of elections, and candidates with any criminal charges should be disqualified from running for office, even if their appeals are pending.
• Using caste and religious appeals in campaign should be completely prohibited.
• A law should be implemented to regulate the functioning of political parties and to ensure that they operate transparently and democratically.