L-4 Electoral Politics

I. Meanings
1) General elections- When elections are held in all constituencies at the same time, either on the
same day or within a few days is called general election.
2) By-election- When election is held in a constituency to fill the vacancy caused by death or
resignation of a member is called a by-election.
3) Code of conduct- A set of norms and guidelines to be followed by political parties and
contesting candidates during election time.
4) Turnout- The percentage of eligible voters who cast their votes in an election.
5) Booth capturing- Supporters or hired musclemen of party or a candidate gain physical control
of a polling booth and cast false votes by threatening everyone or by preventing genuine voters
from reaching the polling booth.
II. Answer the following.
Q1. Who led the Nyaya Yudh in Haryana?
Ans: Chaudhary Devilal led a movement called Nyaya Yudh (Struggle for Justice) and formed a
new independent party named Lok Dal. In the State Assembly elections of Haryana in 1987, his
party won the election.
Q2. What are elections?
Ans: An election is a decision-making process by which an electorates chooses an individual to
represent them in legislature or any office.
Q3. Why are elections important in modern democracies?
Ans: All the citizen in modern democracy cannot participate in administration.
-This function is performed by their elected representatives.
-It is only through elections that the voters can maintain their control over executive and prevent
them from becoming despotic and autocratic.
- Elections facilitate the voters to make their choice between different candidates.
Q4. Explain the advantage of free and competitive election.
Ans: A competitive election ensures that everybody gets an equal opportunity to contest and vote
in an election. It also creates a good atmosphere to select the best representative for the nation.
Q5. Explain the three types of election in India.
Ans: a) General election:
At the national level, this election takes place after every five years to select the members of
parliament (an MP) for the Lok Sabha. Through this process, union government is formed
headed by Prime Minister.
At state level, this type of election is called Assembly election, to select state government headed
by Chief Minister. The members are called members of legislative assembly (an MLA).
b) Mid-term election:
This election can take place before the normal term of five year, both at Union/Centre and state,
if government loses the support of Loksabha and Legislative assembly respectively.
c) By-Election:
Sometimes election is held only for one or a few constituencies to fill the vacancy caused by
death or resignation of a member. This is called a by-election.
Q6. What is a reserved constituency?
Ans: Our constitution has a system of reserved constituencies for weaker section of people.
-The Constitution provides for reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative
Assemblies for the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes.
- The proportion of the reserved seats varies from state to state according to population.
- Today out of 543 elected seats in the Lok Sabha, 84 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 47
are reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
Q7. What is voters’ list? Explain its importance.
Ans: In a democratic election, the list of those who are eligible to vote is prepared known as the
Voters’ List. Only those people with their names on the electoral roll are allowed to vote. The
electoral roll is normally revised every year to add the names of those who are to turn 18 on the
1st January of that year or have moved into a constituency from other constituency and to remove
the names of those who have died or moved out of a constituency. This is an essential feature for
democratic election.
Q8. Explain the principal of universal adult franchise.
Ans: In practice it means that everyone should have one vote and each vote should have equal
value. No one should be denied the right to vote without a good reason. In our country, all the
citizens aged 18 years and above can vote in an election.
Q9. What is an election campaign? Explain its importance.
Ans: Election campaign is an electoral process which gives the contesting candidates and
political parties to present itself as a best option for common people to elect them.
In India, election campaign takes place for a period of two weeks between the announcement of
the final list of candidates and date of polling.
-During this period, newspapers and television channels are full of election related news, stories
and debates.
- Political parties start preparing for elections months before they actually take place.
Q10. What is the Model Code of Conduct?
Ans: Model Code of Conduct for election campaigns.
According to this no party or candidate can –
1) Use any place of worship for election propaganda.
2) Use government vehicles, aircrafts and officials for elections.
3) Once elections are announced, ministers shall not lay foundation stones of any projects, take
any big policy decisions or make any promise of providing public facilities.
Q11. Why is it necessary to regulate election campaigns and what are the election laws in this
respect?
Ans: It is necessary to regulate campaigns to ensure that every political party and candidate gets
a fair and equal chance to compete.
According to our election laws, no party or candidate can-
a) Bribe or threaten voters.
b) Appeal to them in the name of religion or caste.
c) Use government resources for election campaign.
d) Spend more than Rs 25 Lakhs in a constituency for a Lok Sabha election or Rs 10 Lakhs in a
constituency in an Assembly election.
- If they do so their election can be rejected by the court even after they have been declared
elected.
- The Model Code of Conduct set norms which has been evolved with the consensus of political
parties.
Q12. Explain the role of the Election Commission in free and fair elections.
Ans: Election Commission of India has the status of constitutional position.
a) This position guarantees that it does not work any other organs of the government and can
take decisions without any fear and obligation.
b) To ensure free and fair election it takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and control of
elections like announcement of elections, declaration of results etc.
c) It implements the code of conduct and punishes any candidate or party that violates it.
d) The Election Commission(EC) can order the government to follow some guidelines, to
prevent use and misuse of power transfer to some government officials.
e) During election duty, government officer work under the control of the Election Commission.
Q13. Explain the voter turnout in India.
Ans: People’s participation in election is measured by voter turnout percentage.
a) Turnout indicates the per cent of eligible voters who actually cast their vote on the schedule
polling day.
b) In India the turnout has remained same over the period of time and at times gone up.
c) This indicates that the people interest in election and related activities have gone up.