ELECTORAL POLITICS
OVERVIEW
In a democracy it is neither possible nor necessary for people to govern directly. The most common democracy in our times is for the people to govern through their representatives. elections are necessary and useful in a democracy. What makes an election democratic. The rest of the project tries to access elections in India in the light of this yardstick. At the end of the project , we turn to an assessment of whether elections in India are free and fair.
WHY DO WE NEED ELECTIONS?
Elections take place regularly in any democracy. There are more than one hundred countries in the world in which elections take place to choose people’s representatives. Elections are held in many countries that are not democratic.
But why do we need elections? Let us try to imagine a democracy without elections. A rule of people is possible without any elections if all the people can sit together everyday and take all the decisions. But, this is not possible in any large community. Nor it is possible for everyone to have the time and knowledge to take decisions on all matters. Therefore in most democracies people rule through their representatives.
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?
Elections can be held in many ways. All democratic countries hold elections. But most non-democratic countries also hold some kind of elections. A simple list of the minimum conditions of a democratic elections is:
First, everyone should be able to choose. This means that everyone should have one vote and every vote should have equal value.
Second, 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.
Third, the choice should be offered at regular intervals. Elections must be held regularly after every few years.
Fourth, the candidate preferred by the people should get elected.
Fifth, elections should be conducted in a free and fair manner where people can choose as they really wish.
WHAT IS OUR SYSTEM OF ELECTIONS?
Can we say that Indian elections are democratic? To answer this question, let us take a look at how elections are held in India. Lok sabha and vidhan sabha (assembly) elections are held regularly after every five years. After five years the term of the elected representatives comes to an end. The Lok sabha or vidhan sabha stands ‘dissolved’. Elections are held in all constituencies at the same time, either on the same day or within a few days. This is called a general election. Sometimes election is held only for one constituency to fill the vacancy caused by death or resignation of a member. This is called a by-election.
ELECTORAL CONSTITUENCIES
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. One of the feature of democratic election is that every vote should have equal value. That is why our constitution requires that each constituency should have a roughly equal population living within it.
Similarly, each state is divided into a specific number of assembly constituencies. In this case, the elected representative is called the member of legislative assembly or an MLA. Each parliamentary constituency has within it several assemblies constituencies. The same principle applies for 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
Our constitution entitles very citizen to elect its representative and to be elected as a representative. The constituent makers, however, were worried that in an open electoral competition, certain weaker sections may not stand a good chance to get elected to the Lok sabha and the state legislative assemblies. They may not have the requires resources, education and contacts to contest and win elections against others. Those who are influential and resourceful may prevent them from winning elections. If that happens, our parliament and assemblies would be deprived of the voice of a significant section of our population. That would make our democracy less representative and less democratic.
So, the makers of our constitution thought of a special system of reserved constituencies for the weaker sections. Some constituencies are reserved for the people who belong to scheduled caste and scheduled tribes. This system of reservation was extended later to the other weaker sections at the district and local level. In many states, seats in rural and urban local bodies are now reserved for other backward classes as well. However, the proportion of seats reserved varies from state to state. Similarly, one-third of the seats are reserved in rural and urban local bodies for women candidates.
Voter’s List
•Once the constituencies are decided, the next step is to decide who can and who cannot vote. This decision cannot be left to anyone till the last day. In a democratic election, the list of those who are eligible to vote is prepared much before the election and given to everyone. This list is officially called the electoral roll and is commonly know as the voter’s list.
•This is an imp step for it is linked to the first condition of a democratic election. Universal adult franchise means that everyone should have one vote and each vote should have one value.
•In our country, all the citizens aged 18 years and above can vote in an election. Every citizen has right to vote in an election.
NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES
Anyone who can be a vote can also become a candidate in elections. The only difference is that in order to be a candidate the minimum age is 25 years, while it is being only 18 years for being a voter.
Every person who wishes to contest an election has to fill a ‘nomination form’ and give some money as ‘security deposit’. Recently, a new system of declaration has been introduced on direction from the supreme court. Every candidate has to make a legal declaration, giving full details of:
Serious criminal cases pending against the candidate.
Details of the assets and liabilities of the candidate and his/her family.
Education qualifications of the candidate.
ELECTION CAMPAIGN
The main purpose of election is to give people a chance to choose the representatives, the government and the policies they prefer. Therefore it is necessary to have a free and open discussion about who is better government or what is a good policy. This is what happens during election campaign.
In our country such campaigns take place for a two-week period b/w the announcement of the final list of candidates and date of polling. During this period the candidates contact their voters, political leaders address election meetings and political parties mobilize their supporters. This is also the period when newspapers and television news are full of election related stories and debates. But election campaign is not limited to these two weeks only. Political parties start preparing for elections months before they actually take place.
POLLING AND COUNTING OF VOTES
•The final stage of an election is the day when the voters cast or ‘poll’ their vote. That day is usually called the election day. Every person whose name is on the voter’s list can go to a near by ‘polling booth’, situated usually in a local school or a government office. Once the voter goes inside the booth, the election officials identify her, put a mark on her finger and allow her to caste her vote. An agent of each candidate is allowed to sit inside the polling booth and ensure that the voting takes place in a fair way.
Note Blast 