Chapter:- Electoral politics

Now let us discuss the chapter

ELECTORAL POLITICS
We already know what is politics, so let us study
about electoral politics-
It is a field where we elect our representatives
by voting them. The more the votes, the more
the chances to win the election.
 Elections can lead to changes in the policy of
government.
 The governor invited can become the chief
minister if he is impressed by the speeches.
 People are unhappy with every ruling party and
vote against it in the next election.
 The party that wins the election forms the govt.
 The election can lead to economic development in
the state or in the country.
The party need not have not resigned after his party
lost elections.
The country which have elections are said to be
democratic.
The people can choose their leaders 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.
A rule of the people is possible without any
elections if all the people cab sit together everyday
and take all the decisions.
People can choose their representatives at regular
intervals and change them if they wish to do so.
Therefore, elections are considered essential in our
times for any representative democracy.
Everyone should be able to choose. This means that
everyone should have on vote and every vote
should have equal value.
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.
The choice should be offered at regular intervals.
Elections must be held regularly after every five
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.
It can be divided into two parts demerits and merits

Clearly, an electoral competition has many

demerits.
It creates a sense of disunity and factionalism in
every day society.
 Candidates and parties use dirty methods for
winning elections.
People who want to serve the country avoid
entering this field owing to unhealthy competition.
People will get the full right to vote and choose
their representatives.
The country which has adopted the election
procedure is also counted in democratic country.
It helps to the elected representative to go out and
serve the country and the countrymen.
After the people get the right to vote they are
considered as equal .
The following picture shows the countries who have
adopted democracy and has benefitted.
•

 The Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha elections are

held in India every 5 years.
The Lok Sabha election is called the General
Election.
There are certain elections that are conducted in a
particular constituency owing to the death/
resignation of a member. These are called by-
elections
The country is divided into electoral constituencies
for both the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly
elections. One representative is elected from each
constituency by the voters.
The country is divided into 543 constituencies for
the Lok Sabha elections. The selected
representative is called the Member of Parliament
or MP.
Similarly, each state is divided into a number of
Assembly constituencies and the representative
selected from each constituency is called the
Member of Legislative Assembly or MLA.
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.
 In open electoral competitions, certain weaker
sections of the society may not stand a good chance
of winning because of the influence of powerful
sections
 Hence, the makers of our Constitution prepared a
system of reserved constituencies for these weaker
sections.
 Certain constituencies are reserved for the people
belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the
Scheduled Tribes (ST).
In the Lok Sabha, seats reserved for the SCs and STs
are 79 and 41 respectively. These are in proportion
to their population in the total population of the
country.
Seats are reserved for the Other Backward Classes
(OBC) as well
They may not have the required resources
education and contacts to contest and win
elections.
The list of people who are eligible for voting is
prepared by the Election Commission of India.
This ensures that everyone in the country gets an
equal opportunity of choosing their political
representatives.
Regardless of a person‟s caste, creed, colour and
gender, every citizen of and above 18 years of age is
eligible to vote.
This is an important step, it is linked to the first
condition of a democratic election: everyone should
get an equal opportunity to choose their
representatives.
Different citizens differ from one another in many
ways : some are rich ,some are poor ;some are
highly educated and some are not so educated and
some not educated at all, but still they have the
right to vote.
An Indian citizen, Age should be minimum 25 years.
There are restrictions on people with criminal
records, but those are extreme cases.
The candidate has to fill a nomination form and give
a security deposit.
Also, a legal declaration has to be made with details
of pending criminal cases against the candidate,
assets and liabilities of the candidate and the
educational qualifications of the candidate.
Every candidate has to make legal declaration,
giving his full details of:
i. Serious criminal cases pending against the
candidate;
ii. Details of the assets and the liabilities of the
candidate and his/her family.
iii. Education qualification of the candidate.
 The above information should be made public so
that the voters get an opportunity on the basis of
the information to vote for the deserved.
Election campaigns in India takes place for two
weeks, starting from the declaration of the final list
of candidates contesting the elections and
concluding 48 hours before the date of polling.
During this campaign, candidates reach out to the
voters. Political leaders hold election meetings and
rallies for informing the voters about their policies
and persuading them to vote for them.
The main purpose of election is to give people
chance to choose the representative ,the govt and
policies they prefer.
Some successful slogans used during campaigns are
“Garibi Hatao” (used by the Congress, led by Indira
Gandhi, in the year 1971), “Save Democracy” (used
by Janata party in 1977), “Land to the Tiller’ (used
by The Left Front in West Bengal Assembly
elections, 1977), etc.
In an election campaign no party or candidate can:
i. Bribe/threaten the voters.
ii. Influence the voters in the name of religion.
iii. Use government resources for campaigning.
iv. Expend more than 25 lakhs for the Lok Sabha
elections and 10 lakhs for the Assembly elections.
Hold election propaganda in places of worship.
Use government aircrafts and vehicles, government
officials, etc.
On the announcement of elections, ministers
cannot take policy decisions or start any big
projects.
A person, with his name on the voter‟s list can go
to a polling booth, get identified by the officials, get
the mark on his finger, and caste the vote for the
candidate of his choice.
Agents of the candidates are permitted to be seated
inside the polling booths for ensuring that a fair
voting takes place.
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are used for
casting votes instead of the ballot paper.
Counting of votes begin after few days of election.
The final stage of an election is the day when the
voters cast their vote. That day is usually called the
election day. Every person whose name is on the
voters list can go to a nearby polling booth situated
in a govt schools or offices.
In India, elections are conducted by the Election
Commission (EC). It is an autonomous
body, independent of any governmental control.
The President of India appoints the Chief Election
Commission (CEC). The CEC is neither answerable to
the government nor to the President.
EC takes all decisions related to elections. It
declares the election dates and also the results.
The EC has the power of punishing those
candidates/parties who violate the Code of
Conduct.
During elections, the EC sets guidelines for the
government, so that government‟s powers are not
misused for winning elections.
Voter turnout figures determine the extent of
people‟s participation in the elections. Compared
to North America and Europe where the turnout
has declined over the last 50 years, the figures for
India either stayed stable or increased.
Compared to the USA where the richer and the
white people vote the most, in India the majority of
the voters are the poor, underprivileged and the
illiterate people.
If elections are not free/fair, it favours the
powerful/ruling party. Ruling parties lose elections
in India routinely, both in the states and the
national level.
Half of the sitting MPs and MLAs lose elections in
India. This shows that the India voters are well
aware of the functioning of the government and do
not re-elect those representatives that fail in
fulfilling their promises.
Candidates with money and muscle power often
lose elections.
The outcome of the elections are normally accepted
by the defeated party as the “people‟s verdict”.
Candidates with excessive money enjoy an unfair
advantage over smaller parties/candidates.
Candidates with criminal records dominate others
and remove them from the electoral race by using
coercion.
Some political parties are dominated by families
who try to distribute tickets only to their relatives
and family.
Small parties suffer huge setbacks as compared to
big parties.
Because of the above reasons, many organizations
and activists have been demanding a reformed
electoral system.