Contents • Elections • Why elections ? • What makes election democratic • Is it good to he political competition? • What is our system of election? • What makes election democratic in India • conclusion

1. Class-9
Mousami

2. CONTENTS
• Elections
• Why elections ?
• What makes election democratic
• Is it good to he political competition?
• What is our system of election?
• What makes election democratic
in India
• conclusion

3. WHAT IS AN ELECTION
A mechanism by which people choose their
representatives at regular intervals and
change the representatives if they wish to
do so. This mechanism is called election.
What Is An Election
A mechanism by which people choose
their representatives at regular
intervals and change the
representatives if they wish to do so. This
mechanism is called election.

4. Elections
•Election, procedure that allows members of an organization or community to choose
representatives who will hold positions ofauthority within It.
•The most important elections select the leaders of local, state national governments.
• The chance to decide who will govern at these levels serves as an opportunity for the
public to make choices about the policies,programs,
and future directions of government action.
• At the same time,elections promote
accountability.
• The threat of defeat at the polls exerts
pressure on those in power to conduct
themselves in a responsible manner and take
account of popular interests and wishes when
they make their decisions.
Elections
•Election, procedure that allows members of an organization or community to
choose
representatives who will hold positions of authority within It.
•The most important elections select the leaders of local, state national governments.
• The chance to decide who will govern at these levels serves as an opportunity for
the public to make choices about the policies , programs,
and future directions of government action.
• At the same time , elections promote
accountability.
• The threat of defeat at the polls exerts
pressure on those in power to conduct
themselves in a responsible manner and take
account of popular interests and wishes when
they make their decisions.

5. WHY ELECTIONS?
•Elections take place regularly in any
democracy. We know that there are more
than 100 countries in the world in which
elections take place to chose people’s
representatives.

6. But why do we need elections?
• A rule of people is possible without any elections if all the people can
sit together everyday and take all the decisions.
••But we already know that it 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.

7. CONTD...
 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.

8. WHAT MAKES ELECTION DEMOCRATIC?
Conditions of a democratic elections:
•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.

9. •Third, the choice should be offered at regular intervals. Election 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.

10. IS IT GOOD TO HAVE POLITICAL COMPETITION?
Elections are thus all about political
competition. This takes competition takes various forms. The most
obvious form is the competition among political parties. At the
constituency level, it takes the form of competition among several
candidates. If there is no competition, elections will become pointless.

11. DEMERITS
Clearly, an electoral competition has many demerits.
o It creates a sense of disunity and ‘factionalism’ in every locality.
o Different political parties and leaders often level allegations against
one another.
o Parties and candidates often use dirty tricks to win elections.
o Some people say that this pressure to win electoral fights dose not
allow sensible long-term policies to be formulated.
o Some good people who may wish to serve the country do not enter this arena. They do
not like the idea being dragged into unhealthy
competition.

12. MERITS
 Our constitution makers were aware of these problems. Yet they opted for free
competitions in elections as the way to select our future leaders. They did so
because this system works better in the long term.
 In a way it tries to improve the knowledge character of political leader.
The other and realistic way is to set up a system where political leaders
are rewarded for serving the people and punishment for not doing so.
 So if a political party is motivated only by desire to be in power, even then it will
be forced to serve the people.
 Political competition may cause divisions and some ugliness, but it finally helps to
force political parties and leaders to serve the people.

13. WHAT IS OUR SYSTEM OF
ELECTIONS?
Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha (Assembly) elections are held after every five
years. After five years the term of all elected representatives comes to an end. The Lok
sabha or Vidhan sabha stands ‘dissolved’.
General Elections
•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.
By- elections
•Sometimes elections is held only for one constituency to fill the vacancy caused by
death or resignation of a member. This is called a by- election.

14. ELECTORAL CONSTITUENCIES
•In our country we follow an area based system of representation. The
country is divided into different areas for purposes of elections. These
areas are called electoral constituencies. The voters who live in an
area elect one representative.
•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 features 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.

15. CONTD...
Similarly, each state is divided into a specific number of Assembly
constituencies.
•In this case, elected representative is called the member of Legislative
Assembly or an MLA. Each parliamentary constituency has within it sevel
assembly 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.

16. CONTD...
Sometimes these constituencies are
counted as sates for each constituency
represents one seat in the assembly. When we
say that elok dal won 60 seats in Haryana, it
means that candidates of Lok Dal won in 60
assembly constituencies in the state and thus
Lok Dal had 60 MLAs in the state assembly.

18. RESERVED CONSTITUENCIES
• The makers of our constitution thought of a special system of reserved
constituencies are reserved for the weaker sections. Some constituencies are reserved
for people who belong to the Scheduled castes [SC] and
Scheduled Tribes [ST].
•In a SC reserved constituency only someone who
belongs to the Scheduled Castes can stand for election.
• Similarly only those belonging to the Scheduled Tribes can contest an election
from a constituency reserved for ST.
• Currently, in the Lok Sabha 84 seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 47
for the Scheduled Tribes.

19. CONTD…
The reserved seats for SC and ST do not take away the legitimate
share of any other social group.
In many states, seats in rural and urban local bodies are now reserved
for other Backward Classes (OBC) as well.
 However, the reservation of seats varies from state to state.
Similarly, One- third of the seats are reserved in rural and urban
areas for women candidates.

20. 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.
• This list is officially called the Electoral Roll and is
commonly known as the Voters
List.
• This is an important step for it is linked to
the first condition of a democratic election: everyone should
get an equal opportunity to choose representatives.

21.  In our country, all the citizens aged 18 years and above can
vote in an election. Every citizen has the right to vote,
regardless of his or her caste, religion or gender.
 Some criminals and persons with unsound mind can be denied
the right to vote, but only in rare situation.
 It is the responsibility of the government to get the names of all the eligible
voters puts on the voter’s list.
 In the last few years a new system of Election Photo Identity Card [EPIC]
has been introduced. The government has tried to give this card to every person
on the voter list.

22. NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES
Anyone who can be a voter 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 only 18 years for being a voter. There are
some other restrictions on criminals.
Political parties nominate their candidates who get
the party symbol and support. Party’s nomination is
often called party ‘ticket’.
Every person who wishes to contest an election has to
fill a ‘nomination form’ and give some money as
‘security deposite’.

23. Legal declaration introduced by the
Supreme Court for filling Nomination
paper:
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
or her family; and
 Education qualification of the candidates.

24. 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 a better representative, which party
will make a better government or what is a good policy. This
is what happens during election campaigns.
• In our country such 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 mobilize their
supporters.

26. SUCCESSFUL SLOGANS
 The Congress Party led by Indira Gandhi gave the slogan of Garibi Hatao
(remove poverty )in the Lok Sabha elections of 1971. The Party promised
toreorient all the policies of the government to remove poverty from the country.
 Save Democracy was the slogan given by Janatha Party in the next Lok Sabha
election held in 1977. The party promised to undo the excesses committed during
emergency and restore civil liberties.
 The Left Front used the slogan of Land to the Tiller in the West Bengal Assembly
elections held in 1977.
 ‘Protect the Self-Respect of the Telugus’ was the slogan used by N.T. Rama Rao,
the leader of the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections in
1983.

27. Rules for election campaign for fair and equal
chance to compete.:.
 According to our election law, no party or candidates can:
• Bribe or threaten voters.
• Appeal to them in the name of casts or religion.
• Use government resources for election campaign
spend more than rupees 25 lakh in a constituency in
an assembly election or Rs 10 lakh in a constituency in Assembly election.
Model Code of Conduct:
 According to this, no party or candidate can;-
• Use any place of worship for election propaganda.
• Use government vehicles, aircrafts and officials for
election.
• Once elections are announced, ministers shall not lay foundation stones of any projects, take any big policy
decisions or make any promises of providing public
facilities.

28. POLLING AND COUNTING OF VOTES
 The final stage of an election is the day when the day when the voters cast or
‘poll’ their votes. That day is usually called the Election day.
 Every person whose name is on the voter’s list can go to a nearby ‘polling
booth’, situated usual in a local school or a government office.
 Once the voter goes inside the booth, the election officials identify her, put a
mark on finger and allow her to cast 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.
 Now a days Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are used to record votes.

30. WHAT MAKES ELECTIONS IN INDIA
DEMOCRATIC?
•News paper and television reports often refer to such allegations.
We get to read a lot about unfair practices in elections like:
• Inclusion of false names and exclusion genuine
names in the voters list;
• Misuse of government facilities and officials by the
ruling party:
• Excessive use of money by rich candidates and big
parties; and
• Intimidation of voters and rigging on the polling
day.

31. INDEPENDENT ELECTION COMMISION
•An independent and powerful commission appointed by the President of India to conduct free
and fair election is called as Election Commission. The commission has three members and
once they are appointed, they are not answerable to the President or the government.
•Very few election commissions in the world have such wide-ranging powers as the
election commission of India.
•EC takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and control of elections from the
announcement of elections to the declaration of results.
• It implements the code of conduct and punishes any candidate or party that
violates it.

32. • During the election period, the EC can order the government to follow some
guidelines, to prevent use and enhance its chances its chances to win
election, or to transfer some government officials.
• When on election, or to transfer some government officers work under the
control of the EC and not the
government.
• During the election period, the EC can order the government to follow some
guidelines, to prevent use and enhance its chances its chances to win
election, or to transfer some government officials.
• When on election, or to transfer some government officers work under the
control of the EC and not the
government.
•During the election period, the EC can order the government to follow some
guidelines, to prevent use and enhance its chances its chances to win
election, or to transfer some government officials.
• When on election, or to transfer some government officers work under
the control of the EC and not the
government.

33. OUTCOMES OF INDIA’S ELECTIONS SPEAKS FOR ITSELF:
•The ruling parties routinely lose elections in India both at the national and state
level. In fact in every two out of the three elections held in the last fifteen years, the
ruling
party lost.
• In the US, an incumbent or ‘sitting’ elected resentative rarely loses an election. In
India about half of the sitting MP’s or MLAs lose election.
•Candidates who are known to spent a lot of money on ‘bying votes’ and those with
known criminal connections often lose elections.
• Barring very few dispute elections, the electoral outcomes are usually accepted as
‘people’s verdict’ by the defeated party.

34. CHALLENGES TO FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS.
 All this lead to a simple conclusion: elections in India are basically free and fair. The
party that wins an election and forms government does so because people have chosen it
over its rivals.
Can an ordinary citizen hope to win election?
Questions of this kind bring the many limitations and challenges of Indian elections to our
attention.
These include:
• Candidates and parties with lot of money may not be sure of their victory but they do enjoy
a big and unfair advantage over smaller parties and
independents.

35. CONTD...
• In some parts of the country, candidates with criminal connection have been able
to push others out of the electoral race and to secure a tickets from major parties.
• Some families tend to dominate political parties; tickets are distributed to relatives
from these families.
• Very often elections offer little choice to ordinary citizens, for both the major
parties are quite similar to each other both in policies and practice.
• Smaller parties and independent candidates suffer a huge disadvantage compared
to bigger parties.

36. CONCLUSION..
These challenges exist not just in India but also
in many established democracies. These
deeper issues area matter of concern for
those who believe in democracy. That is why
citizens, social activists and organizations have
been demanding reforms in our
electoral system.