Posted by About Election System in India
As we know, India is the largest democracy in the world and in every democratic country election are necessary in order to select the right candidate for the country. In any democracy, the people of the country have the authority to select their own government. Through the election, people can choose their representatives that is a common feature of democracies globally. Then next question should be coming up in your mind, how to execute the election in a country like India. so there is the autonomous government body who they are responsible for fair and unbiased election in India that is Election Commission of India (ECI). The election system of India is not so easy to understand, it is complicated to understand and more sophisticated for ECI to manage and organise.
The Election Commission has been conducting election fairly persistently at regular interval of time as per the Indian constitution directives. For the people awareness, the election commission has been taking so many steps by broadcasting, using TV ads, streaming videos on official sits and on youtube channel so every single person not left from voting. The election commission has been striving to conduct the unbiased election in the country, checking candidate background like property particular, has he done any crime, previous history, qualification and more, as well as ECI, provides identity cards to electoral in order to stop muddle. They manage these sophisticated tasks with the help of the appointed committees and commissions like V.M. Tarkunde Committee, Indrajith Gupta Committee, Law Commission, and Dinesh Goswamy committee. After the presence of such type of committee and commission still the system facing issues.
After attaining independence in Aug 1947, there was a need to elect a representative government on the basis of universal adult suffrage. Article 324, setting up of Election Commission as an independent body. The election commission was formally established on 25th January 1950, one day before India became a sovereign country, that time the first chief election commissioner, Shri Sukumar Sen, was appointed on 21st Mar 1950.
The commission functioned as a three-member body. Under which chief election commissioner and 2 election commissioner are on the same salary and have the same power and authority and in any case, if they have the difference of opinion on any issue then the decision is taken by the majority. They are appointed for six years till the age of 65.
In the first and second general election during 1951-52 and 1957, Election Commission was using the “Balloting System ” of voting. Under this system, the commission provided a separate ballot box to each candidate at each polling station in a screened compartment and the electoral needed to drop their ballot paper.
From the third general election onward, the system switched over to “marking system” voting. Under this system, a common ballot paper was used in which candidate name and party symbol printed, their voter needed to put a mark with an arrow near the symbol of the candidate of his choice and then all the marked ballot paper was put into the common ballot box.
Then another voting system came into existence that is EVM (Electronic Voting machine) and this machine first time was used in Kerala in 1982 but as an experiment. And later in the 14th general elections to the Lok Sabha in 2004 for the first time, EVM was used at every polling station in the country.
Indian Electoral System
The Indian electoral system is a federal parliamentary democratic republic in which the President of India is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The President is elected by an electoral college, while the Prime Minister is appointed by the President and is usually the leader of the party or coalition that holds the majority of seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament.
India has a multi-party system, with national and regional parties. The Parliament of India consists of two houses: the Lok Sabha (House of the People) and the Rajya Sabha (Council of States). The Lok Sabha is the lower house and is composed of Members of Parliament (MPs) elected by direct universal adult suffrage (the right to vote). The Rajya Sabha is the upper house and is composed of Members of Parliament (MPs) elected by the state and territorial legislatures.
Elections in India are conducted by the Election Commission of India, a constitutional body responsible for administering and supervising all aspects of the electoral process in the country. The Election Commission is headed by a Chief Election Commissioner and has two other Election Commissioners. The Commission is responsible for conducting elections to the office of the President, Vice President, and the members of the Parliament and state legislative assemblies. It also has the authority to issue directions, orders, and instructions to ensure that the electoral process is conducted in a fair and transparent manner.
The electoral process in India begins with the announcement of the election schedule by the Election Commission. This is followed by the nomination of candidates, campaigning, and voting. Voting is conducted using electronic voting machines, which are equipped with a ballot unit and a control unit. The ballot unit is used by the voter to cast their vote, while the control unit is used by the polling officers to start and close the polling process.
India has a first-past-the-post system, in which the candidate who receives the most votes in a constituency is elected as the MP. The party or coalition that wins the majority of seats in the Lok Sabha forms the government, with the leader of that party or coalition becoming the Prime Minister. If no party or coalition wins a majority, a minority government or a coalition government may be formed.
The Indian constitution adopted a parliamentary form of government. Parliament comprises the President of India and two houses – Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. In India, every state has a separate state legislature; it consists of the governor and two houses – Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly
Fast Facts
| Total Population | 1.2 billion |
| Number of Electors | 834,082,814 |
| Female Voters | 397,018,915 |
| Male Voters | 437,035,372 |
| Third Gender | 28,527 |
| Total No. of Polling Stations | 9,27,553 |
| Total No. of Assembly Constituencies at Present | 4,120 |
About the Parliament
| Lok Sabha | 543 members + 2 members of the Anglo-Indian community, nominated by the President of India |
| Rajya Sabha | 243 (at present ) + 12 members are nominated by the President |
Political Parties
| Political Parties | Total |
| National Parties | 8 |
| State Recognised Parties | 53 |
| Registered Unrecognised Parties | 66 |
| Total No. of Political Parties | More than 2400 |
FAQs
Who can vote?
The Indian democratic system is based on the universal adult suffrage principle, any citizen can vote who’s age over 18 years and everyone has the right to vote irrespective to gender, caste, religion except those who are mentally unwell, and convicted of certain criminal offences.
What is the electoral roll?
List of the people who are registered to vote as electors. Electoral roll normally revised after every year in order to add and modify the new names and existing names. Updating electoral rolls is a continuous process and it is disturbed during the elections only. The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) is responsible for preparing and revising the electoral roll of every constituency in the State and Union Territory.
What is EPIC ( elector’s photo identity cards )?
EPIC is an identity card issued by the electoral registration officer. It contains the basic information of the person like his/her name, home address, date of birth and father/husband name, sex and his or her photo. It is a necessary document and needs to carry all the time during the polling, without this identity card you are not supposed to enable your vote. but if any condition you do not have the EPIC, then you can cast your vote by showing any government-related document such as driving license, PAN card, health scheme card, or card issued under NREGA
Who can stand for election?
Any person can stand for election but after fulfilling the following condition, a person should be an Indian citizen and age should be or above 25 years then only he/she permitted to contest election to the Lok Sabha or State Assemblies. For the Rajya Sabha, the age limit should be 30 years. There is another important note if any candidate is willing to contest for the Vidhan Sabha election, a candidate should be from the same state. Before doing so, a candidate has to deposit INR 25000/- for the Lok Sabha election and 10000/- for Vidhan Sabha or Rajya Sabha elections and there is some relaxation on the same for the SC and ST candidate, they need to pay half of it. And there is one provision if the candidate receives 1/6 th of the total number of valid votes cast in the constituency, then the deposited is returned back. Seats are reserved for the SC and ST candidates, currently, in Lok Sabha, there are total of 543 seats, of which 84 seats are reserved for the scheduled castes and 47 reserved for the scheduled tribes.
What is EVM?
EVM is known as the electronic voting machine has been developed to make the whole process less complicated and it limited the usage of paper and printing. And it serves the most important purpose, provides the results in 3 to 4 hours, making counting task less sophisticated. The machine has been developed with the combined effort of both Electronics Corporation of India Limited and Bharat Electronics Corporation of India Limited. This is a completely electronic and programmable machine, difficult to temper and hack and also reduce the human effort during elections.
What is VVPAT?
The full form of VVPAT is Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail, this new system has been added in 2013, a printing machine is attached to the EVM and which is kept into the voting compartment and this machine prints the s.no, name, symbol of the candidate for whom a voter has voted, this printed slip available only for 7 sec under the transparent window and fallen into the box which remains sealed.
What is NOTA?
NOTA means None of the Above and this has been implemented by Election Commission after the supreme court judgement dated 27th Sept 2013 in writ petition No 161 of 2004. Court told the commission the NOTA should be implemented and provided as an option on EVM. The main purpose of the “NOTA” is, the voter who they are not interested or not finding any candidate suitable so they can exercise their vote.
What is ETS?
ETS is known as EVM Tracking Software, this software is being used to track the availability and movement of EVM.
When is national voter day celebrated and why?
The Election commission of India has been set up on 25th Jan 1950, a day before the constitution of India came into force. This is the reason, this day is celebrated as the National Voter’s Day in India
Source: (eci.gov.in, employmentnews.gov.in, worldwidejournals.com)
