Chapter-3 Political Science

ELECTORAL POLITICS

Q1. What are elections? Why Do We Need Elections?

Ans. The mechanism by which people can choose their representatives at regular intervals and
change them whenever they want to 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.

Q2. What makes an election democratic?

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.

Q3. Is it good to have political competition?

Ans. Elections are all about competition. Without competition, elections would
become meaningless. Political competition takes place when different political
parties compete to gain confidence and ultimately the vote of the voters. They make
promises and give incentives to motivate the voters.

The electoral competition also has some merits like

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, even then it will be
forced to serve the people.
4. It reveals the real motive of political parties.
5. It gives choices to voters to choose among the best.
This electoral competition has many demerits like

1. It creates a sense of disunity and factionalism (Groupism) and party-politics in every

locality.
2. Different political parties and candidates often use dirty tricks like booth capturing to
win elections.
3. The pressure to win electoral fights does not allow to form useful long-term policies.
4. Political parties use money and muscle power to win the elections.
5. The competition leads to the idea of being dragged into the unhealthy competition.
That’s why good people do not enter and participate in political competition.

Q4. Define the terms:

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 are held only for one constituency to fill the vacancy
caused by 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 who live in an area elect one
representative.

ELECTIONS IN INDIA

LOK SABHA ELECTIONS: - For Lok Sabha elections, India is divided into 543 constituencies.
The representative elected from each constituency is called a Member of Parliament or an MP.

ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS: - 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.
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 had 60 MLAs in the State Assembly.

Each Parliamentary constituency has within it several assembly constituencies.

PANHAYAT AND MUNICIPALITY ELECTIONS:- 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.

Q5. What do you mean by Reserved Constituencies? Why was it

considered necessary to have reserved constituencies?
Ans. The Constitution makers were worried that in an open electoral competition, certain
weaker sections may not get a good chance to get elected to the Lok Sabha and the state
Legislative Assemblies.
Therefore, they 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]. These are called Reserved constituencies.
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.

Q6. What is Voters’ List/ Electoral roll? Why is it revised every five
years?
Ans. 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 to put on the voters’ list.
The voters list is revised regularly because –
1. As new persons attain voting age, names are added to the voters’ list,
2. Names of those who move out of a place are deleted
3. Names of those who are dead are deleted.
Therefore, a complete revision of the list takes place every five years. This is done to
ensure that it remains up to date.

Q7. What is EPIC?

Ans. The voters are required to carry Election Photo Identity Card or 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.

Q8. How is nomination of Candidates done?

Ans. Anyone who can be a voter can also become a candidate in elections.
The candidate should be a minimum of 25 years age. Every person who wishes to contest an
election has to fill out a ‘nomination form’ and give some money as ‘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
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.

Q9. What is Election Campaign? How is it done?

Ans. Election campaign means the promotion of the candidate and policies of the political
party he belongs to.
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 personally, political leaders address
election meetings
Political parties hold rallies and mobilise their supporters.
This is also the period when Print Media and television news are full of election-related
stories and debates.

In election campaigns, political parties try to focus public attention on some big issues. They
want to attract the public to those issues and seek their votes on that basis.

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SOME SUCCESSFUL SLOGANS DURING ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

** Some of the successful slogans given by different political parties 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 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.

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Q10. What is Model Code of Conduct for election campaigns?

Or

What are the restrictions on political parties during election

campaigning?
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 campaign
4. Spend more than 25 lakh in a constituency for a Lok Sabha election or 10 lakh in a
constituency in an Assembly election.
5. Use any place of worship for election propaganda;
6. Use government vehicles, aircraft and officials for elections
7. 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

Q11. How is Polling and Counting of Votes done?

Ans. The day when the voters cast or ‘poll’ their vote is called the 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

BALLOT Paper : 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.
EVMs : 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.

Q13. Write a note on powers and functions of Election Commission Of

India.

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, he is not answerable to even the President or the government.

Powers of Election Commission:

• It takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and control of elections right 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, die Election Commission can order the government
to follow some guidelines to prevent the use and misuse of governmental
power to enhance its chances to win elections or to transfer some government
officials.
• When on election duty, government officers work under the control of the
Election Commission and not the government.
• When election officials come to the opinion that polling was not fair in some
booths or even an entire constituency, they order a repoll.

Q14. What are the Challenges to Free and Fair Elections in India
Elections in India are basically free and fair. Sometimes this may not be true for every
constituency.

The challenges to free and fair elections are listed as follows

• Candidates and parties with a lot of money may not be sure of their victory but
they do enjoy an unfair advantage over smaller parties and independents.
• Some candidates with criminal records are able to get party tickets from major
parties due to their political connections.
• Some families tend to dominate political parties. Tickets are distributed to the
family members and friends of these families.
• Elections offer only little choice to ordinary citizens. All 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 in terms of money power and organisational
support.

Q15. What unfair practices are generally used in elections by our contesting
candidates?
Answer:
Unfair practices are quite common in elections. A lot of unfair practices are used
during this time. Some of these are given below:

• Inclusion of false names and exclusion of genuine names in the voters’ list;
• Misuse of government facilities and government officials by the ruling party;
• Excessive use of money by rich candidates and big parties;
• Intimidation of voters and rigging on the polling day.