Indian Elections

Indian Elections

Introduction India is second largest democracy in the world. 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-president. There are two main elections: General elections for electing the central government and State elections to elect state government. All citizens of India of age 18 year or more are eligible to vote. The elections in India often transcend from being a mere political activity to a high publicized and often sensationalized national event, with clear cultural ramifications. The entire nation seems to suddenly come to life at the onset of the elections, particularly the General Elections. Even the assembly elections, which determine the state government, are events of great significance. All state elections are closely observed throughout the nation. Often the results of the state elections are considered to be clear indications of the mood of the nation. Indian Elections, the Largest Event in the World

Conduct of General Elections in India for electing a new Lower House of Parliament (Lok Sabha) involves management of the largest event in the world. The electorate exceeds 668 million voting in 800,000 polling stations spread across widely varying geographic and climatic zones. Polling stations are located in the snow-clad mountains in

the Himalayas, the deserts of the Rajasthan and in sparsely populated islands in the Indian Ocean. General Elections in India

The General elections was held for the first time in 1951. However, then the House had a strength of 489 seats, with members chosen from the 26 states of India. Presently, there are total of 545 members in the House, with two unelected members as representatives of the Anglo-Indian community in India. A total of 543 members are chosen by the general elections. They are held once in every five year, unless the Central government is dissolved beforehand. The members to the House of the People or the Lok Sabha are elected through the General elections. These members are chosen from the parliamentary constituencies. The number of parliamentary constituencies in a state depends upon the size and the population of the state. The executive along with the Council of Ministers is chosen from among the members of the winning party or the ruling coalition, as the case may be.

The Election Commission of India Election Commission of India is a permanent Constitutional Body. The Election Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950.

Originally the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. It currently consists of Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. The Election Commission is the apex body that conducts the elections in India. Both the general and the assembly elections in India are held in accordance with the clear rules laid down by the Election Commission of India. The EC is a highly powerful body and is granted with a great degree of autonomous powers to successfully conduct the elections. Even the judiciary resists from intervening while the electoral process is on. The work of the Election Commission includes: Announcements of dates of elections in various states Preparation of electoral roll Preparation of candidate’s list Announcement of various important dates and deadlines related to the election, Dates for voter registration, Filing of nominations, Model code of conduct Counting of votes Declaration of results Constitution of Lok Sabha and State Assemblies The candidates have to declare their age, properties and criminal records to run the elections. A convicted criminal cannot run as a candidate. However, criminals under trial can do so, although he has to vacate the office if he declared convicted in future. The political parties are commonly brought together by the EC to lay down the lines for the common code of conduct that is expected to be followed by all the relevant and participating parties. The code of conduct was brought about primarily to cut down on the exorbitant amounts spent on the elections in the previous versions of the Indian elections. The amount spent is presently limited, as are the modes of campaigning. Handing out of gifts, bribery, as well as the use of loudspeakers and microphones after 10.00 pm are banned and are considered to be gross violation of the code of conduct. Any announcement of sops and benefits is also restricted after the election days are announced. The political parties are also barred from taking any step that may aggrandize communal or class-based tension among the various groups of people who inhabit the land. The campaigning stops 48 hours before the actual polling begins. Any breach of the code of conduct can be judged by the Election Commission, which has the power to act as a Civil Court during the Election time. Electoral Rolls in India The total electorate in the country after the recent round of revision by election commission is approximately 714 million compared to 671 million in 2004. That means there is an increase of 43 million in the electorate.

Photo Electoral Rolls in India As the name suggests, photo electoral roll is one which includes all the details of the voters as mentioned in the electoral roll plus the photograph of the voter. This type of an electoral roll is much reliable as far as fraud prevention is concerned. This is so because, the true identity of the person listed in the electoral roll gets disclosed through the photograph, to the staff on duty at the polling booth. So, they may easily recognize the right person with the help of photo electoral rolls. The concept of photo electoral rolls was first introduced in India in the year 2005. But, at that time it was tested as a pilot project in all constituencies of Kerela and Pondicherry, two constituencies of Haryana and in one constituency of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab each.. Out of 543 Parliamentary Constituencies, photo electoral roll was used in 522 Parliamentary Constituencies as well as in all the Legislative Assembly Constituencies in Sikkim, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Photographs of 82% electors are printed in the electoral rolls. Electronic Voting Machines

In 2004, India had adopted Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) for its elections to the Parliament with 380 million voters had cast their ballots using more than a million voting machines. The Indian EVMs are designed and developed by two Government Owned Defense Equipment Manufacturing Units, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL). The Voting unit has a Blue Button for every candidate, the unit can hold 16 candidates, but up to 4 units can be chained, to accommodate 64 candidates. The Control Units has three buttons on the surface, namely, one button to release a single vote, one button to see the total number of vote cast till now, and one button to close the election process. The result button is hidden and sealed; it cannot be pressed unless the Close button is already pressed.

The Voting Process

The Voting Day is a declared holiday. The enthusiasm is noted at every sphere of the Indian society who queue up from early in the morning in order to cast their polls. The polling is typically conducted by government officials and are held in government schools and colleges, as well as certain other government owned venues. An indelible ink is applied on the finger of the voter once the process is complete; this is done in order to avoid the risk of bogus voting. Presently, the Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs have replaced the traditional ballot boxes in most areas. This was done to counter the great degree of booth capturing and rigging that became a common feature of the elections in certain parts of the country. Soon after the voting process is over, the EVMs are conducted under strict security to highly guarded centers where they are kept till the counting begins. The results of the elections usually keep coming within hours of the final phase of voting is complete. There are provisions of bye-elections in booths and constituencies where some kind of dispute arises related to the voting process. The candidate with the maximum number of votes in a single constituency is declared to be the winner. The votes are counted by or under the supervision / direction of the Returning Officer of the Constituency. When the counting is completed, the Returning officer declares the result. After the declaration of results in all constituencies, the Election Commission will constitute the new Lok Sabha The announcement of the results is extremely well-publicized event. The media gets into the scene right from the polling day through conducting the exit polls. Regular bulletins keep the states and the entire country tuned in to the results of the elections. Excitement runs high as the final phase of the counting are entered. Usually, the picture becomes clear by the end of the day. After the final results are submitted, the legislative head invites the winning party to form the government. In the case of the Center, it is the President; whereas in the states, it is the Governor, who performs this duty. The party, or the coalition, then has to ensure its majority through a vote of confidence. It needs a simple majority of at least 50% of the House to form the government

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Election Statistics - Voting percentage in Lok Sabha Elections General Election

Year

Male

Female

Total

1st

1952

-

-

61.2

2nd

1957

-

-

62.2

3rd

1962

63.31

46.63

55.42

4th

1967

66.73

55.48

61.33

5th

1971

60.90

49.11

55.29

6th

1977

65.63

54.91

60.49

7th

1980

62.16

51.22

56.92

8th

1984

68.18

58.60

63.56

9th

1989

66.13

57.32

61.95

10th

1991

61.58

51.35

56.93

11th

1996

62.06

53.41

57.94

12th

1998

1998

57.88

61.97

13th

1999

63.97

55.64

59.99

14th

2004

52.65

44.65

48.74

The State Elections The State elections in India are structurally similar to the general elections in India. It chooses members for the state assembly. The number of seats in the assembly as well as the number of members in the Cabinet varies from state to state, depending on its size and population.