SUBJECT: POLITICAL SCIENCE

A PROJECT ON THE TOPIC

ELECTION

SUBMITTED BY :
Owais Ahmad Zargar

B.A.LLB Semester 4th

Reg No GU17R0837

SUBMITTTED TO:-
DR. AMIR MAHMOOD

( FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE )

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION 03

ELECTION 4

ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA 5

THE PARTIES 6-8

QUESTIONNAIRE 9-10

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 INTRODUCTION :-

Election, the formal process of selecting a person for public office or of accepting or rejecting a
political proposition by voting. It is important to distinguish between the form and the substance
of elections. In some cases, electoral forms are present but the substance of an election is
missing, as when voters do not have a free and genuine choice between at least two alternatives.
Most countries hold elections in at least the formal sense, but in many of them the elections are
not competitive (e.g., all but one party may be forbidden to contest) or the electoral situation is
in other respects highly compromised. An election is a formal decision-making process by which
a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual
mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated since the 17th century.
Elections fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for regional
and local government. This process is also used in many other private and business
organizations, from clubs to voluntary associations and corporations.

ELECTION
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Elections in India, the world’s second-most populous country, evoke descriptions like
’spectacle’ or ’carnival,’ in part due to the overwhelming numbers that participate in the
process. In this country of over a billion people, 714 million voters will decide who rules
the world’s largest democracy for the next five years. In the 2004 elections, over 5,400
candidates from 230 political parties participated. Nearly the same number of candidates
will compete for seats in parliament in 2009. Electoral candidates vie for votes by
promising reforms, such as better governance, greater socioeconomic equity, and bolstered
efforts at poverty alleviation. However, corrupt politicians with criminal records, caste- and
religion-based politics, and allegations of vote-buying continue to mar the democratic
process. Meanwhile, the coalition politics of the last two decades, while more inclusive,
have resulted in giving outsized power to small parties that have used it to further their
short-term agendas.

Indian historian Ramachandra Guha, in the book India after Gandhi,  argues the country is
only "50 percent a democracy," holding viable elections, but falling short when it comes to
"the functioning of politicians and political institutions."

India’s parliamentary system is based on the Westminster model of constitutional

democracy, a legacy of British colonial rule. The Parliament is comprised of a bicameral
legislature: the Rajya Sabha, the 250-member upper house, where members are elected by
state legislative assemblies (12 members are nominated by the president), and the Lok
Sabha, the 543-member lower house directly elected by the people (with two additional
seats reserved for Anglo Indians nominated by the president). In the Lok Sabha,  voters elect
candidates based on the electoral system where the person securing the largest number of
votes in each district wins.

ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA (ARTICLE 324)

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The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for
administering election processes in India. The body administers elections to the Lok
Sabha, Rajya Sabha, state Legislative Assemblies, state legislative Councils, and the offices of
the President and Vice President of the country. The Election Commission operates under the
authority of Constitution per Article 324, and subsequently enacted Representation of the People
Act.The commission has the powers under the Constitution, to act in an appropriate manner
when the enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with a given situation in the conduct
of an election. Being a constitutional authority, Election Commission is amongst the few
institutions which function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country’s higher
judiciary, the Union Public Service Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General of
India.

The current commission was established in 1950 when it had a Chief Election
Commissioner appointed. Membership increased on 16 October ,1989 to three with the increase
of two Commissioners were appointed to the commission. That commission ceased on 1 January
1990 when The Election Commissioner Amendment Act, 1989 superseded the earlier the
commission; it continues in operation.. Decisions by the commission are by at least a majority
vote. The Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners who are
usually retired IAS officers draw salaries and allowances as per with those of the Judges of
the Supreme Court of India as per the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election
Commissioners (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1992.[6]

The commission secretariat is based in New Delhi which includes the Election Commissioners,
Deputy Election Commissioners (usually IAS officers) Directors General, Principal Secretaries,
Secretaries and Under Secretaries.

Administration is generally by state with the Chief Electoral Officer of the State, who is an IAS
officer of Principal Secretary rank. At the district and constituency levels, the District
Magistrates (in their capacity as District Election Officers), Electoral Registration Officers and
Returning Officers perform election work.

The Parties

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 Currently, India has hundreds of political parties registered with the election commission,
and of these seven are registered as national parties. The Indian National Congress and its
rival the Bharatiya Janta Party are the largest among them.

 Indian National Congress (INC): Formed in 1885, the INC or Congress Party, as it

is popularly called, dominated the national movement for ending British rule. Since India
gained independence in 1947, the Congress Party has formed most of India’s governments.
The party has been dominated by the Nehru-Gandhi family and currently is led by Sonia
Gandhi, the wife of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the daughter-in-law of former
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Some analysts expect party leadership to eventually go
to Sonia’s son Rahul. The party led the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) after the
2004 elections with Manmohan Singh as prime minister. Singh has been fielded as its 2009
prime ministerial candidate.

 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): Formed in 1980 from the remnants of previous

Hindu political organizations, BJP has emerged as the main rival to the Congress party.
This Hindu nationalist party first formed the national government in 1996 but failure to
glean majority support in the lower house led to its ouster in just a fortnight. It returned to
power in 1998 and led the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition with Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the helm until 2004. The party’s prime ministerial
candidate for 2009 elections, Lal Krishna Advani, has been one of its most prominent
hardliners. Advani led the 1990s campaign to destroy a sixteenth-century mosque in
northern India, resulting in nationwide communal riots between Hindus and Muslims that
took hundreds of lives.

 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): Formed in 1984 to represent the lower castes such as

Scheduled Castes (also known as Dalits), Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes
(OBCs), and the religious minorities, the party has been broadening its support base and
fielding upper-caste and Muslim candidates in recent elections. Its leader Mayawati is the
chief minister of the country’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh and has expressed

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 ambitions to become a pan-Indian leader. Experts say Mayawati could play a crucial role in
coalition negotiations and could even emerge as the country’s first Dalit prime minister at
the head of a "Third Front" alliance of communist and left-wing parties.

 Communist Party of India (CPI): A socialist party formed in 1925, it enjoys

varying degrees of support in the states of West Bengal, Kerala, Tripura, Manipur, and
Tamil Nadu, and is currently led by General Secretary A. B. Bardhan. The party was dealt a
severe blow by a split in 1964 that resulted in the formation of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist). CPI, along with CPI (M), supported the UPA ruling coalition until July
2008 when the two parties withdrew their support over the government’s pursuit of
a nuclear deal with the United States.

 Communist Party of India (Marxist): CPI (M) emerged out of a division in the

CPI in 1964 over ideological disagreements. Based on the principles of Marxism-Leninism,
it has a strong presence in the states of West Bengal, Tripura, and Kerala. Its current general
secretary is Prakash Karat.

 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP): Primarily based in the state of Maharashtra, the

party was formed in 1999 after some of the top Congress Party members broke away in
protest at Sonia Gandhi’s leadership. The party is led by Sharad Panwar, who has served as
Maharashtra’s chief minister and as agriculture minister under the Congress-led UPA that
came to power in 2004.

 Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD): Formed in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav, who split
from another regional party, the Janata Dal, RJD is primarily based in the north Indian state
of Bihar. Yadav became chief minister of Bihar in 1990 but was forced to step down in
1997 on corruption charges. He returned to power as the federal minister of railways in
2004 as part of the UPA. RJD is another caste-based party that says it represents lower-
caste Hindus and also enjoys the support of large numbers of Muslims in Bihar

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Questionnaire

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1 Who Can Vote In Elections In India ?
Any citizen OF india over the age of 18 can vote in an election and except the citizen

who is convicted in any criminal offence or is of unsound mind.

2 When Do Elections Take Place And Who Can Dissolve It ?

Elections for the Lok Sabha and every State Legislative Assembly takes place every five years,
unless called earlier. The President can dissolve Lok Sabha and call a general election before
five years are up, if the government can no longer command the confidence of the Lok Sabha,
and if there is no alternative government available to take over .

3 Who Can Stand For Elections In India ?

Any citizen of india who is registered as a voter under the Law and is over 25 years of age is
allowed to contest elections to the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assemblies. For the Rajya
Sabha the age limit is 30 years. Candidates for Vidhan Sabha should be residents of the same
state from which they wish to contest .

4 How Does The Voting Takes Place ?

Voting takes place by a secret ballot ,Polling Stations are usually set up in public institutions,
such as schools and community halls .

5 What Is The System Of Election In India ?

Elections to the Lok Sabha and each Vidhan Sabha are carried out using a first-past-the-post
electoral system. For each constituency, the electors can cast their vote for a single candidate of
their choice , the winner being the candidate who gets the most votes .

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6 How Many Types Of Election Are Their In India ?

There are four types of election in india.

1 Primary elections .

2 General elections .

3 Constitutional amendment election and Special election .

7 Why Is Election Important ?

Election is important because it make a fundamental contribution to democratic governance.
Because direct democracy—a form of government in which political decisions are made directly
by the entire body of qualified citizens—is impractical in most modern societies, democratic
government must be conducted through representatives

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