Why Do We Need Elections?

Elections take place regularly in any democracy. There are more than 100 countries in the world in which
elections take place to choose people’s representatives. The mechanism by which people can choose their
representatives at regular intervals and change them is called an election.

In an election, the voters make many choices:

 They can choose 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.

What Makes an Election Democratic?

The minimum conditions of a democratic election include the following points.

1. Everyone should be able to choose their own representative.

2. Parties and candidates should be free to contest elections and should offer some real
choice to the voters.
3. Elections must be held regularly after every few years.
4. The candidate preferred by the people should get elected.
5. Elections should be conducted in a free and fair manner where people can choose as they
really wish.

Is It Good to Have Political Competition?

Elections are all about political competition. This competition takes various forms. At the constituency
level, it takes the form of competition among several candidates. Here are a few reasons that support
political competition as being good for people.

1. Regular electoral competition provides incentives to political parties and leaders.

2. Political parties know that if they raise issues that people want to be raised, their
popularity and chances of victory will increase in the next elections. On the contrary, if
they fail to satisfy the voters with their work, they will not be able to win again.
3. If a political party is motivated only by the desire to be in power, despite that, it will be
forced to serve the people.

What Is Our System of Election?

Elections are held in India in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha (Assembly) regularly after every five years.
After five years, the term of all the elected representatives comes to an end.
Elections held in all constituencies at the same time, either on the same day or within a few days, are
called General Elections. Sometimes elections are held only for one constituency to fill the vacancy
caused by the death or resignation of a member. This is called a By-Election.

Electoral Constituency
India is divided into different areas for the purpose of elections. These areas are called electoral
constituencies. The voters living in an area elect one representative.

 For the Lok Sabha elections, India is divided into 543 constituencies. The representative
elected from each constituency is called a Member of Parliament or an MP.
 Each state is divided into a specific number of Assembly constituencies. In this case, the
elected representative is called the Member of the Legislative Assembly or an MLA.
Each Parliamentary constituency has within it several assembly constituencies.
The same principle applies to Panchayat and 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. Sometimes these constituencies are counted as ‘seats’, for each constituency represents one
seat in the assembly.

Reserved Constituencies
Some constituencies are reserved for people who belong to the Scheduled Castes [SC] and Scheduled
Tribes [ST]. In the Lok Sabha, 84 seats are reserved for the SC and 47 for the ST.

 In SC reserved constituency, only someone who belongs to the Scheduled Caste can
stand for election.
 Only those belonging to the Scheduled Tribes can contest an election from a
constituency reserved for ST.
In many states, seats in rural (panchayat) and urban (municipalities and corporations) local bodies are
now reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and women candidates as well.

Voters’ List
In a democratic election, the list of those who are eligible to vote is prepared much before the election and
given to everyone, which is officially called the Electoral Roll and is commonly known as the Voters’
List. It is the responsibility of the government to get the names of all the eligible voters put on the voters’
list.

The voters are required to carry Election Photo Identity Card [EPIC] when they go out to vote so that no
one can vote for someone else. But the card is not yet compulsory for voting as voters can show many
other proofs of identity, like the ration card or the driving licence.
Nomination of Candidates
Anyone who can be a voter can also become a candidate in elections. The candidate should be a minimum
of 25 years of age. Every person who wishes to contest an election has to fill out a ‘nomination form’ and
give some money as a ‘security deposit’. The candidate has to make a legal declaration, giving full details
of:

1. Serious criminal cases pending against the candidate,

2. Details of the assets and liabilities of the candidate and his or her family, and
3. Educational qualifications of the candidate.
This information is made available to the public so that voters can make their decision on the basis of the
information provided by the candidates.

Election Campaign
The election campaigns are conducted to have a free and open discussion about who is a better
Representative and, in turn, which party will make a better government. In India, Election Campaigns
take place for a two-week period between the announcement of the final list of candidates and the date of
polling. During this period, the candidates contact their voters, political leaders address election meetings
and political parties mobilise their supporters.

Some of the successful slogans given by different political parties in various elections:

 Save Democracy
 Land to the Tiller
 Protect the Self-Respect of the Telugus
According to India’s Election Law, no party or candidate can:

1. Bribe or threaten voters.

2. Appeal to them in the name of caste or religion.
3. Use government resources for election campaigns.
4. Spend more than 25 lahks in a constituency for a Lok Sabha election or more than 10
lahks in a constituency in an Assembly election.
If any political party does so, their election can be rejected by the court. In addition to the laws, all the
political parties in our country have agreed to a Model Code of Conduct for election campaigns.
According to this, no party or candidate can:

 Use any place of worship for election propaganda.

 Use government vehicles, aircraft and officials for election.
  Once elections are announced, ministers shall not lay the foundation stones for any
projects, take any big policy decisions or make any promises of providing public
facilities.

Polling and Counting of Votes

The day when the voters cast or ‘poll’ their vote is called election day. The voting is done in the
following manner.

1. Every person whose name is on the voters’ list can go to a nearby polling booth.
2. Once the voter goes inside the booth, the election officials identify her, put a mark on her
finger and allow her to cast her vote.
3. An agent of each candidate is allowed to sit inside the polling booth and ensure that the
voting takes place in a fair way.
A ballot paper is a sheet of paper on which the names of the contesting candidates, along with party
names and symbols, are listed. The ballot paper was used earlier. Nowadays, electronic voting machines
(EVM) are used to record votes.

 The machine shows the names of the candidates and the party symbols.
 The voter has to just press the button against the name of the candidate she wants to give
her vote to.
 Once the polling is over, all the EVMs are sealed and taken to a secure place.
 A few days later, all the EVMs are opened, and the votes secured by each candidate are
counted.
 The candidate who secures the highest number of votes from a constituency is declared
elected.

What Makes Election in India Democratic?

1) Independent Election Commission
In India, elections are conducted by the Election Commission (EC). The Chief Election Commissioner
(CEC) is appointed by the President of India. Election Commission is independent and has a wide range
of powers which are:

1. EC takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and control of elections, from the
announcement of elections to the declaration of results.
2. It implements the Code of Conduct and punishes any candidate or party that violates it.
3. During the election period, the EC can order the government to follow some guidelines,
to prevent the use and misuse of governmental power to enhance its chances of winning
elections or to transfer some government officials.
4. When on election duty, government officers work under the control of the EC and not the
government.
2) Popular Participation
The quality of the election process can also be checked by seeing the participation of people. People’s
participation in the election is measured by voter turnout figures. Turnout indicates the per cent of
eligible voters who actually cast their vote.

1. In India, the poor, illiterate and underprivileged people vote in larger proportion as
compared to the rich and privileged sections.
2. Common people in India feel that through elections, they can bring pressure on political
parties to adopt policies and programmes favourable to them.
3. The interest of voters in election-related activities has been increasing over the years.

3) Acceptance of Election Outcome

One final test of the freedom and fairness of the election is the outcome of the election.

1. The ruling parties routinely lose elections in India both at the national and state level.
2. In the US, an incumbent or ‘sitting’ elected representative rarely loses an election. In
India, about half of the sitting MPs or MLAs lose elections.
3. Candidates who are known to have spent a lot of money on ‘buying votes’ and those with
known criminal connections often lose elections.
4. Barring very few disputed elections, the electoral outcomes are usually accepted as
‘people’s verdicts’ by the defeated party.

Challenges to Free and Fair Elections

Elections in India are essentially free and fair. Sometimes this may not be true for every constituency.
There are many limitations and challenges to Indian elections. These include:

1. Candidates and parties with a lot of money enjoy a big and unfair advantage over smaller
parties.
2. Candidates with criminal connections have been able to push others out of the electoral
race and to secure a ‘ticket’ from major parties.
3. Tickets are distributed to relatives from their families.
4. Elections offer little choice to ordinary citizens as major parties are quite similar to each
other, both in policies and practice.
5. Smaller parties and independent candidates suffer a huge disadvantage compared to
bigger parties.
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Frequently Asked Questions on CBSE Class 9
Political Science Notes Chapter 3 Electoral
Politics
Q1

What is an electoral system?

An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are
conducted and how their results are determined.
Q2

What are the functions of a legislature?

The most important function of the legislature is law-making. The state legislature has the power to make
laws on all items on which Parliament cannot legislate.
Q3

What are reserved constituencies?

Reserved constituencies are constituencies in which seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Tribes
based on the size of their population.

Chapter 4 civics

Study Material and Notes of Ch 5 Working of Institutions Class 9th

Civics

Need for Political Institutions

• The Prime Minister and the Cabinet are institutions that take all important
policy decisions.

• The Civil Servants, working together, are responsible for taking steps to
implement the ministers’ decisions.
• Supreme Court is an institution where disputes between citizens and the
government are finally settled.

Parliament

• In democracies, an assembly of elected representatives exercises supreme

political authority on behalf of the people.
→ In India such a national assembly of elected representatives is called
Parliament.

Two Houses of Parliament

• In our country, the Parliament consists of two Houses. The two Houses are
known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok
Sabha).

• The total number of elected members of Lok Sabha is 543+2 Anglo Indian
nominated members.
→ The total number of members of Rajya Sabha is 238+12 nominated members.

Executive

• At different levels of any government there are various functionaries who take
day-to-day decisions and implement those decisions on behalf of the people.

→ All those functionaries are collectively known as the executive.

Political and Permanent Executive

• The one which is elected by the people for only a specific period of time is
called the Political Executive.
→ It signifies the government of a country.

• The one where people are appointed on a long-term basis is called the
Permanent Executive or the Civil Services.
→ People working for the civil services are called the civil servants.

Prime Minister
• Prime Minister is the most important political institution in the country.

Powers of the Prime minister

• He chairs Cabinet meetings.

• He coordinates the work of different Departments.

• His decisions are final in case disagreements arise between Departments.

• He exercises general supervision of different ministries. All ministers work

under his leadership.

• The Prime Minister distributes and redistributes work to the ministers.

• He also has the power to dismiss ministers.

• When the Prime Minister quits, the entire ministry quits.

Council of Ministers

• Council of Ministers is the official name for the body that includes all the
Ministers.

• It usually has 60 to 80 Ministers of different ranks.

Types of ministers

• Cabinet Ministers are usually top-level leaders of the ruling party or parties
who are in charge of the major ministries.

• Ministers of State with independent charge are usually in-charge of smaller

Ministries.

• Ministers of State or Deputy ministers are attached to and required to assist

Cabinet Ministers in their work.

Coalition Government
• A government formed by an alliance of two or more political parties, usually
when no single party enjoys majority support of the members in a legislature.

The President

• The President is elected by all the Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members
of State Legislative Assemblies (MLAs).

Powers of the President

• The President supervises the overall functioning of all the political institutions
in the country.

• All governmental activities take place in the name of the President.

• All laws and major policy decisions of the government are issued in her name.

• All major appointments such as the Chief Justice of India, the Judges of the
Supreme Court and the High Courts, the Governors, the Election Commissioners,
ambassadors to other countries are made in the name of the President.

• All international treaties and agreements are made in the name of the
President.

• The President is the supreme commander of the defence forces of India.

• However, President exercises all these powers only on the advice of the
Council of Ministers.

Judiciary

• All the courts at different levels in a country put together are called the
judiciary.

• The Indian judiciary consists of a Supreme Court for the entire nation, High
Courts in the states, District Courts and the courts at local level.

Independence of the judiciary

• Independence of the judiciary means that it is not under the control of the
legislature or the executive.