Electoral Politics- Indian politics

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In Chapter Two we have seen that in a democracy it is neither possible nornecessary for people to govern directly. The most common form ofdemocracy in our times is for the people to govern through theirrepresentatives. In this chapter we will look at how these representativesare elected. We begin by understanding why elections are necessary anduseful in a democracy. We try to understand how electoral competitionamong parties serves the people. We then go on to ask what makes anelection democratic. The basic idea here is to distinguish democraticelections from non-democratic elections.

The rest of the chapter tries to assess elections in India in the light ofthis yardstick. We take a look at each stage of elections, from the drawingof boundaries of different constituencies to the declaration of results. Ateach stage we ask what should happen and what does happen in elections.Towards the end of the chapter, we turn to an assessment of whetherelections in India are free and fair. Here we also examine the role of theElection Commission in ensuring free and fair elections.

CHAPTER 4

ElectoralPolitics

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4.1 W4.1 W4.1 W4.1 W4.1 WHYHYHYHYHY E E E E ELECLECLECLECLECTITITITITIOOOOONSNSNSNSNS?????government would waive the loans offarmers and small businessmen. Hepromised that this would be the firstaction of his government.

The people were unhappy with theexisting government. They were alsoattracted by Devi Lal’s promise. So,when elections were held, they votedoverwhelmingly in favour of Lok Daland its allies. Lok Dal and itspartners won 76 out of 90 seats inthe State Assembly. Lok Dal alonewon 60 seats and thus had a clearmajority in the Assembly. TheCongress could win only 5 seats.

Once the election results wereannounced, the sitting ChiefMinister resigned. The newly electedMembers of Legislative Assembly(MLAs) of Lok Dal chose Devi Lal astheir leader. The Governor invitedDevi Lal to be the new ChiefMinister. Three days after theelection results were declared, hebecame the Chief Minister. As soonas he became the Chief Minister, hisGovernment issued a GovernmentOrder waiving the outstanding loansof small farmers, agriculturallabourers and small businessmen.His party ruled the State for fouryears. The next elections were heldin 1991. But this time his party didnot win popular support. TheCongress won the election andformed the government.

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Do most leadersfulfil their election

promises?

Jagdeep and Navpreet read this story and drew the following conclusions. Can you say which ofthese are right or wrong (or if the information given in the story is inadequate to call them right orwrong):

Elections can lead to changes in the policy of the government.The Governor invited Devi Lal to become the Chief Minister because he was impressed with hisspeeches.People are unhappy with every ruling party and vote against it in the next election.The party that wins the election forms the government.This election led to a lot of economic development in Haryana.The Congress Chief Minister need not have resigned after his party lost elections.

CHECKYOUR

PROGRESS

This newspaper report is about theState assembly election in Haryanain 1987. The State had been ruled bya Congress party led governmentsince 1982. Chaudhary Devi Lal, thenan opposition leader, led a movementcalled ‘Nyaya Yudh’ (Struggle forJustice) and formed a new party, LokDal. His party joined other oppositionparties to form a front against theCongress in the elections. In theelection campaign, Devi Lal said thatif his party won the elections, his

The time is after midnight. An expectantcrowd sitting for the past five hours in achowk of the town is waiting for its leaderto come. The organisers assure and reas-sure the crowd that he would be here anymoment. The crowd stands up whenevera passing vehicle comes that way. Itarouses hopes that he has come.

The leader is Mr. Devi Lal, chief ofthe Haryana Sangharsh Samiti, who wasto address a meeting in Karnal on Thurs-day night. The 76-year-old leader, is avery busy man these days. His day startsat 8 a.m. and ends after 11 p.m. … hehad already addressed nine electionmeetings since morning… been con-stantly addressing public meetings forthe past 23 months and preparing for thiselection.

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A C T I V I T Y

Do you know when the last Assembly electionwas held in your state? Which other electionshave taken place in your locality in the last fiveyears? Write down the level of elections (National,Assembly, Panchayat, etc.), when were they heldand the name and designation (MP, MLA, etc.) ofthe persons who got elected from your area.

WWWWWhhhhhy do wy do wy do wy do wy do we neee neee neee neee need eled eled eled eled eleccccctions?tions?tions?tions?tions?Elections take place regularly in anydemocracy. We noted in ChapterOne that there are more than onehundred countries in the world inwhich elections take place to choosepeople’s representatives. We alsoread that elections are held in manycountries that are not democratic.

But why do we need elections?Let us try to imagine a democracywithout elections. A rule of thepeople is possible without anyelections if all the people can sittogether everyday and take all thedecisions. But as we have alreadyseen in Chapter Two, this is notpossible in any large community.Nor is it possible for everyone tohave the time and knowledge totake decisions on all matters.Therefore in most democraciespeople rule through theirrepresentatives.

Is there a democratic way ofselecting representatives withoutelections? Let us think of a placewhere representatives are selectedon the basis of age and experience.Or a place where they are chosenon the basis of education orknowledge. There could be somedifficulty in deciding on who is moreexperienced or knowledgable. But letus say the people can resolve thesedifficulties. Clearly, such a placedoes not require elections.

But can we call this place ademocracy? How do we find out ifthe people like their representativesor not? How do we ensure that theserepresentatives rule as per thewishes of the people? How to makesure that those who the people don’tlike do not remain theirrepresentatives? This requires amechanism by which people canchoose their representatives atregular intervals and change themif they wish to do so. Thismechanism is called election.Therefore, elections are consideredessential in our times for anyrepresentative democracy.

In an election the voters makemany choices:

They can choose who will makelaws for them.They can choose who will form thegovernment and take majordecisions.They can choose the party whosepolicies will guide the governmentand law making.

WWWWWh ah ah ah ah at makt makt makt makt makes an elees an elees an elees an elees an eleccccctiontiontiontiontiondemocrdemocrdemocrdemocrdemocraaaaatic?tic?tic?tic?tic?Elections can be held in many ways.All democratic countries holdelections. But most non-democraticcountries also hold some kind ofelections. How do we distinguishdemocratic elections from any otherelection? We have discussed thisquestion briefly in Chapter Two. Wediscussed many examples ofcountries where elections are heldbut they can’t really be calleddemocratic elections. Let us recallwhat we learnt there and start witha simple list of the minimumconditions of a democratic election:

First, everyone should be able tochoose. This means that everyoneshould have one vote and everyvote should have equal value.

We have seen whydemocracies needto have elections.But why do rulersin non-democraticcountries need tohold elections?

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Second, there should besomething to choose from. Partiesand candidates should be free tocontest elections and should offersome real choice to the voters.Third, the choice should be offeredat regular intervals. Elections mustbe held regularly after every fewyears.Fourth, the candidate preferred bythe people should get elected.Fifth, elections should beconducted in a free and fairmanner where people can chooseas they really wish.These might look like very simple

and easy conditions. But there aremany countries where these are notfulfilled. In this chapter we will applythese conditions to the elections heldin our own country to see if we cancall these democratic elections.

IIIIIs it good ts it good ts it good ts it good ts it good to hao hao hao hao havvvvve politicale politicale politicale politicale politicalcccccompetition?ompetition?ompetition?ompetition?ompetition?Elections are thus all about politicalcompetition. This competition takesvarious forms. The most obvious formis the competition among politicalparties. At the constituency level, ittakes the form of competition amongseveral candidates. If there is nocompetition, elections will becomepointless.

But is it good to have politicalcompetition? Clearly, an electoralcompetition has many demerits. Itcreates a sense of disunity and‘factionalism’ in every locality. Youwould have heard of peoplecomplaining of ‘party-politics’ in yourlocality. Different political parties andleaders often level allegations againstone another. Parties and candidatesoften use dirty tricks to win elections.Some people say that this pressureto win electoral fights does not allowsensible long-term policies to beformulated. Some good people who

may wish to serve the country do notenter this arena. They do not like theidea of being dragged into unhealthycompetition.

Our Constitution makers wereaware of these problems. Yet theyopted for free competition inelections as the way to select ourfuture leaders. They did so becausethis system works better in the longrun. In an ideal world all politicalleaders know what is good for thepeople and are motivated only by adesire to serve them. Politicalcompetition is not necessary in suchan ideal world. But that is not whathappens in real life. Political leadersall over the world, like all otherprofessionals, are motivated by adesire to advance their politicalcareers. They want to remain inpower or get power and positions forthemselves.They may wish to servethe people as well, but it is risky todepend entirely on their sense ofduty. Besides even when they wishto serve the people, they may notknow what is required to do so, ortheir ideas may not match what thepeople really want.

How do we deal with this real lifesituation? One way is to try andimprove the knowledge and characterof political leaders. The other andmore realistic way is to set up asystem where political leaders arerewarded for serving the people andpunished for not doing so. Whodecides this reward or punishment?The simple answer is: the people.This is what electoral competitiondoes. Regular electoral competitionprovides incentives to politicalparties and leaders. They know thatif they raise issues that people wantto be raised, their popularity andchances of victory will increase inthe next elections. But if they fail tosatisfy the voters with their workthey will not be able to win again.

Ah! So, electionsare like exams

where politiciansand parties know ifthey have passedor failed. But who

are the examiners?



Can we say that Indian elections aredemocratic? To answer this question,let us take a look at how elections areheld in India. Lok Sabha and VidhanSabha (Assembly) elections are heldregularly after every five years. Afterfive years the term of all the electedrepresentatives comes to an end. TheLok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha stands‘dissolved’. Elections are held in allconstituencies at the same time,either on the same day or within afew days. This is called a generalelection. Sometimes election is heldonly for one constitutency to fill thevacancy caused by death orresignation of a member. This is

called a by-election. In this chapterwe will focus on general elections.

EleEleEleEleElecccccttttto ro ro ro ro ral cal cal cal cal constituenciesonstituenciesonstituenciesonstituenciesonstituenciesYou read about the people ofHaryana electing 90 MLAs. You mayhave wondered how they did that.Did every person in Haryana vote forall the 90 MLAs? You perhaps knowthat this is not the case. In ourcountry we follow an area basedsystem of representation. Thecountry is divided into differentareas for purposes of elections.These areas are called electoralconstitutencies. The voters who livein an area elect one representative.

So if a political party is motivatedonly by desire to be in power, eventhen it will be forced to serve thepeople. This is a bit like the waymarket works. Even if a shopkeeperis interested only in his profit, he isforced to give good service to the

customers. If he does not, thecustomer will go to some other shop.Similarly, political competition maycause divisions and some ugliness,but it finally helps to force politicalparties and leaders to serve thepeople.

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Read these two cartoons carefully. Write the message of each of them inyour own words. Have a discussion in class on which of the two is closerto the reality in your own locality. Draw a cartoon to depict what elections

do to the relationship between voters and political leaders.

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GULBARGA LOK SABHA CONSTITUENCY

For Lok Sabha elections, the countryis divided into 543 constituencies.The representative elected from eachconstituency is called a Member ofParliament or an MP. One of thefeatures of a democratic election isthat every vote should have equalvalue. That is why our Constitutionrequires that each constituencyshould have a roughly equalpopulation living within it.

Similarly, each state is divided intoa specific number of Assemblyconstituencies. In this case, theelected representative is called theMember of Legislative Assembly oran MLA. Each Parliamentary

GULBARGA

JEVARGI

SEDAM

CHINCHOLI

YADGIR

ALAND

DISTRICT BOUNDARY

BOUNDARIES OF ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCIES

GULBARGALOK SABHA CONTITUENCY

AREA WITHIN DISTRICT BUT OUTSIDELOK SABHA CONTITUENCY

GULBARGA DISTRICT IN KARNATAKA

constituency has within it severalassemblies constituencies. Thesame principle applies for Panchayatand Municipal elections. Eachvillage or town is divided into several‘wards’ that are like constituencies.Each ward elects one member of thevillage or the urban local body.Sometimes these constituencies arecounted as ‘seats’, for eachconstituency represents one seat inthe assembly. When we say that ‘LokDal won 60 seats’ in Haryana, itmeans that candidates of Lok Dalwon in 60 assembly constituenciesin the state and thus Lok Dal had60 MLAs in the state assembly.


Why is the boundary of the Gulbarga LokSabha constituency not the same as the districtboundary of Gulbarga? Draw a similar mapfor your own Lok Sabha constituency.How many Assembly constituencies are therein the Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency? Is itthe same in your own Lok Sabhaconstituency?

GURMITKAL

CHITAPURSHAHBAD

AFZALPUR

GULBARGA


RRRRReseresereseresereservvvvveeeeed Cd Cd Cd Cd ConstituenciesonstituenciesonstituenciesonstituenciesonstituenciesOur Constitution entitles every citizento elect its representative and to beelected as a representative. TheConstitution makers, however, wereworried that in an open electoralcompetition, certain weaker sectionsmay not stand a good chance to getelected to the Lok Sabha and the stateLegislative Assemblies. They may nothave the required resources,education and contacts to contest andwin elections against others. Thosewho are influential and resourcefulmay prevent them from winningelections. If that happens, ourParliament and Assemblies would bedeprived of the voice of a significantsection of our population. That wouldmake our democracy lessrepresentative and less democratic.

So, the makers of our Constitutionthought of a special system ofreserved constituencies for theweaker sections. Some constituenciesare reserved for people who belongto the Scheduled Castes [SC] andScheduled Tribes [ST]. In a SCreserved constituency only someonewho belongs to the ScheduledCastes can stand for election.Similarly only those belonging to theScheduled Tribes can contest anelection from a constituencyreserved for ST. Currently, in theLok Sabha, 79 seats are reserved forthe Scheduled Castes and 41 for theScheduled Tribes. This number is inproportion to their share in the totalpopulation. Thus the reserved seatsfor SC and ST do not take away thelegitimate share of any other socialgroup.

This system of reservation wasextended later to other weakersections at the district and locallevel. In many states, seats in rural(panchayat) and urban(municipalities and corporations)

local bodies are now reserved forOther Backward Classes (OBC) aswell. However, the proportion ofseats reserved varies from state tostate. Similarly, one-third of theseats are reserved in rural andurban local bodies for womencandidates.

VVVVVo to to to to tersersersersers’’’’’ list list list list listOnce the constituencies are decided,the next step is to decide who canand who cannot vote. This decisioncannot be left to anyone till the lastday. In a democratic election, the listof those who are eligible to vote isprepared much before the electionand given to everyone. This list isofficially called the Electoral Roll andis commonly known as the Voters’List.

This is an important step for it islinked to the first condition of ademocratic election: everyoneshould get an equal opportunity tochoose representatives. In ChapterOne we read about the principle ofuniversal adult franchise. In practiceit means that everyone should haveone vote and each vote should haveequal value. No one should bedenied the right to vote without agood reason. Different citizens differfrom one another in many ways:some are rich, some are poor; someare highly educated, some are notso educated or not educated at all;some are kind, others are not sokind. But all of them are humanbeings with their own needs andviews. That is why all of themdeserve to have an equal say indecisions that affect them.

In our country, all the citizens aged18 years and above can vote in anelection. Every citizen has the rightto vote, regardless of his or her caste,religion or gender. Some criminalsand persons with unsound mind can

Like in Panchayats,should we not haveat least one-thirdseats in theparliament andassembliesreserved forwomen?

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TOTAL CONSTITUENCIES 543

GENERAL 423

RESERVED (SC) 79

RESERVED (ST) 41

LOK SABHA CONSTITUENCIES


STATES CONSTITUENCIES

Andhra Pradesh 42Arunachal Pradesh 2Assam 14Bihar 40Chhattisgarh 11Goa 2Gujarat 26Haryana 10Himachal Pradesh 4Jammu & Kashmir 6Jharkhand 14Karnataka 28Kerala 20Madhya Pradesh 29Maharashtra 48Manipur 2Meghalaya 2Nagaland 1Orissa 21Punjab 13Rajasthan 25Sikkim 1Tamil Nadu 39Tripura 2Uttar Pradesh 80Uttaranchal 5West Bengal 42

UNION TERRITORIES

Andaman & NicobarIslands 1

Chandigarh 1Dadra & Nagar Haveli 1Daman & Diu 1Delhi 7Lakshadweep 1Pondicherry 1

See the map above and answer the following questions.What is the number of Lok Sabha constituencies in your state and theneighbouring two states?Which states have more than 30 Lok Sabha constituencies?Why do some states have such a large number of constituencies?Why are some constituencies small in area while others are very big?Are the constituencies reserved for the SCs and STs evenly spread allover the entire country or are there more in some areas?

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be denied the right to vote, but onlyin rare situations. It is theresponsibility of the government toget the names of all the eligiblevoters put on the voters’ list. As newpersons attain voting age names areadded to the voters’ list. Names ofthose who move out of a place orthose who are dead are deleted. Acomplete revision of the list takesplace every five years. This is doneto ensure that it remains up to date.In the last few years a new systemof Election Photo Identity Card[EPIC] has been introduced. Thegovernment has tried to give thiscard to every person on the voterslist. The voters are required to carrythis card when they go out to vote,so that no one can vote for someoneelse. But the card is not yetcompulsory for voting. For voting,the voters can show many otherproofs of identity like the ration cardor the driving licence.

NNNNNominaominaominaominaomination of candidation of candidation of candidation of candidation of candidattttte se se se se sWe noted above that in a democraticelection people should have a realchoice. This happens only whenthere are almost no restrictions onanyone to contest an election. Thisis what our system provides. Any-one who can be a voter can also be-come a candidate in elections. Theonly difference is that in order to bea candidate the minimum age is 25years, while it is only 18 years forbeing a voter. There are some otherrestrictions on criminals etc. butthese apply in very extreme cases.Political parties nominate their can-didates who get the party symboland support. Party’s nomination isoften called party ‘ticket’.

Every person who wishes tocontest an election has to fill a‘nomination form’ and give somemoney as ‘security deposit’.

Recently, a new system ofdeclaration has been introduced ondirection from the Supreme Court.Every candidate has to make a legaldeclaration, giving full details of :

Serious criminal cases pendingagainst the candidate;Details of the assets and liabilitiesof the candidate and his or herfamily; andEducation qualifications of thecandidate.This information has to be made

public. This provides an opportunityto the voters to make their decisionon the basis of the informationprovided by the candidates.

Why are thecandidatesrequired to give adetailed statementof their property?

Educational qualifications forcandidates

Why is there no educational qualification forholding such an important position when somekind of educational qualification is needed for anyother job in the country?

Educational qualifications are not relevant toall kinds of jobs. The relevant qualification forselection to the Indian cricket team, forexample, is not the attainment of educationaldegrees but the ability to play cricket well.Similarly the relevant qualification for being anMLA or an MP is the ability to understandpeople’s concerns, problems and to representtheir interests. Whether they can do so or notis examined by lakhs of examiners — theirvoters — after every five years.Even if education was relevant, it should beleft to the people to decide how muchimpor tance they give to educationalqualifications.In our country putting an educationalqualification would go against the spirit ofdemocracy for yet another reason. It wouldmean depriving a majority of the country’scitizens the right to contest elections. If, forexample, a graduate degree like B.A., B.Comor B.Sc was made compulsory for candidates,more than 90 per cent of the citizens willbecome ineligible to contest elections.

65EEEEELECLECLECLECLECTTTTTOOOOORRRRRALALALALAL P P P P POOOOOLITILITILITILITILITICSCSCSCSCS

Chief Electoral Officer, Mizoram


EleEleEleEleEleccccction Ction Ction Ction Ction CampaignampaignampaignampaignampaignThe main purpose of election is togive people a chance to choose therepresentatives, the government andthe policies they prefer. Therefore itis necessary to have a free and opendiscussion about who is a betterrepresentative, which party willmake a better government or whatis a good policy. This is what happensduring election campaigns.

In our country such campaignstake place for a two-week periodbetween the announcement of thefinal list of candidates and the dateof polling. During this period thecandidates contact their voters,political leaders address electionmeetings and political partiesmobilise their supporters. This isalso the period when newspapersand television news are full ofelection related stories and debates.But election campaign is not limitedto these two weeks only. Politicalparties start preparing for electionsmonths before they actually takeplace.

A C T I V I T Y

What was the election campaign like in yourconstituency in the last Lok Sabha elections?Prepare a list of what the candidates and partiessaid and did.

In election campaigns, politicalparties try to focus public attentionon some big issues. They want toattract the public to that issue andget them to vote for their party on thatbasis. Let us look at some of thesuccessful slogans given by differentpolitical parties in various elections.

The Congress party led by IndiraGandhi gave the slogan of GaribiHatao (Remove poverty) in theLok Sabha elections of 1971. Theparty promised to reorient all thepolicies of the government toremove poverty from the country.Save Democracy was the slogangiven by Janata Party in the nextLok Sabha election held in 1977.The party promised to undo theexcesses committed duringEmergency and restore civil liberties.The Left Front used the slogan ofLand to the Tiller in the WestBengal Assembly elections held in1977.‘Protect the Self-Respect of theTelugus’ was the slogan used byN. T. Rama Rao, the leader of theTelugu Desam Party in AndhraPradesh Assembly elections in1983.In a democracy it is best to leave

political parties and candidates freeto conduct their election campaignsthe way they want to. But it issometimes necessary to regulatecampaigns to ensure that everypolitical party and candidate gets a

Match the following features of our electoral system with the principles they reflect.Principles Features of election system

Each constituency has roughly the same population

Everyone who is 18 years of age or older has a right to vote

Anyone can form a party or contest elections

Reservation of seats for the SCs and the STs

Universal adult franchise

Representation ofweaker sections

Open political competition

One vote one value

CHECKYOURPROGRESS

67

fair and equal chance to compete.According to our election law, noparty or candidate can:

Bribe or threaten voters;Appeal to them in the name ofcaste or religion;Use government resources forelection campaign; andSpend more than Rs. 25 lakh in aconstituency for a Lok Sabha electionor Rs. 10 lakh in a constituency inan Assembly election.If they do so, their election can be

rejected by the court even after theyhave been declared elected. Inaddition to the laws, all the politicalparties in our country have agreedto a Model Code of Conduct forelection campaigns. According tothis no party or candidate can:

Use any place of worship forelection propaganda;

Use government vehicles, aircraftsand officials for elections; andOnce elections are announced,Ministers shall not lay foundationstones of any projects, take any bigpolicy decisions or make anypromises of providing public facilities.

PPPPPolling and colling and colling and colling and colling and counounounounounting of vting of vting of vting of vting of vo to to to to tesesesesesThe final stage of an election is theday when the voters cast or ‘poll’their vote. That day is usually calledthe election day. Every person whosename is on the voters’ list can go toa nearby ‘polling booth’, situatedusually in a local school or agovernment office. Once the votergoes inside the booth, the electionofficials identify her, put a mark onher finger and allow her to cast hervote. An agent of each candidate isallowed to sit inside the polling boothand ensure that the voting takesplace in a fair way.


Are the elections too expensivefor our country?

A large amount of money is spent in conductingelections in India. For instance, the governmentspent about Rs.1,300 crores in conducting LokSabha elections in 2004. That works out to aboutRs. 20 per person on the voters’ list. The amountspent by parties and candidates was more thanwhat the government spent. Roughly speaking,the expenditure made by government, parties andcandidates was around Rs. 3,000 crore or Rs.50 per voter.

Some people say that elections are a burdenon our people, that our poor country cannot affordto hold elections once every five years. Let uscompare this expenditure with some other figures:

In 2005, our government decided to buy sixnuclear submarines from France. Each subma-rine will cost about Rs. 3,000 crore.Delhi plans to host Commonwealth Games in2010. The current estimate for its cost is aboutRs. 2,000 crore.

Are the elections too expensive? You decide.

Standing outside thepolling station, thecriminal politiciansays to the voter:

“Why do you bother?You can go, I got your

vote cast”. Doesbooth capturing

always take place inthis visible form? Are

there less visibleways of booth

captuing?


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Earlier the voters used to indicatewho they wanted to vote for by puttinga stamp on the ballot paper. A ballotpaper is a sheet of paper on whichthe names of the contestingcandidates along with party nameand symbols are listed. Nowadayselectronic voting machines (EVM) areused to record votes. The machineshows the names of the candidatesand the party symbols. Independentcandidates too have their ownsymbols, allotted by election officials.Al the voter has to do is to press thebutton against the name of thecandidate she wants to give her vote.

Once the polling is over, all theEVMs are sealed and taken to a

Why are partyagents present inthe polling boothand the countingcentre?

Election result in GulbargaLet us go back to our example of Gulbarga. In 2004, a total of 11 candidats contested elections in thatconstituency. The total eligible voters were 14.39 lakhs. Of these 8.28 lakh voters had cast theirvotes. The candidate of the Congress party, Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi secured about 3.12 lakh votes.This was only about 38 per cent of the total votes polled. But since he had secured more votes thananyone else, he was declared elected a Member of Parliament from Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency.

Election Result of Gulbarga constituency, GENERAL ELECTION TO LOK SABHA, 2004CANDIDATE PARTY VOTES POLLED % OF VOTESIqbal Ahmed Saradgi INC 37.76Basawaraj Patil Sedam BJP 30.82Vithal Heroor JD(S) 22.84Suryakant Nimbalkar BSP 3.23Sanganna IND 1.84Arun Kumar Chandrashekara Patil KNDP 0.86Bhagavanreddy B IND 0.82Hamid Pasha Sarmast MUL 0.52Basawanth Rao Revansiddappa Sheelwanth AIFB 0.47Sandesh C Bandak USYP 0.44Umesh Havanoor SP 0.41

What is the percentage of voters who had actually cast their votes?To win an election is it necessary for a person to secure more than half the votes polled?

CHECKYOURPROGRESS

Identify the fair and the unfair electoral practices among the following:A minister flags off a new train in his constituency a week before polling day.A candidate promises that she will get a new train for her constituency if she is elected.Supporters of a candidate take the voters to a temple and make them take an oath that they willvote for him.The supporters of a candidate distribute blankets in slums in return for a promise for vote

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secure place. A few days later, on afixed date, all the EVMs from aconstituency are opened and thevotes secured by each candidate arecounted. The agents of all candidatesare present there to ensure that thecounting is done properly. Thecandidate who secures the highestnumber of votes from a constituencyis declared elected. In a generalelection, usually the counting of votesin all the constituencies takes placeat the same time, on the same day.Television channels, radio andnewspapers report this event. Withina few hours of counting, all the resultsare declared and it becomes clear asto who will form the next government.

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Election Commissioner (CEC) isappointed by the President of India.But once appointed, the ChiefElection Commissioner is notanswerable to the President or thegovernment. Even if the ruling partyor the government does not like whatthe Commission does, it is virtuallyimpossible for it to remove the CEC.

Very few election commissions inthe world have such wide-rangingpowers as the Election Commissionof India.

EC takes decisions on every aspectof conduct and control of electionsfrom the announcement of electionsto the declaration of results.It implements the Code of Conductand punishes any candidate orparty that violates it.During the election period, the ECcan order the government to followsome guidelines, to prevent use andmisuse of governmental power toenhance its chances to winelections, or to transfer somegovernment officials.When on election duty, governmentofficers work under the control ofthe EC and not the government.In the last fifteen years or so, the

Election Commission has begun toexercise all its powers and evenexpand them. It is very common nowfor the Election Commission toreprimand the government andadministration for their lapses. Whenelection officials come to the opinionthat polling was not fair in somebooths or even an entireconstituency, they order a repoll. Theruling parties often do not like whatthe EC does. But they have to obey.This would not have happened if theEC was not independent andpowerful.


We get to read a lot about unfairpractices in elections. Newspapersand television reports often refer tosuch allegations. Most of thesereports are about the following:

Inclusion of false names andexclusion of genuine names in thevoters’ list;Misuse of government facilitiesand officials by the ruling party;Excessive use of money by richcandidates and big parties; andIntimidation of voters and riggingon the polling day.Many of these reports are correct.

We feel unhappy when we read orsee such reports. But fortunatelythey are not on such a scale so as todefeat the very purpose of elections.This becomes clear if we ask a basicquestion: Can a party win anelection and come to power notbecause it has popular support butthrough electoral malpractices? Thisis a vital question. Let us carefullyexamine various aspects of thisquestion.

IndependenIndependenIndependenIndependenIndependent Elet Elet Elet Elet EleccccctiontiontiontiontionCCCCCommissionommissionommissionommissionommissionOne simple way of checking whetherelections are fair or not is to look atwho conducts the elections. Are theyindependent of the government? Orcan the government or the ruling partyinfluence or pressurise them? Do theyhave enough powers to be able toconduct free and fair elections? Dothey actually use these powers?

The answer to all these questionsis quite positive for our country. Inour country elections are conductedby an independent and very powerfulElection Commission (EC). It enjoysthe same kind of independence thatthe judiciary enjoys. The Chief

Why does theElection

Commission haveso much powers?

Is this good fordemocracy?


EC accepts new Haryana DGP

EC issues notification constituting 14thLok Sabha

Photo I-cards not mandatory in Biharpolls

EC tightens norms for poll expenses

EC to visit Gujarat again, review poll

arrangements

EC will seek power to censurepolitical ads

HC asks EC to bar ‘criminal’ netasEC says no immediate plan to banExit Polls

EC shoots down HM advice onpoll reformsEC orders repoll in 398 more booths

EC to keep closer eye on hiddenpoll costs

Read these headlines carefully and identify which powers are used by the Election Commission ineach instance to ensure free and fair elections.

PPPPPopular paropular paropular paropular paropular participaticipaticipaticipaticipationtiontiontiontionAnother way to check the quality ofthe election process is to seewhether people participate in it withenthusiasm. If the election processis not free or fair, people will notcontinue to participate in theexercise. Now, read these chartsand draw some conclusions aboutparticipation in India:

CHECKYOURPROGRESS

1991 2005

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

56 585862 60

78

72

5961

ELECTION YEAR

VOTE

R TU

RNOU

T (%

)

UKINDIA

1 VOTER TURNOUT IN INDIA AND THE UK

1 People’s participation in election isusually measured by voter turnoutfigures. Turnout indicates the percent of eligible voters who actuallycast their vote. Over the last fiftyyears, the turnout in Europe andNorth America has declined. InIndia the turnout has eitherremained stable or actually goneup.

71

2 In India the poor, illiterate andunderprivileged people vote inlarger proportion as compared tothe rich and privileged sections.This is in contrast to westerndemocracies. For example in theUnited States of America, poorpeople, African Americans andHispanics vote much less than therich and the white people.

3 Common people in India attach alot of importance to elections. Theyfeel that through elections theycan bring pressure on politicalparties to adopt policies andprogrammes favourable to them.They also feel that their votematters in the way things are runin the country.

4 The interest of voters in election-related activities has beenincreasing over the years. Duringthe 2004 elections, more than one-third voters took part in acampaign-related activities. Morethan half of the people identifiedthemselves as being close to oneor the other political party. One outof every seven voters is a memberof a political party.

2 VOTER TURNOUT IN INDIA AND US BY SOCIAL GROUPS, 2004

SOCIAL GROUPS

UpperCaste

OBC SC ST White Black Hispanic

56 58 60 61 6056

28

67%

3 DO YOU THINK YOUR VOTE MAKES A DIFFERENCE?

15%

18%Has effect

Has no effect

Don’t know

Source: Figures for Indiafrom National Election

Study 2004, CSDS.Figures for US from

National Election Study2004, University of

Michigan.

I N D I A U S

VOTE

R TU

RNOU

T (%

)

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1996 1998 1999 2004

8 13

21

32

(%)

10

20

30

40

4 THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN ANYELECTION RELATED ACTIVITY IN INDIASource: National Election Study 1996-2004, CSDS.

ELECTION YEAR

A C T I V I T Y

Ask the eligible voters in your family whether theyvoted in the last election to the Lok Sabha or tothe state assembly. If they did not, ask them whydid they not vote. If they did, ask them whichparty and candidate they voted for and why. Alsoask them whether they had participated in anyother election-related activity like attending anelection meeting or rally etc.

AAAAAc cc cc cc cc ceptanceptanceptanceptanceptance of elee of elee of elee of elee of eleccccctiontiontiontiontionoutoutoutoutoutcccccomeomeomeomeomeOne final test of the free and fairnessof election has in the outcome itself.If elections are not free or fair, theoutcome always favours the powerful.In such a situation, the ruling partiesdo not lose elections. Usually, the


Source: National ElectionStudy 2004, CSDS.


losing party does not accept theoutcome of a rigged election.

The outcome of India’s electionsspeaks for itself:

The ruling parties routinely loseelections in India both at thenational and state level. In fact inevery two out of the three electionsheld in the last fifteen years, theruling party lost.In the US, an incumbent or ‘sitting’elected representative rarely losesan election. In India about half ofthe sitting MPs or MLAs loseelections.Candidates who are known to havespent a lot of money on ‘buyingvotes’ and those with knowncriminal connections often loseelections.Barring very few disputedelections, the electoral outcomesare usually accepted as ‘people’sverdict’ by the defeated party.

CCCCChallenges thallenges thallenges thallenges thallenges to fro fro fro fro free and fairee and fairee and fairee and fairee and faireleeleeleeleeleccccctionstionstionstionstionsAll this leads to a simple conclusion:elections in India are basically freeand fair. The party that wins an elec-tion and forms government does sobecause people have chosen it overits rivals. This may not be true forevery constituency. A few candidatesmay win purely on the basis ofmoney power and unfair means. Butthe overall verdict of a general elec-tion still reflects popular preference.There are very few exceptions to thisrule in the last fifty years in ourcountry. This is what makes Indianelections democratic.

Yet the picture looks different if weask deeper questions: Are people’spreferences based on real knowledge?Are the voters getting a real choice?Is election really level playing field foreveryone? Can an ordinary citizenhope to win elections? Questions of

this kind bring the many limitationsand challenges of Indian electionsto our attention. These include:

The leader is coming out of a pressconference: “What was need to say that we

have distributed tickets only amongst suitableand winnable family relations?” Do you thinkthat family politics is confined to only a few

states or parties?

Titled ‘ElectoralCampaigns’, this

cartoon was drawn inthe Latin Americancontext. Does this

apply to Indiaand to otherdemocraciesin the world?

©N

erili

con,

El E

cono

mis

ta, C

agle

Car

toon

s In

c.


Irfan

Kha

n

73

Candidates and parties with a lotof money may not be sure of theirvictory but they do enjoy a big andunfair advantage over smallerparties and independents.In some parts of the country,candidates with criminal connectionhave been able to push others outof the electoral race and to secure a‘ticket’ from major parties.Some families tend to dominatepolitical parties; tickets aredistributed to relatives from thesefamilies.Very often elections offer littlechoice to ordinary citizens, forboth the major parties are quite

CHECKYOUR

PROGRESS


Here are some facts on Indian elections. Comment on each of these to say whether they reflect thestrength or the weakness of our electoral system:

The Lok Sabha has always had less than 10 percent women members.The Election Commission often refuses to accept the government’s advice about when the elec-tions should be held.The current Lok Sabha has more than 145 members whose assets are more than Rs.1 crore.After losing an election the Chief Minister said: “I respect the people’s verdict”.

similar to each other both inpolicies and practice.Smaller parties and independentcandidates suffer a hugedisadvantage compared to biggerparties.These challenges exist not just in

India but also in many establisheddemocracies. These deeper issuesare a matter of concern for thosewho believe in democracy. That iswhy citizens, social activists andorganisations have been demandingreforms in our electoral system. Canyou think of soem reforms? Whatcan an ordinary citizen do to facethese challenges?


Is this an accuratepicture of what

happens to the voterbefore and after

elections? Must thisalways happen in a

democracy? Can youthink of exampleswhen this did not

happen?

R.K

. Lax

man

, The

Tim

es o

f Ind

ia


GLOSSARY

Booth capturing: Supporters or hired musclemen of party or a candidategain physical control of a polling booth and cast false votes bythreatening everyone or by preventing genuine voters from reachingthe polling booth.Code of Conduct: A set of norms and guidelines to be followed by politicalparties and contesting candidates during election time.Constituency: Voters in a geographical area who elect a representative tothe legislative bodies.Incumbent: The current holder of a political office. Usually the choice forthe voters in elections is between the incumbent party or candidate andthose who oppose them.Level playing field: Condition in which all parties and candidatescontesting in an election have equal opportunities to appeal for votes andto carry out election campaign.Rigging: Fraud and malpractices indulged by a party or candidate toincrease its votes. It includes stuffing ballot boxes by a few persons usingthe votes of others; recording multiple votes by the same person; andbribing or coercing polling officers to favour a candidate.Turnout: The percentage of eligible voters who cast their votes in an election.

1 Which of the following statements about the reasons for conductingelections are false?a Elections enable people to judge the performance of the governmentb People select the representative of their choice in an electionc Elections enable people to evaluate the performance of the judiciaryd People can indicate which policies they prefer

2 Which of these is not a good reason to say that Indian elections aredemocratic?a India has the largest number of voters in the worldb India’s Election Commission is very powerfulc In India, everyone above the age of 18 has a right to voted In India, the losing parties accept the electoral verdict

3 Match the following

It is necessary to keep thevoters list up to date becauseSome constituencies arereserved for SCs and STs sothatEveryone has one and only onevote so that

Party in power is not allowedto use government vehiclesbecause

there is a fair representationof all sections of our societyeveryone has equalopportunity to elect theirrepresentativeall candidates must have afair chance of competing inelectionssome people may have movedaway from the area wherethey voted last

exercises

75

4 List all the different election related activities mentioned in the chapterand arrange them in a time sequence, beginning with the first activityand ending with the last. Some of these activities are given below:releasing election manifestos; counting of votes; making of voters’list; election campaign; declaration of election results; casting of votes;ordering of re-poll; announcing election schedule; filing nomination.

5 Surekha is an officer in-charge of ensuring free and fair elections inan assembly constituency in a state. Describe what should she focuson for each of the following stages of election:a Election campaignb Polling dayc Counting day

6 The table below gives the proportion of different communities amongthe candidates who won elections to the US Congress. Compare theseto the proportion of these communities in the population of the US.Based on this, would you suggest a system of reservations in the USCongress? If yes, why and for which communities? If no, why not?

7 Can we draw the following conclusions from the information given inthis chapter? Give two facts to support your position for each of these.a Election Commission of India does not have enough powers to

conduct free and fair elections in the country.b There is a high level of popular participation in the elections in

our country.c It is very easy for the party in power to win an election.d Many reforms are needed to make our elections completely free

and fair.

8 Chinappa was convicted for torturing his wife for dowry. Satbir washeld guilty of practicing untouchability. The court did not allow eitherof them to contest elections. Does this decision go against theprinciples of democratic elections?

9 Here are some reports of electoral malpractices from different partsof the world. Is there anything that these countries can learn fromIndia to improve their elections? What would you suggest in eachcase?a During an election in Nigeria, the officer in charge of counting

votes deliberately increased the votes of one candidate and declared

Proportion of the community(in per cent) in the

House ofrepresentatives

85

86

Population of US

131370

BlacksHispanicsWhites


exerc

ises


exerciseshim elected. The court later found out that more than five lakhvotes cast for one candidate were counted in favour of another.

b Just before elections in Fiji, a pamphlet was distributed warningvoters that a vote for former Prime Minisiter, Mahendra Chaudhrywill lead to bloodshed. This was a threat to voters of Indian origin.

c In the US, each state has its own method of voting, its ownprocedure of counting and its own authority for conductingelections. Authorities in the state of Florida took many controversialdecisions that favoured Mr. Bush in the presidential elections in2000. But no one could change those decisions.

10 Here are some reports of malpractices in Indian elections. Identifywhat the problem in each case is. What should be done to correct thesituation?a Following the announcement of elections, the minister promised

to provide financial aid to reopen the closed sugar mill.b Opposition parties alleged that their statements and campaign

was not given due attention in Doordarshan and All India Radio.c An inquiry by the Election Commission showed that electoral rolls

of a state contain name of 20 lakh fake voters.d The hoodlums of a political party were moving with guns, physically

preventing supporters of other political parties to meet the votersand attacking meetings of other parties.

11 Arun was not in class when this chapter was being taught. He camethe next day and repeated what he had heard from his father. Canyou tell Ramesh what is wrong with these statements?a Women always vote the way men tell them to. So what is the point

of giving them the right to vote?b Party politics creates tension in society. Elections should be decided

by consensus not by competition.c Only graduates should be allowed to stand as candidates for

elections.

Assembly elections are usually held every year in a few states of the country.You can collect information about the elections that take place during thissession. While collecting news items, divide these into three parts:

Important events that took place before the election – main agendadiscussed by political parties; information about people’s demand;role of the Election Commission.Important events on the day of the election and counting – turnoutin elections; reports of malpractice; re-polls; the types of predictionsmade; and the final outcome.Post elections – reasons offered by political parties for winning orlosing elections; analysis of the election verdict by the media;selection of the Chief Minister.

Electoral Politics- Indian politics

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