Introduction:
The idea of the present chapter is to distinguish democratic, elections from non-democratic elections.
This chapter also deals with each stage of elections, from drawing of boundaries of different constituencies to the declaration of result
Why elections?
Assembly election in Haryana:
“The time is after midnight. An expectant crowd sitting for the past five hours in a chowk of the town is waiting for its leader to come. The organisers assure and reassure the crowd that he would be here any moment. The crowd stands up whenever a passing vehicle comes that way. It arouses hopes that he has come.
The leader is Mr. Devi Lal, chief of the Haryana Sangharsh Samiti, who was to address a meeting in Karnal on Thursday night. The 76-year-old leader is a very busy man these days. His day starts at 8 a.m. and ends after 11 p.m… He had already addressed nine election meetings since morning… been constantly addressing public meetings for the past 23 months and preparing for this election.”
This newspaper report is about the “State assembly election in Haryana in 1987.
The State had been ruled by a Congress party led government since 1982.
Chaudhary Devi Lal, then an opposition leader, led a movement called ‘Nyaya Yudh’ (Struggle for Justice) and formed a new party Lok Dal.
His party joined other opposition parties to form a front against the Congress in the elections.
In the election campaign, Devi Lal said that if his party won the elections, his government would waive the loans of farmers and small businessmen.
He promised that this would be the first action of his government.
The people were unhappy with the existing government.
They were also attracted by Devi Lal’s promise.
So, when elections were held they voted overwhelmingly in favour of Lok Dal and its allies.
Lok Dal and its partners won 76 out of 90 seats in the State Assembly Lok Dal alone won 60 seats and thus had a clear majority in the Assembly.
The Congress could win only 5 seats.
Once the election result were announced, the sitting Chief Minister resigned.
The newly elected members of Legislative Assembly of Lok Dal chose Devi Lal as their leader.
The Governor invited Devi Lal to be the new Chief Minister.
Three days after the election results were declared, he became the Chief Minister.
As soon as he became the Chief Minister, his Government issued a Government Order waiving the outstanding loans of small farmers, agricultural labourers and small businessmen.
His party ruled the state for four-years.
The next elections were held in 1991, but this time his party did not win popular support.
The Congress won the election and formed the government.
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.
A rule of the people is possible without any elections if all the people can sit together every day and take all the decisions.
This is not possible in any large community.
Nor is it possible for everyone to have the time and knowledge to take decisions on all matters.
Therefore in most democracies people rule through their representatives.
What are Elections?
It is a mechanism by which people can choose their representatives at regular intervals and change them if they wish to do so. This mechanism is called elections.
Elections are considered essential in our times for any representative democracy. In an election the voters make many choices:
They can choose who will make laws for them.
They can choose who will for 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.
There are certain conditions which make an election democratic:
Everyone should be able to choose.
This means that everyone should have one vole and every vote should have equal value.
There should be something to choose from.
Parties and candidates shouldbe free to contest elections and should offer some real choice to the voters.
The choice should be offered at regular intervals.
Elections must be held regularly after every few years.
The candidate preferred by the people should get elected.
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?
There is no denying the fact that political competition is essential in elections It is pointed out that if there is no competition, there is no point in havingelections.
Disadvantages:
It creates a sense of disunity.
Political parties and candidates often levy allegations against each other.
They often make false promises and try to deceive the public.
Afraid of dirty attacks, many good people do not like to contest elections.
Regular electoral competition provides an incentive to political parties and leaders.
They fully know they stand the chance of winning the elections if they serve and satisfy their voters.
But if they fail in this task, they will not be able to win the next elections.
Political competition may cause some ugliness and divisions yet ultimately it puts pressure on the political parties and their leaders to serve the people for their own survival.
Advantages:
This competition allows the voters to judge for themselves which party would serve them better.
Without this competition, no candidate shall ever feel himself responsible to his voters because he had not come to ask for their votes.
But political competition has many defects which must be removed to makepolitical competition a more viable system.
What is our System of Elections?
Electoral Constituencies:
The country is divided into different areas 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 ademocratic election is that every vote should have equal value.
Each state is divided into a specific number of Assembly constituencies.
Inthis case, the elected representative is called the Member of Legislative Assembly or an MLA.
Each parliamentary constituency has within it several 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 villager or the urban local body.
Sometimes these constituencies are counted as ‘seats, for each constituency represents one seat in the assembly.
For Example, when we say that Lok 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 has 60 MLAs in the state assembly.
Reserved Constituencies:
Our Constitution entitles every citizen to elect her/his representative andto be elected as a representative.
The Constitution 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.
Such sections may not have the required resources, education and contacts to contest and win elections against others.
So, the makers of our Constitution thought of a special system of reserved constituencies 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.
This number is in proportion to their share in the total population.
Thus 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 (panchayat) and urban (municipalities and corporations) local bodies are now reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBC) 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.
Voters List:
Once the constituencies are decided, the next step is decided 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 Roli and is commonly known as the Voters List.
Everyone should get an equal opportunity to choose representatives.
In Chapter One we read about the principle of universal adult franchise.
In practice it means that everyone should have one vote and each vote should have equalvalue.
No one should be denied the right to vote without a good reason.
Different citizens differ from one another in many ways: some are rich.
Some are poor, some are highly educated, some are not so educated or not educated at all, some are kind, and others are not so kind.
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.
It is the responsibility of the government to get the names of all the eligiblevoters put on the voters’ list.
As new persons attain voting age names areadded to the voter’s list.
Names of those who move out of a place or those who are dead are deleted.
A complete revision of the list takes place every five years.
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 everyperson on the voters list.
The card is not yet, compulsory for voting.
For voting, the voters can show many other proofs of identity like the ration card or the driving license.
Nomination of Candidates:
Anyone who can be a voter can also become a candidate in elections.
Theonly difference is that in order to be a candidate the minimum age is 25years, while it is only 18 years for being a voter.
There are some otherrestrictions on criminals etc. but these apply in very extreme cases.
Political parties nominate their candidates who get the party symbol andsupport.
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 deposit.
Recently, a new system of declaration has been introduced on directionfrom 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 liability of the candidate and his or her family.
Education qualifications of the candidate.
This information has to be made public.
This provides an opportunity to the voters to make their decision on the basis of the information provided by the candidates.
Educational Qualification for the Candidates:
In some countries, educational qualification is quite necessary for the voters and the candidates.
They hold the view that when some kind of qualification is quite necessary for holding any job, it should also be there for the voters especially the candidates who would hold such important post of responsibility.
But many people, especially those of the developing countries, do not agree with the above view because of the following reasons.
It is argued that educational qualifications are not relevant to all kinds of jobs.
A cricket player should be judged by his ability to play cricket and not by his qualification.
The voters are the best judge to choose the educated candidate or an experienced man who has the ability to understand people’s concerns, problems etc.
It is also argued that if a graduate degree (B.A, B.Sc., B.Com) is made compulsory for candidates, more than 90 percent of the voters would become ineligible for, contesting an election.
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.
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 mobilise their supporters.
But election campaign is not limited to these two weeks only.
Political parties start preparing for elections months before they actually take place.
In election campaigns, political parties try to focus public attention on some big issues.
They want to attract the public to that issue and get them to vote for their party on that basis.
Let us look at some of the successful slogans given by different politicalparties in various elections.
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 to reorient all the policies of the government to remove poverty from the country.
Save Democracy was the slogan given by Janata 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 Telugo Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh Assernbly elections in 1983.
Model Code of Conduct:
Principles of Model Code of Conduct:
The different political parties have agreed to follow certain principles during an Election Campaign.
Such principles, as a whole, are known as Model Code of Conduct.
No place of worship shall be used for election propaganda.
Criticism of the opponents should be limited to their policies and programmes.
Government should not be used by any minister and the ruling party.
No announcement of reforms or favours shall be announced after the elections have been announced.
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 voters’ list can go to a nearby ‘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 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.
Earlier the voters used to indicate who they wanted to vote for by putting a stamp on the ballot paper.
A ballot paper is a sheet of paper on which the names of the contesting candidates along with their name and symbols are listed.
Electronic voting machines (EVM) are used to record votes.
The machine shows the names of the candidates and the party symbols Independent candidates too have their own symbols, allotted by election officials.
All the voters have to press the button against the name of the candidate whom one wants to give vote.
Once the polling is over, all the EVMs are sealed and taken to a secure place.
A few days later, on a fixed date, all the EVMs from a constituency are opened and the votes secured by each candidate are counted.
The agent of all candidates is present there to ensure that the counting is done properly.
The candidate who secures the highest number of votes from a constituency is declared elected.
In a general election, usually the counting of votes in all the constituencies takes place at the same time, on the same day- Television channels, radio and newspapers report this event.
Within a few hours of counting, all the results are declared and it becomes clear as to who will form the next government
Are the elections expensive?
Some people hold the view that elections are a great burden on the government political parties and the candidates which a developing country like India cannot afford.
There is some truth in this statement.
According to an estimate about Rs. 3, 000 crores were spent in the Lok Sabha Elections in 2004 by the government, political parties and by different candidates.
But such an amount is worth spending on the elections because if there are no elections, there will be no democracy.
One government will continue in the absence of elections which can become dictator-and corrupt.
If we go deep, we come to know that only Rs 50 were spent on one voter is Rs. 3000 crore are divided by the total number of voters for all the Lok Sabha seats.
This is a small amount as compared to the liberties that the people enjoy in a democracy.
Seen from another angle, Rs 3000 crore is less than the cost of a single nuclear submarine for which we have to pay Rs 3,166 crores.
What makes Elections in India Democratic?
There is no denying the fact that some people indulge in unfair practices during election in India.
The ruling party misuses the government facilities.
Rich candidates use money and openly distribute clothes and even wine among the people, especially the poor people to buy their votes.
Some unsocial elements try to capture booths and cast votes on behalf of the illiterate rural people.
Some influential political parties manage to include false names in the voters list.
Many steps have been taken to ensure free and fair elections in India.
Independent Election Commission:
One simple way of checking whether elections are fair or not is to look at who conducts the elections.
In our country elections are conducted by an independent and very powerful Election Commission (EC).
It enjoys the same kind of independence that the judiciary enjoys.
The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is appointed by the President of India.
But once appointed, the Chief Election Commissioner is not answerable to the President or the government.
Even if the ruling party or the government does not like what the Commission does, it is virtually impossible for it to remove the CEC.
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.
During the election period, the EC can order the government to follow some guidelines, to prevent use and misuse of governmental power to enhance its chances to win elections, or to transfer some of its officials.
When on election duty, government officers work under the control of the EC and not the government.
In the last fifteen years or so, the Election Commission has begun to exercise all its powers and even expand them.
It is very common now for the Election Commission to reprimand the government and administration for their lapses.
When election officials come to the opinion that polling was not fair in some booths or even an entire constituency, they order a repoll.
The ruling parties often do not like what the EC does.
But they have to obey.
This would not have happened if the EC was not independent and powerful.
Popular participation:
Another way to check the quality of the election process is to see whether people participate in it with enthusiasm.
If the election process is not free or fair, people will not continue to participate in the exercise.
People’s participation in election is usually measured by voter turnout figures.
Turnout indicates the per cent of eligible voters who actually cast their vote.
Over the last fifty years, the turnout in Europe and North America has declined.
In India the turnout has either remained stable or actually gone up.
![download.jpg]()
In India the poor, illiterate and underprivileged people vote in larger proportion as compared to the rich and privileged sections.
This is in contrast to western democracies.
For example in the United States of America, poor people, African Americans and Hispanics vote much less than the rich and the white people.
Common people in India attach a lot of importance to elections.
They feel that through elections they can bring pressure on political parties and programmes favourable to them.
They also feel that their vote matters in the way things are run in the country.
The interest of voters in election related activities has been increasing over the years.
During the 2004 elections, more than one-third voters took part in campaign-related activities.
More than half of the people identified themselves as being close to one or the other political party. One out of every seven voters is a member of a political party
![Voter-turnout.png]()
Outcomes of Elections:
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 or incumbent ‘sitting elected representative rarely loses an election.
In India about half of the sitting MPs or MLAs lose elections.
Candidates who are known to have spent a lot of money on buying votes and those with known criminal connections often lose elections.
Barring very few disputed elections, the electoral outcomes are usually accepted as people’s verdict’ by the defeated party
Challenges to Free and Fair Elections:
All this leads to a simple conclusion:
Election in India is basically free and fair.
The party that wins an election and forms government does so because people have chosen it over its rivals.
This may not the true for every constituency.
A few candidates may win purely on the basis of money power and unfair means: But the overall verdict of a general election still reflects popular preference.
There are very few exceptions to this rule in the last fifty years in our country.
This is what makes Indian elections democratic:
Candidates and parties with a lot of money may not be sure of their victory but they do enjoy a big and unfair advantage over smaller parties and independents.
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 ticket 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.
These challenges exist not just in India but also in many established democracies.
These deeper issues are a matter of concern for those who believe in democracy.
That is why citizens, social activists and organisations have been demanding reforms in our electoral system.
