IX CIVICS ELECTORAL POLITICS

MCQ’S
1)What is the representative elected from each parliamentary
constituency called?
a) The Member of Legislative Assembly
b) The elected head
c) A Member of Parliament
d) Chief Minister
Ans : A Member of Parliament
What does ‘EPIC’ stand for?
a) Election Photo Identity Commission
b) Elementary Photo Identity Card
c) Election Photo Identity card
d) Election Photo Individual Card
e) Ans. Election Photo Identity card
3. Who appoints the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) in India ?
a) THE Chief Justice of India
b) The Lok Sabha Speaker
c) The Prime Minister of India
d) The President of India
Ans. The President of India
4. Which party used the slogan ‘Garibi Hatao’( Remove Poverty )
in the Lok Sabha election 1971?
a) The left Front
b)The Telugu Desam Party
c) Janata Party
d) The Congress Party
Ans The Congress Party
5.Who become a candidate in election?
a) Anyone who can be voter
b) A voter whose minimum age is 25 years
 c) A citizen of India
d) A person who hold influential position in India
Ans . A voter whose minimum age is 25 years

6. Voter list is also known as ___.

a) ticket b) nomination form c) electoral roll d) election card
Ans. electoral roll
7. How many seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes in the
Lok Sabha?
a) 79 seats b) 41 seats C) 78 seats d) 50 seats
Ans. 79 seats
8) What makes an election democratic?
A) Right to choose
b) Freedom of choice
c) Free and fair elections
d) All of the above
Ans All of the above
9) What is code of conduct?
a) A set of norms and guideline
b) Voter list
c) Eligibility list of voter
d) Polling booth
Ans . A set of norms and guideline
10.Now a days which machine is used to record votes?
a) Electronic voting machine
b) Electronic visual machine
c) Electronic video machine
d) Electric voting machine
Ans. Electronic voting machine
VERY SHORT QUESTIONS
Q.1 Give two demerits of electoral competition.
1. It creates a sense of disunity & factionalism in every locality.
2. Pressure to win electoral fights does not allow sensible long-term
policies to be formulated.
Q.2 Give any two merits of electoral competition.
1. Political leaders are motivated by the desire to advance their political
careers.
2. They want to come in power &retain positions for themselves. So they
do their best to win the hearts of people.
Q.3 What are By Elections?
ANS: When elections are held only for one constituency to fill the vacancy
caused by death or resignation of a member, they are called By Elections.
Q.4 How many constituencies do we have for Lok Sabha?
ANS:For LokSabha country is divided into 543 constituencies.
Q.5 What is an elected representative from the constituency is called?
ANS: The representative elected from each constituency is called a
Member of Parliament or MP.
Q.6 What is elected representative at the state level called?
ANS: Each state is also divided into specific number of assembly
constituencies. Here the elected representative is called the Member of
Legislative Assembly or MLA.
Q.7 How are the constituencies divided at the local level?
ANS:AtPanchayat& Municipal elections, each village or town is divided
into several ‘wards’ that are like constituencies. Each ward elects one
member of the village or the urban local body.
Q.8 How many seats are reserved for SC & ST in Lok Sabha?
ANS:Currently in the Lok Sabha, 79 seats are reserved for the Scheduled
Caste & 41 for Scheduled Tribe.
Q.9 What is EVM?
ANS:EVM is an electronic voting machine, which are used to record votes.
Q.10 What do you know about Election Commission?
 ANS:In our country, elections are conducted by an independent & very
powerful election commission. It enjoys the same kind of independence
that the judiciary enjoys.
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
Q.1 What choices are given to the voter during elections?
ANS:1.They can choose who will make laws for them.
2.They can choose who will form the government & take major decisions
3.They can choose the party whose policies will guide the government
& law making.
Q.2 What is the ‘Voter’s List’?
1. In a democratic election, the list of those who are eligible to vote is
prepared much before the election & is available to everyone.
2. This list is officially called Electoral Roll & is commonly known as the
Voter’s List.
3. This is an important step as it is linked to the first condition of a
democratic election.
Q.3 How do general elections differ from the by election?
ANS:
1. When elections are held in all constituencies at the same time, either
on the same day or within few days, this is called general election.
2. Sometimes, election is held in only one constituency to fill the vacancy
caused by death or resignation of a member. This is called By Election.
Q.4 What is the outcome of free & fair elections held in India?
ANS:
1. The ruling parties routinely lose elections in India. Both at the national
& state levels.
2. In India, about half of the sitting MPs or MLAs lose elections.
3. Candidates who are known to have spent lot of money in ‘buying votes’
& those with criminal connection often lose elections.
 4. Barring very few disputed elections, the electoral outcome are usually
accepted as the people’s verdict by the defeated party.
Q.5 How can we check the quality of the election process?
ANS:
The quality of an election process can be checked in three ways:
1. Who conducts election: Indian elections are conducted by an
independent Election Commission just like judiciary in India.
2. Popular participation: If the election process is not free & fair, people
do not participate in the electoral process. So the turn out of the
election is also a way to check the quality of election process.
3. Acceptance of the outcome: If the election is not free & fair the
outcome always favour the powerful & the losing party does not accept
the outcome. So to access the qualityof election, one can check the
response of the losing party.
Q.6 How are the results declare after an election in our country?
ANS:
1. A few days after the poll, on a fixed date, all the EVMs of the
constituency are opened & the votes secured by each candidate are
counted.
2. In general election, usually the counting of the votes in all the
constituencies takes place at a same time, on the same day.
3. Television channels, radio & newspaper report this event. Within a few
hours of counting all the results are declared & it become clear as to
who will form the next government.
Q.7 What does the booth capturing & rigging mean in the election?
ANS:
1. Booth Capturing: Supporters or the hired musclemen of party or a
candidate gain physical control of the polling booth & cast false votes
by threatening everyone or by preventing genuine voters from reaching
the polling booth.
2. Rigging: Fraud & malpractices indulged by a party or candidate to
increase his votes. It includes stuffing ballot boxes by a few persons
using the votes of others; recording multiple votes by a same person &
bribing polling officers to favour a candidate.
Q.8 Mention powers/ functions of the Election Commission of India.
ANS:
1. To conduct & control the election.
2. To implement the code of conduct.
3. To order the government to follow the guidelines.
4. To prevent use & misuse of government machinery at the time of
election.
LONG QUESTION ANSWERS

Q.1 What are the minimum conditions for a democratic elections?

ANS:
1. Everyone should be able to choose. This means that everyone should
have one vote & every vote should have equal value.
2. Parties & candidates should be free to contest elections & should offer
some real choice to the voters.
3. The choice should be offered at regular intervals. Elections must be
held every few years.
4. The candidates preferred by the people should be elected.
5. Elections should be conducted in a free & fair manner, which people
can choose s they wish.
Q.2 How was the systemof reserved constituencies introduced for the SCs
&STs ?
ANS:
1. Some constituencies are reserved for the people who belong to the
Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes.
2. In the SC reserved constituency, only someone who belongs to the
scheduled caste can stand for elections.
3. Similarly, only those belonging to the scheduled tribe can contest
elections from a constituency reserved for STs.
4. Currently, 79 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes & 41 for
Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha.
5. This number is in the proportion to their share in the total population.
Q.3How does a party file a nomination for its candidates.
ANS:
1. In order to be a candidate, the minimum age is 25 years.
2. Political parties nominate their candidates who get the party symbol &
support.
3. Party’s nomination is often called a party ‘ticket’.
4. Every person who wishes to contest an election has to file a
‘nomination form’ & give some money as ‘security deposit ‘.
Q4 How is campaigning done for elections held in India?
ANS:
1. In India, election campaign take place for a two week period between
the announcement of the final list of the candidates & the date of
polling.

2. During this period, the candidates contact their voters. Political leaders
address election meetings & political parties mobilised their supporters.
3. This is also the period when newspapers & the television news
broadcasting channels are full of election-related stories & debates.
4. During election compaigns, political parties try to focus the public
attention on some big issues.
5. They want the public to vote for their party on that basis.
Q.4 What election laws are made for campaigning?
ANS:
Every political party & candidate gets a fair & equal chance to compete.
According to our election law no party or candidate can:
1. Bribe or threaten the voters to vote for them only.
2. Appeal to the voters in the name of caste or religion.
3. Spent more than 25lakhs in a constituency for the Lok Sabha
elections or 10 lakhs in a constituency during an assembly
elections.
If they do so, their election can be rejected by the court even after
they have been declared as elected.
Q.5 How are the votes counted after the polls?
ANS:
1. Once the polling is over, all the EVMs are sealed & taken to a
secure place. A few days later, on a fixed date, all the EVMs from a
constituency are opened & the votes secured by each candidate are
counted.
2. The agents of all candidates are present there to ensure that the
counting is done properly.
3. The candidate who secured the highest number of votes from a
constituency is declared elected.

4. In a general elections the counting of votes in all the constituencies

usually takes place at the same time, & on the same day.
5. Within a few hours of counting, all the results are declared & it
becomes clear as to who will form the next government.
Q.6 What are the challenges for the free & fair elections in India?
Ans:
1. Candidates & parties with lot of money may not be sure of their
victory but they do enjoy a big & unfair advantage over smaller
parties & independents.
2. In some parts of the country, candidates with criminal connection
have been able to secure a ‘ticket’ from major parties.
3. Some families tend to dominate the political parties; tickets are
distributed to relatives from these families.
4. Very often, elections offer little choice to ordinary citizens as both
the major parties are similar to each other in their policies &
practices.
5. Smaller parties & independent candidates suffer a huge
disadvantage as compared to the bigger parties.