“Chapter 3: Election And Representation”

Elections have today become the most visible symbol of the democratic process.
A direct democracy is one where the citizens directly participate in the day-to-day decision-making and in
the running of the government.
But this kind of direct democracy cannot be practiced when a decision has to be taken by lakhs and crores
of people. That is why rule by the people usually means rule by people’s representatives.
An arrangement in which citizens choose their representatives who, in turn, are actively involved in
governing and administering the country. The method followed to choose these representatives is
referred to as an election.
Citizens are involved only indirectly, through their elected representatives.
The constitution of a democratic country lays down some basic rules about elections.
 Who is eligible to vote?
 Who is eligible to contest?
 Who is to supervise elections?
 How do the voters choose their representatives?
 How are the votes to be counted and representatives elected?

“First Past The Post System:”

Under this system:

The entire country is divided into 543 constituencies;
Each constituency elects one representative; and
The candidate who secures the highest number of votes in that constituency is declared elected.
It is important to note that in this system whoever has more votes than all other candidates is declared
elected.
The winning candidate need not secure a majority of the votes.
This method is called the First Past the Post (FPTP) system.
In the electoral race, the candidate who is ahead of others, who crosses the winning post first of all, is the
winner.
This method is also called the Plurality System.
Suppose a party gets only 25 per cent of the votes in every constituency, but everyone else gets even less votes.
In that case, the party could win all the seats with only 25 per cent votes or even less.

“Proportional Representation”

In Israel once the votes are counted, each party is allotted the share of seats in the parliament in proportion
to its share of votes. Each party fills its quota of seats by picking those many of its nominees from a
preference list that has been declared before the elections. This system of elections is called the
Proportional Representation (PR) system.

In the PR system there could be two variations.

 In some countries, like Israel or Netherlands, the entire country is treated as one constituency and
seats are allocated to each party according to its share of votes in the national election.
 The other method is when the country is divided into several multi-member constituencies as in
Argentina and Portugal. Each party prepares a list of candidates for each constituency, depending on
how many have to be elected from that constituency. The seats in a constituency are distributed on the
basis of votes polled by a party. Thus, representatives from a constituency, would and do belong to
different parties.
 In India, we have adopted PR system on a limited scale for indirect elections. The Constitution prescribes
a third and complex variation of the PR system for the election of President, Vice President, and for the
election to the Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishads.

Q. How does PR work in Rajya Sabha elections? {READ FROM BOOK} 60.

Q. Why did India adopt the FPTP system?

 The reason for the popularity and success of the FPTP system is its simplicity.
 There is also a clear choice presented to the voters at the time of elections. Voters may either give greater
importance to the party or to the candidate or balance the two.
 In PR system there is no one representative who represents and is responsible for one locality. But in the
FPTP, the voters know who their own representative is and can hold him or her accountable.
 PR system may not produce a clear majority because seats in the legislature would be divided on the basis
of share of votes.
 The FPTP system generally gives the largest party or coalition some extra bonus seats, more than their
share of votes would allow hence facilitates the formation of a stable government.
 The FPTP system encourages voters from different social groups to come together to win an election in a
locality.
 The FPTP system has also discouraged political parties that get all their votes only from one caste or
community.
 The distinguishing feature of India’s party system is that the rise of coalitions has made it possible for new
and smaller parties to enter into electoral competition.

“Reservation Of Constituencies”

 In such a social system like India, the FPTP electoral system can mean that the dominant social groups and
castes can win everywhere and the oppressed social groups may continue to remain unrepresented.

 Therefore, it was decided to adopt the system of reserved constituencies. In this system, all voters in a
constituency are eligible to vote but the candidates must belong to only a particular community or social
section for which the seat is reserved.

 The Constitution provides for reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for
the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. This provision was made initially for a period of 10 years and
as a result of successive constitutional amendments, has been extended up to 2020.

 Of the 543 elected seats in the Lok Sabha, 84 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 47 are reserved for
Scheduled Tribes (as on 26 January 2019).

“The Delimitation Commisssion:”

Q. Who decides which constituency is to be reserved? On what basis is this decision taken?
This decision is taken by an independent body called the Delimitation Commission.
The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with
the Election Commission of India.
It is appointed for the purpose of drawing up the boundaries of constituencies all over the country. A quota
of constituencies to be reserved in each State is fixed depending on the proportion of SC or ST in that
State.
After drawing the boundaries, the Delimitation Commission looks at the composition of population in each
constituency. Those constituencies that have the highest proportion of Scheduled Tribe population are
reserved for ST.
In the case of Scheduled Castes, the Delimitation Commission looks at two things.
 It picks constituencies that have higher proportion of Scheduled Caste population.
 But it also spreads these constituencies in different regions of the State.
 This is done because the Scheduled Caste population is generally spread evenly throughout the
country. These reserved constituencies can be rotated each time the Delimitation exercise is
undertaken.

“Universal Adult Franchise And Right To Contest:”

 Democratic elections require that all adult citizens of the country must be eligible to vote in the elections.
This is known as universal adult franchise.
 Till 1989, an adult Indian meant an Indian citizen above the age of 21. An amendment to the Constitution
in 1989, reduced the eligibility age to 18.
 Adult franchise ensures that all citizens are able to participate in the process of selecting their
representative. All citizens have the right to stand for election and become the representative of the people.
 Restrictions:
1. In order to stand for Lok Sabha or Assembly election, a candidate must be at least 25 years old.
2. There is a legal provision that a person who has undergone imprisonment for two or more years for
some offence is disqualified from contesting elections.
“Independent Election Commission:”

Article 324: (1)

“The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of,
all elections to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State and of elections to the offices of President and
Vice- President held under this Constitution shall be vested in a Commission (referred to in this Constitution
as the Election Commission).”

To assist the Election Commission of India there is a Chief Electoral Officer in every state. The Election
Commission is not responsible for the conduct of local body elections.
The Election Commission of India can either be a single member or a multi-member body. In 1993, two
Election Commissioners were once again appointed and the Commission became multi-member and has
remained multi-member since then.
A multi-member Election Commission is more appropriate as power is shared and there is greater
accountability.
The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) presides over the Election Commission, but does not have more
powers than the other Election Commissioners. The CEC and the two Election Commissioners have equal
powers to take all decisions relating to elections as a collective body.
They are appointed by the President of India on the advice of the Council of Ministers.
They are appointed for a six year term or continue till the age of 65, whichever is earlier.
The CEC can be removed before the expiry of the term, by the President if both Houses of Parliament
make such a recommendation with a special majority. This is done to ensure that a ruling party cannot
remove a CEC who refuses to favour it in elections.

“Powers And Function of Election Commission:”

It supervises the preparation of up-to-date voters’ list. It makes every effort to ensure that the voters’ list is
free of errors.
It also determines the timing of elections and prepares the election schedule. The election schedule
includes the notification of elections, date from which nominations can be filed, last date for filing
nominations, last date of scrutiny, last date of withdrawal, date of polling and date of counting and
declaration of results.
The Election Commission has the power to take decisions to ensure a free and fair poll. It can postpone or
cancel the election in the entire country or a specific State or constituency on the grounds that the
atmosphere is vitiated and therefore, a free and fair election may not be possible.
It can order a re-poll in a specific constituency. It can also order a recount of votes when it feels that the
counting process has not been fully fair and just.
The Election Commission accords recognition to political parties and allots symbols to each of them.
It conducts the elections with the help of the administrative machinery. However, once the election process
has begun, the commission has control over the administration as far as election related work is concerned.
The EC can transfer the officers, or stop their transfers; it can take action against them for failing to act in
a non-partisan manner.

“Problems Faced By E.C.:”

1. Holding elections in militancy affected areas like Assam, Punjab or Jammu and Kashmir.
2. It has also faced the difficult situation of having to postpone the election process mid-way in 1991 when
the ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during campaigning. In 2002,
3. When the Gujarat Assembly was dissolved and elections had to be conducted. But the Election
Commission found that unprecedented violence in that State had made it impossible to hold free and fair
elections immediately.
“Electoral Reforms Suggested By E.C, parties, scholars etc:”

a) Our system of elections should be changed from the FPTP to some variant of the PR system. This would
ensure that parties get seats, as far as possible, in proportion to the votes they get.
b) There should be a special provision to ensure that at least one third women are elected to the parliament
and assemblies.
c) There should be stricter provisions to control the role of money in electoral politics. The elections
expenses should be paid by the government out of a special fund.
d) Candidates with any criminal case should be barred from contesting elections, even if their appeal is
pending before a court.
e) There should be complete ban on the use of caste and religious appeals in the campaign.
f) There should be a law to regulate the functioning of political parties and to ensure that they function in a
transparent and democratic manner.
g) Various political institutions and voluntary organizations are developed and are active in functioning as
watchdog for ensuring free and fair elections.

The success of India’s election system can be gauged from a number of factors.
1. Our election system has allowed the voters not only to freely choose representatives, but also to change
governments peacefully both at the State and national level.
2. Secondly, voters have consistently taken a keen interest in the election process and participated in it. The
number of candidates and parties that contest elections is on the rise.
3. Thirdly, the system of election has proved to be accommodative and inclusive. The social composition of our
representatives has changed gradually. Now our representatives come from many different social sections,
though the number of women legislators has not increased satisfactorily.
4. Fourthly, the election outcome in most parts of the country does not reflect electoral malpractices and rigging.
Of course, many attempts at rigging do take place. You must have read about violence, about complaints that
voters’ names disappear from the voters’ list, about intimidation, and so on. Yet, such instances rarely directly
affect the outcome of the election.
5. Finally and most importantly, elections have become a part and parcel of our democratic life. No one can
imagine a situation where a government would disrespect the verdict of an election. Similarly, no one can
imagine that a government would be formed without holding elections. In fact, regularity and periodicity of
elections has earned fame for India as a great democratic experiment.