Electoral Politics PDF

CHAPTER 3 Electoral Politics OVERVIEW In Chapter 1 we have seen that in a democracy it is neither possible nor necessary for people to govern directly. The most common form of democracy in our times is for the people to govern through their representatives. In this chapter we will look at how thes...

CHAPTER 3 Electoral Politics OVERVIEW In Chapter 1 we have seen that in a democracy it is neither possible nor necessary for people to govern directly. The most common form of democracy in our times is for the people to govern through their representatives. In this chapter we will look at how these representatives are elected. We begin by understanding why elections are necessary and useful in a democracy. We try to understand how electoral competition among parties serves the people. We then go on to ask what makes an election democratic. The basic idea here is to distinguish democratic elections from non-democratic elections. The rest of the chapter tries to assess elections in India in the light of this yardstick. We take a look at each stage of elections, from the drawing of boundaries of different constituencies to the declaration of results. At each stage we ask what should happen and what does happen in elections. Towards the end of the chapter, we turn to an assessment of whether elections in India are free and fair. Here we also examine the role of the Election Commission in ensuring free and fair elections. 34 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25  3.1 WHY ELECTIONS? Assembly Election in government would waive the loans H ar y ana of farmers and small businessmen. He promised that this would be the The time is after midnight. An expectant first action of his government. crowd sitting for the past five hours in a The people were unhappy with the Do most leaders chowk of the town is waiting for its leader existing government. They were also fulfil their election to come. The organisers assure and reas- attracted by Devi Lal’s promise. So, promises? sure the crowd that he would be here any when elections were held, they voted moment. The crowd stands up whenever overwhelmingly in favour of Lok Dal a passing vehicle comes that way. It and its allies. Lok Dal and its arouses hopes that he has come. partners won 76 out of 90 seats in The leader is Mr. Devi Lal, chief of the State Assembly. Lok Dal alone the Haryana Sangharsh Samiti, who was won 60 seats and thus had a clear to address a meeting in Karnal on Thurs- majority in the Assembly. The day night. The 76-year-old leader, is a Congress could win only 5 seats. very busy man these days. His day starts Once the election results were at 8 a.m. and ends after 11 p.m. … he announced, the sitting Chief had already addressed nine election Minister resigned. The newly elected meetings since morning… been con- Members of Legislative Assembly stantly addressing public meetings for (MLAs) of Lok Dal chose Devi Lal as the past 23 months and preparing for this their leader. The Governor invited election. Devi Lal to be the new Chief Minister. Three days after the This newspaper report is about the election results were declared, he State assembly election in Haryana became the Chief Minister. As soon in 1987. The State had been ruled by as he became the Chief Minister, his a Congress party led government Government issued a Government since 1982. Chaudhary Devi Lal, then Order waiving the outstanding loans an opposition leader, led a movement of small farmers, agricultural called ‘Nyaya Yudh’ (Struggle for labourers and small businessmen. Justice) and formed a new party, Lok His party ruled the State for four Dal. His party joined other opposition years. The next elections were held parties to form a front against the in 1991. But this time his party did Congress in the elections. In the not win popular support. The election campaign, Devi Lal said that Congress won the election and if his party won the elections, his formed the government. Jagdeep and Navpreet read this story and drew the following conclusions. Can you say which of these are right or wrong (or if the information given in the story is inadequate to call them right or wrong): CHECK < 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 his YOUR speeches. PROGRESS < 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. ELECTORAL POLITICS 35 2024-25  But can we call this place a democracy? How do we find out if A C T I V I T Y the people like their representatives or not? How do we ensure that these Do you know when the last Assembly election representatives rule as per the was held in your state? Which other elections wishes of the people? How to make have taken place in your locality in the last five sure that those who the people don’t years? Write down the level of elections (National, like do not remain their Assembly, Panchayat, etc.), when were they held representatives? This requires a and the name and designation (MP, MLA, etc.) of mechanism by which people can the persons who got elected from your area. choose their representatives at regular intervals and change them W h y do w wee nee needd ele elecc tions? if they wish to do so. This Elections take place regularly in mechanism is called election. any democracy. There are more than Therefore, elections are considered one hundred countries in the world essential in our times for any in which elections take place to representative democracy. choose people’s representatives. We In an election the voters make also read that elections are held in many choices: many countries that are not < They can choose who will make democratic. laws for them. We have seen why But why do we need elections? < They can choose who will form the democracies need Let us try to imagine a democracy government and take major to have elections. without elections. A rule of the decisions. But why do rulers people is possible without any < They can choose the party whose in non-democratic elections if all the people can sit policies will guide the government countries need to together everyday and take all the and law making. hold elections? decisions. But as we have already seen in Chapter 1, this is not W ha hatt mak es an ele makes elecc tion possible in any large community. democr democraa tic? Nor is it possible for everyone to Elections can be held in many ways. have the time and knowledge to All democratic countries hold take decisions on all matters. elections. But most non-democratic Therefore in most democracies countries also hold some kind of people rule through their elections. How do we distinguish representatives. democratic elections from any other Is there a democratic way of election? We have discussed this selecting representatives without question briefly in Chapter 1. We elections? Let us think of a place discussed many examples of where representatives are selected countries where elections are held on the basis of age and experience. but they can’t really be called Or a place where they are chosen democratic elections. Let us recall on the basis of education or what we learnt there and start with knowledge. There could be some a simple list of the minimum difficulty in deciding on who is more conditions of a democratic election: experienced or knowledgable. But let < First, everyone should be able to us say the people can resolve these choose. This means that everyone difficulties. Clearly, such a place should have one vote and every does not require elections. vote should have equal value. 36 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25  < Second, there should be may wish to serve the country do not something to choose from. Parties enter this arena. They do not like the and candidates should be free to idea of being dragged into unhealthy contest elections and should offer competition. some real choice to the voters. Our Constitution makers were < Third, the choice should be offered aware of these problems. Yet they at regular intervals. Elections must opted for free competition in be held regularly after every few elections as the way to select our years. future leaders. They did so because < Fourth, the candidate preferred by this system works better in the long the people should get elected. run. In an ideal world all political < Fifth, elections should be leaders know what is good for the conducted in a free and fair people and are motivated only by a manner where people can choose desire to serve them. Political as they really wish. competition is not necessary in such These might look like very simple an ideal world. But that is not what and easy conditions. But there are happens in real life. Political leaders all over the world, like all other many countries where these are not professionals, are motivated by a fulfilled. In this chapter we will apply desire to advance their political these conditions to the elections held careers. They want to remain in in our own country to see if we can power or get power and positions for call these democratic elections. themselves.They may wish to serve the people as well, but it is risky to I s it good ttoo ha havv e political depend entirely on their sense of c ompetition? duty. Besides even when they wish Elections are thus all about political to serve the people, they may not competition. This competition takes know what is required to do so, or various forms. The most obvious form their ideas may not match what the is the competition among political people really want. parties. At the constituency level, it How do we deal with this real life takes the form of competition among situation? One way is to try and several candidates. If there is no improve the knowledge and character competition, elections will become of political leaders. The other and pointless. more realistic way is to set up a But is it good to have political system where political leaders are competition? Clearly, an electoral rewarded for serving the people and competition has many demerits. It punished for not doing so. Who creates a sense of disunity and decides this reward or punishment? ‘factionalism’ in every locality. You The simple answer is: the people. would have heard of people This is what electoral competition complaining of ‘party-politics’ in your does. Regular electoral competition locality. Different political parties and provides incentives to political Ah! So, elections leaders often level allegations against parties and leaders. They know that are like exams one another. Parties and candidates if they raise issues that people want where politicians often use dirty tricks to win elections. to be raised, their popularity and and parties know if Some people say that this pressure chances of victory will increase in they have passed to win electoral fights does not allow the next elections. But if they fail to or failed. But who sensible long-term policies to be satisfy the voters with their work are the examiners? formulated. Some good people who they will not be able to win again. ELECTORAL POLITICS 37 2024-25  So if a political party is motivated customers. If he does not, the only by desire to be in power, even customer will go to some other shop. then it will be forced to serve the Similarly, political competition may read people. This is a bit like the way cause divisions and some ugliness, the market works. Even if a shopkeeper but it finally helps to force political is interested only in his profit, he is parties and leaders to serve the cartoon forced to give good service to the people. Irfan Khan Read these two cartoons carefully. Write the message of each of them in your own words. Have a discussion in class on which of the two is closer to the reality in your own locality. Draw a cartoon to depict what elections do to the relationship between voters and political leaders. 3.2 WHAT IS OUR SYSTEM OF ELECTIONS? Can we say that Indian elections are called a by-election. In this chapter democratic? To answer this question, we will focus on general elections. let us take a look at how elections are held in India. Lok Sabha and Vidhan Ele Elecc t or al cconstituencies oral onstituencies Sabha (Assembly) elections are held You read about the people of regularly after every five years. After Haryana electing 90 MLAs. You may five years the term of all the elected have wondered how they did that. representatives comes to an end. The Did every person in Haryana vote for Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha stands all the 90 MLAs? You perhaps know ‘dissolved’. Elections are held in all that this is not the case. In our constituencies at the same time, country we follow an area based either on the same day or within a system of representation. The few days. This is called a general country is divided into different election. Sometimes election is held areas for purposes of elections. only for one constitutency to fill the These areas are called electoral vacancy caused by death or constitutencies. The voters who live resignation of a member. This is in an area elect one representative. 38 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25  For Lok Sabha elections, the country constituency has within it several is divided into 543 constituencies. assembly constituencies. The same The representative elected from each principle applies for Panchayat and constituency is called a Member of Municipal elections. Each village or Parliament or an MP. One of the town is divided into several ‘wards’ features of a democratic election is that are like constituencies. Each that every vote should have equal ward elects one member of the value. That is why our Constitution village or the urban local body. requires that each constituency Sometimes these constituencies are should have a roughly equal counted as ‘seats’, for each population living within it. constituency represents one seat in Similarly, each state is divided into the assembly. When we say that ‘Lok a specific number of Assembly Dal won 60 seats’ in Haryana, it constituencies. In this case, the means that candidates of Lok Dal elected representative is called the won in 60 assembly constituencies Member of Legislative Assembly or in the state and thus Lok Dal had an MLA. Each Parliamentary 60 MLAs in the state assembly. GULBARGA LOK SABHA CONSTITUENCY GULBARGA (KALABURAGI) DISTRICT IN KARNATAKA < Why is the boundary of the Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency not the same as the district boundary of Gulbarga (Kalaburagi)? Draw a similar map for your own Lok Sabha constituency. < How many Assembly constituencies are there in the Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency? Is it the same in your own Lok Sabha constituency? ELECTORAL POLITICS 39 2024-25 R e s e r v e d CCoo n s t i t u e n c i e s local bodies are now reserved for Our Constitution entitles every Other Backward Classes (OBC) as citizen to elect her/his representative well. However, the proportion of and to be elected as a representative. seats reserved varies from state to The Constitution makers, however, state. Similarly, one-third of the were worried that in an open seats are reserved in rural and electoral competition, certain urban local bodies for women weaker sections may not stand a good candidates. chance to get elected to the Lok Sabha and the state Legislative Assemblies. Vo tters ers ers’’ list They may not have the required Once the constituencies are decided, resources, education and contacts to the next step is to decide who can contest and win elections against and who cannot vote. This decision others. Those who are influential and cannot be left to anyone till the last resourceful may prevent them from day. In a democratic election, the list winning elections. If that happens, of those who are eligible to vote our Parliament and Assemblies is prepared much before the would be deprived of the voice of a election and given to everyone. This significant section of our population. list is officially called the Electoral That would make our democracy less Roll and is commonly known as the representative and less democratic. Voters’ List. So, the makers of our Constitution This is an important step for it is thought of a special system of linked to the first condition of a reserved constituencies for the democratic election: everyone weaker sections. Some constituencies should get an equal opportunity to are reserved for people who belong choose representatives. Earlier, we to the Scheduled Castes [SC] and read about the principle of Scheduled Tribes [ST]. In a SC universal adult franchise. In reserved constituency only someone practice it means that everyone who belongs to the Scheduled should have one vote and each vote Castes can stand for election. should have equal value. No one Similarly only those belonging to the should be denied the right to vote Scheduled Tribes can contest an without a good reason. Different election from a constituency citizens differ from one another in reserved for ST. Currently, in the many ways: some are rich, some are Lok Sabha, 84 seats are reserved for poor; some are highly educated, Do you know , like the Scheduled Castes and 47 for the some are not so educated or not in Panchayats, Scheduled Tribes (as on 26 January educated at all; some are kind, one-third of the 2019). This number is in proportion others are not so kind. But all of seats in Parliament to their share in the total population. them are human beings with their and Legislative Thus the reserved seats for SC and own needs and views. That is why Assemblies have ST do not take away the legitimate all of them deserve to have an equal also been reserved share of any other social group. say in decisions that affect them. for women as per This system of reservation In our country, all the citizens aged Nari Shakti Vandan was extended later to other 18 years and above can vote in an Adhiniyam, 2023 weaker sections at the district and election. Every citizen has the right (Women's local level. In many states, seats to vote, regardless of his or her caste, Reservation Act in rural (panchayat) and urban religion or gender. Some criminals 2023) (municipalities and corporations) and persons with unsound mind can 40 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25  LOK SABHA CONSTITUENCIES TOTAL CONSTITUENCIES 543 GENERAL 412 RESERVED (SC) 84 RESERVED (ST) 47 STATES CONSTITUENCIES Andhra Pradesh 25 Arunachal Pradesh 2 Assam 14 Bihar 40 Chhattisgarh 11 Goa 2 Gujarat 26 Haryana 10 Election Commission of India Himachal Pradesh 4 Jharkhand 14 Karnataka 28 Kerala 20 Madhya Pradesh 29 Maharashtra 48 Manipur 2 Meghalaya 2 Mizoram 1 Nagaland 1 UNION TERRITORIES Odisha 21 See the map above and answer the following questions. Andaman & Nicobar Punjab 13 Islands 1 < What is the number of Lok Sabha constituencies in your state and the Rajasthan 25 Chandigarh 1 neighbouring two states? Sikkim 1 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 1 < Which states have more than 30 Lok Sabha constituencies? Tamil Nadu 39 Daman & Diu 1 < Why do some states have such a large number of constituencies? Telangana 17 Delhi 7 Tripura 2 Jammu and Kashmir 5 < Why are some constituencies small in area while others are very big? Uttar Pradesh 80 Ladakh 1 < Are the constituencies reserved for the SCs and STs evenly spread all Uttarakhand 5 Lakshadweep 1 over the entire country or are there more in some areas? West Bengal 42 Puducherry 1 ELECTORAL POLITICS 41 2024-25 be denied the right to vote, but only Recently, a new system of in rare situations. It is the declaration has been introduced on responsibility of the government to direction from the Supreme Court. get the names of all the eligible Every candidate has to make a legal voters put on the voters’ list. As new declaration, giving full details of : persons attain voting age names are < Serious criminal cases pending added to the voters’ list. Names of against the candidate; those who move out of a place or < Details of the assets and liabilities those who are dead are deleted. A of the candidate and his or her complete revision of the list takes family; and place every five years. This is done < Educational qualifications of the to ensure that it remains up to date. candidate. In the last few years a new system This information has to be made of Election Photo Identity Card public. This provides an opportunity [EPIC] has been introduced. The to the voters to make their decision government has tried to give this on the basis of the information card to every person on the voters provided by the candidates. list. The voters are required to carry this card when they go out to vote, Educational qualifications for so that no one can vote for someone candidates else. But the card is not yet compulsory for voting. For voting, Why is there no educational qualification for the voters can show many other holding such an important position when some proofs of identity like the ration card kind of educational qualification is needed for any or the driving licence. other job in the country? < Educational qualifications are not relevant to N omina tion of candida omination candidatt es all kinds of jobs. The relevant qualification for We noted above that in a democratic selection to the Indian cricket team, for election people should have a real example, is not the attainment of educational choice. This happens only when degrees but the ability to play cricket well. there are almost no restrictions on Similarly the relevant qualification for being an anyone to contest an election. This MLA or an MP is the ability to understand is what our system provides. Any- people’s concerns, problems and to represent one who can be a voter can also be- their interests. Whether they can do so or not come a candidate in elections. The is examined by lakhs of examiners — their only difference is that in order to be voters — after every five years. a candidate the minimum age is 25 < Even if education was relevant, it should be years, while it is only 18 years for left to the people to decide how much being a voter. There are some other impor tance they give to educational restrictions on criminals etc. but qualifications. these apply in very extreme cases. < In our countr y putting an educational Political parties nominate their can- qualification would go against the spirit of didates who get the party symbol democracy for yet another reason. It would and support. Party’s nomination is mean depriving a majority of the country’s often called party ‘ticket’. citizens the right to contest elections. If, for Why are the Every person who wishes to example, a graduate degree like B.A., B.Com candidates contest an election has to fill a or B.Sc was made compulsory for candidates, required to give a ‘nomination form’ and give some more than 90 per cent of the citizens will detailed statement money as ‘security deposit’. become ineligible to contest elections. of their property? 42 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25 ELECTORAL POLITICS 43 2024-25 Match the following features of our electoral system with the principles they reflect. Principles Features of election system Universal adult franchise Each constituency has roughly the same population CHECK Representation of Everyone who is 18 years of age or older has a right to vote YOUR weaker sections PROGRESS Open political competition Anyone can form a party or contest elections One vote one value Reservation of seats for the SCs and the STs Election Campaign In election campaigns, political The main purpose of election is to parties try to focus public attention on give people a chance to choose the some big issues. They want to attract representatives, the government and the public to that issue and get them the policies they prefer. Therefore it to vote for their party on that basis. Let is necessary to have a free and open us look at some of the successful discussion about who is a better slogans given by different political representative, which party will parties in various elections. make a better government or what < The Congress party led by Indira is a good policy. This is what happens Gandhi gave the slogan of Garibi during election campaigns. Hatao (Remove poverty) in the In our country such campaigns Lok Sabha elections of 1971. The take place for a two-week period party promised to reorient all the between the announcement of the policies of the government to final list of candidates and the date remove poverty from the country. < Save Democracy was the slogan of polling. During this period the candidates contact their voters, given by Janata Party under the political leaders address election leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan, meetings and political parties in the Lok Sabha election held in mobilise their supporters. This is 1977. The party promised to undo also the period when newspapers the excesses committed during and television news are full of Emergency and restore civil election related stories and debates. liberties. But election campaign is not limited < The Left Front used the slogan of to these two weeks only. Political Land to the Tiller in the West parties start preparing for elections Bengal Assembly elections held in months before they actually take 1977. < ‘Protect the Self-Respect of the place. Telugus’ was the slogan used by N. T. Rama Rao, the leader of the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra A C T I V I T Y Pradesh Assembly elections in 1983. In a democracy it is best to leave How was the election campaign in your political parties and candidates free constituency in the last Lok Sabha elections? to conduct their election campaigns Prepare a list of what the candidates and parties the way they want to. But it is said and did. sometimes necessary to regulate 44 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25 campaigns to ensure that every < Use government vehicles, aircrafts political party and candidate gets a and officials for elections; and fair and equal chance to compete. < Once elections are announced, According to our election law, no Ministers shall not lay foundation party or candidate can: stones of any projects, take any big < Bribe or threaten voters; policy decisions or make any < Appeal to them in the name of promises of providing public facilities. caste or religion; < Use government resources for Polling and ccoun ounting of vvot ounting ot otee s election campaign; and The final stage of an election is the < Spend more than ` 25 lakh in a day when the voters cast or ‘poll’ constituency for a Lok Sabha election their vote. That day is usually called or ` 10 lakh in a constituency in an the election day. Every person whose Assembly election. name is on the voters’ list can go to If they do so, their election can be a nearby ‘polling booth’, situated rejected by the court even after they usually in a local school or a have been declared elected. In government office. Once the voter addition to the laws, all the political goes inside the booth, the election parties in our country have agreed officials identify her, put a mark on to a Model Code of Conduct for her finger and allow her to cast her election campaigns. According to vote. An agent of each candidate is this, no party or candidate can: allowed to sit inside the polling < Use any place of worship for booth and ensure that the voting election propaganda; takes place in a fair way. Are the elections too expensive for our country? A large amount of money is spent in conducting elections in India. For instance, the government spent about `3,500 crores in conducting Lok Sabha elections in 2014. That works out to about `40 per person on the voters’ list. The amount spent by parties and candidates was more than what the government spent. Roughly speaking, the expenditure made by government, parties and candidates was around `30,000 crores or `500 per voter. Some people say that elections are a burden on our people, that our poor country cannot afford to hold elections once every five years. Let us compare this expenditure with some other figures: < In 2005, our government decided to buy six nuclear submarines from France. Each subma- rine cost about `3,000 crores. < Delhi hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The estimate for its cost is around `20,000 crores. Are the elections too expensive? You decide. ELECTORAL POLITICS 45 2024-25 Election result in Gulbarga Let us go back to our example of Gulbarga. In 2014, a total of 8 candidates contested elections in that constituency. The total eligible voters were 17.21 lakhs. Of these 9.98 lakh voters had cast their votes. The candidate of the Congress party, Mallikarjun Kharge secured about 5.07 lakh votes. This was 50.82 percent of the total votes polled. But since he had secured more votes than anyone else, he was declared elected a Member of Parliament from Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency. Election Result of Gulbarga constituency, GENERAL ELECTION TO LOK SABHA, 2014 CANDIDATE PARTY VOTES POLLED % OF VOTES D.G. Sagar JD(S) 15690 1.57 Mallikarjun Kharge INC 507193 50.82 Danni Mahadev B. BSP 11428 1.14 Revunaik Belamagi BJP 432460 43.33 B.T. Lalitha Naik AAAP 9074 0.91 S.M. Sharma SUCI 4943 0.50 Shankar Jadhav BHPP 2877 0.29 Ramu IND 4085 0.41 None of the Above NOTA 9888 0.99 Why are party < What is the percentage of voters who had actually cast their votes? agents present in < To win an election is it necessary for a person to secure more than half the votes polled? the polling booth and the counting centre? Earlier the voters used to indicate secure place. A few days later, on a who they wanted to vote for by putting fixed date, all the EVMs from a a stamp on the ballot paper. A ballot constituency are opened and the paper is a sheet of paper on which votes secured by each candidate are the names of the contesting counted. The agents of all candidates candidates along with party name are present there to ensure that the and symbols are listed. Nowadays counting is done properly. The electronic voting machines (EVM) are candidate who secures the highest used to record votes. The machine number of votes from a constituency shows the names of the candidates is declared elected. In a general and the party symbols. Independent election, usually the counting of votes candidates too have their own in all the constituencies takes place symbols, allotted by election commission. at the same time, on the same day. All that the voter has to do is to press Television channels, radio and the button against the name of the newspapers report this event. Within candidate she wants to give her vote. a few hours of counting, all the results Once the polling is over, all the are declared and it becomes clear as EVMs are sealed and taken to a to who will form the next government. 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. CHECK < Supporters of a candidate take the voters to a temple and make them take an oath that they will vote for him. YOUR < The supporters of a candidate distribute blankets in slums in return for a promise for vote. PROGRESS 46 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25  3.3 WHAT MAKES ELECTIONS IN INDIA DEMOCRATIC? We get to read a lot about unfair Election Commissioner (CEC) is practices in elections. Newspapers appointed by the President of India. and television reports often refer to But once appointed, the Chief such allegations. Most of these Election Commissioner is not reports are about the following: answerable to the President or the < Inclusion of false names and government. Even if the ruling party exclusion of genuine names in the or the government does not like what voters’ list; the Commission does, it is virtually < Misuse of government facilities impossible for it to remove the CEC. and officials by the ruling party; Very few election commissions in < Excessive use of money by rich the world have such wide-ranging candidates and big parties; and powers as the Election Commission < Intimidation of voters and rigging of India. on the polling day. < EC takes decisions on every aspect Many of these reports are correct. of conduct and control of elections We feel unhappy when we read or from the announcement of see such reports. But fortunately elections to the declaration of they are not on such a scale so as to results. defeat the very purpose of elections. < It implements the Code of This becomes clear if we ask a basic Conduct and punishes any question: Can a party win an candidate or party that violates it. election and come to power not < During the election period, the EC because it has popular support but can order the government to follow through electoral malpractices? This some guidelines, to prevent use For more details about is a vital question. Let us carefully and misuse of governmental power the Election Commission examine various aspects of this to enhance its chances to win of India, question. elections, or to transfer some visit government officials. https://eci.gov.in < When on election duty, govern- Independen Independentt Ele Elecc tion ment officers work under the con- C ommission trol of the EC and not the govern- One simple way of checking whether ment. elections are fair or not is to look at In the last 25 years or so, the who conducts the elections. Are they Election Commission has begun to independent of the government? Or exercise all its powers and even can the government or the ruling party expand them. It is very common now influence or pressurise them? Do they for the Election Commission to have enough powers to be able to reprimand the government and conduct free and fair elections? Do administration for their lapses. When they actually use these powers? election officials come to the opinion The answer to all these questions that polling was not fair in some booths Why does the is quite positive for our country. In or even an entire constituency, they Election our country elections are conducted order a repoll. The ruling parties often Commission have by an independent and very powerful do not like what the EC does. But they so much powers? Election Commission (EC). It enjoys have to obey. This would not have Is this good for the same kind of independence that happened if the EC was not democracy? the judiciary enjoys. The Chief independent and powerful. ELECTORAL POLITICS 47 2024-25  Photo I-cards not mandatory in Biha EC issues notification constituting 14th polls r Lok Sabha CHECK EC tightens norms for poll expenses EC accepts new Haryana DGP YOUR EC will seek power to censure PROGRESS political ads again, review poll EC to visit Gujarat arrangements EC says no immediate plan to ban Exit Polls HC asks EC to bar ‘criminal’ netas EC shoots down HM advic 398 more booths e on EC orders repoll in poll reforms EC to keep closer eye on hidden poll costs Read these headlines carefully and identify which powers are used by the Election Commission in each instance to ensure free and fair elections. Popular par ticipa tion ticipation 1 People’s participation in election Another way to check the quality of is usually measured by voter the election process is to see turnout figures. Turnout indicates whether people participate in it with the per cent of eligible voters who enthusiasm. If the election process actually cast their vote. Over the is not free or fair, people will not last fifty years, the turnout in continue to participate in the Europe and North America has exercise. Now, read these charts declined. In India the turnout has and draw some conclusions about either remained stable or actually participation in India: gone up. 1 VOTER TURNOUT IN INDIA AND THE UK 90 UK 80 78 INDIA 72 VOTER TURNOUT (%) 70 66 66 60 62 60 58 59 56 50 40 30 20 10 1991 2015 ELECTION YEAR 48 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25  2 In India the poor, illiterate and 4 The interest of voters in election- underprivileged people vote in related activities has been larger proportion as compared to increasing over the years. During the rich and privileged sections. the 2004 elections, more than one- This is in contrast to western third voters took part in a democracies. For example in the campaign-related activities. More United States of America, poor than half of the people identified people, African Americans and themselves as being close to one Hispanics vote much less than the or the other political party. One rich and the white people. out of every seven voters is a member of a political party. 2 VOTER TURNOUT IN INDIA AND US BY SOCIAL GROUPS, 2004 4 THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN ANY ELECTION RELATED ACTIVITY IN INDIA INDIA US Source: National Election Study 1996-2004, CSDS. 70 60 61 60 56 58 56 VOTER TURNOUT (%) 60 40 32 50 30 21 (%) 40 28 20 13 30 8 10 20 1996 1998 1999 2004 10 ELECTION YEAR Upper OBC SC ST White Black Hispanic Caste SOCIAL GROUPS A C T I V I T Y Source: Figures for India 3 Common people in India attach a from National Election lot of importance to elections. Study 2004, CSDS. Ask the eligible voters in your family whether they Figures for US from They feel that through elections voted in the last election to the Lok Sabha or to National Election Study they can bring pressure on 2004, University of the state assembly. If they did not, ask them why political parties to adopt policies Michigan. did they not vote. If they did, ask them which party and programmes favourable to and candidate they voted for and why. Also ask them. They also feel that their vote them whether they had participated in any other matters in the way things are run election-related activity like attending an election in the country. meeting or rally etc. 3 DO YOU THINK YOUR VOTE MAKES A DIFFERENCE? Acceptance of election outcome 15% One final test of the free and fairness of election has in the outcome itself. 18% 67% If elections are not free or fair, the Has effect outcome always favours the powerful. Has no effect In such a situation, the ruling parties Source: National Election Study 2004, CSDS. Don’t know do not lose elections. Usually, the ELECTORAL POLITICS 49 2024-25 losing party does not accept the outcome of a rigged election. The outcome of India’s elections speaks for itself: < The ruling parties routinely lose elections in India both at the national and state level. In fact in every two out of the three elections held in the last 25 years, the ruling party lost. < In the US, an incumbent or ‘sitting’ elected representative rarely loses Irfan Khan an election. In India about half of the sitting MPs or MLAs lose elections. < Candidates who are known to have spent a lot of money on ‘buying votes’ and those with known criminal connections often lose The leader is coming out of a press conference: “What was the need to say that we read elections. < Barring very few disputed have distributed tickets only amongst suitable the and winnable family relations?” Do you think elections, the electoral outcomes that family politics is confined to only a few cartoon are usually accepted as ‘people’s states or parties? verdict’ by the defeated party. Titled ‘Electoral C hallenges ttoo fr ee and fair free Campaigns’, this ele elecc tions cartoon was drawn in All this leads to a simple conclusion: Questions of this kind bring the the Latin American elections in India are basically free many limitations and challenges of context. Does this and fair. The party that wins an elec- Indian elections to our attention. apply to India tion and forms government does so These include : and to other because people have chosen it over democracies its rivals. This may not be true for in the world? every constituency. A few candidates may win purely on the basis of ©Nerilicon, El Economista, Cagle Cartoons Inc. money power and unfair means. But the overall verdict of a general elec- tion still reflects popular preference. There are very few exceptions to this rule in the last 60 years in our country. This is what makes Indian elections democratic. Yet the picture looks different if we ask deeper questions: Are people’s preferences based on real knowledge? Are the voters getting a real choice? Is election really level playing field for everyone? Can an ordinary citizen hope to win elections? 50 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25  Is this an accurate picture of what happens to the voter before and after elections? Must this always happen in a democracy? Can you think of examples when this did not happen? read the R.K. Laxman, The Times of India cartoon < Candidates and parties with a lot similar to each other both in of money may not be sure of their policies and practice. victory but they do enjoy a big and < Smaller parties and independent unfair advantage over smaller candidates suffer a huge parties and independents. disadvantage compared to bigger < In some parts of the country, parties. candidates with criminal connection These challenges exist not just in have been able to push others out of India but also in many established the electoral race and to secure a democracies. These deeper issues ‘ticket’ from major parties. are a matter of concern for those who < Some families tend to dominate believe in democracy. That is why political parties; tickets are citizens, social activists and distributed to relatives from these organisations have been demanding families. reforms in our electoral system. Can < Very often elections offer little you think of some reforms? What choice to ordinary citizens, for can an ordinary citizen do to face both the major parties are quite these challenges? Here are some facts on Indian elections. Comment on each of these to say whether they reflect the strength or the weakness of our electoral system: < The 16th Lok Sabha has 12 per cent women members. CHECK < The Election Commission often refuses to accept the government’s advice about when the elections should be held. YOUR < The 16th Lok Sabha has more than 440 members whose assets are more than Rs.1 crore. PROGRESS < After losing an election the Chief Minister said: “I respect the people’s verdict”. ELECTORAL POLITICS 51 2024-25 Code of Conduct: A set of norms and guidelines to be followed by political parties and contesting candidates during election time. Constituency: Voters in a geographical area who elect a representative to GLOSSARY the legislative bodies. Incumbent: The current holder of a political office. Usually the choice for the voters in elections is between the incumbent party or candidate and those who oppose them. Level playing field: Condition in which all parties and candidates contesting in an election have equal opportunities to appeal for votes and to carry out election campaign. Rigging: Fraud and malpractices indulged by a party or candidate to increase its votes. It includes stuffing ballot boxes by a few persons using the votes of others; recording multiple votes by the same person; and bribing 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 conducting elections are false? exercises a Elections enable people to judge the performance of the government. b People select the representative of their choice in an election. c Elections enable people to evaluate the performance of the judiciary. d People can indicate which policies they prefer. 2 Which of these is not a good reason to say that Indian elections are democratic? a India has the largest number of voters in the world. b India’s Election Commission is very powerful. c In India, everyone above the age of 18 has a right to vote. d In India, the losing parties accept the electoral verdict. 3 Match the following : a It is necessary to keep the voters i there is a fair representation of list up to date because all sections of our society b Some constituencies are ii everyone has equal reserved for SCs and STs so opportunity to elect their that representative c Everyone has one and only one iii all candidates must have a fair vote so that chance of competing in elections d Party in power is not allowed to iv some people may have moved use government vehicles away from the area where they because voted last 52 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25 exercises 4 List all the different election related activities mentioned in the chapter and arrange them in a time sequence, beginning with the first activity and 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 in an assembly constituency in a state. Describe what should she focus on for each of the following stages of election: a Election campaign b Polling day c Counting day 6 The table below gives the proportion of different communities among the candidates who won elections to the US Congress. Compare these to the proportion of these communities in the population of the US. Based on this, would you suggest a system of reservations in the US Congress? If yes, why and for which communities? If no, why not? Proportion of the community (in per cent) in the House of Population of US representatives Blacks 8 13 Hispanics 5 13 Whites 86 70 7 Can we draw the following conclusions from the information given in this 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 was held guilty of practicing untouchability. The court did not allow either of them to contest elections. Does this decision go against the principles of democratic elections? 9 Here are some reports of electoral malpractices from different parts of the world. Is there anything that these countries can learn from India to improve their elections? What would you suggest in each case? a During an election in Nigeria, the officer in charge of counting votes deliberately increased the votes of one candidate and declared ELECTORAL POLITICS 53 2024-25  him elected. The court later found out that more than five lakh exercises votes cast for one candidate were counted in favour of another. b Just before elections in Fiji, a pamphlet was distributed warning voters that a vote for former Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry will 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 own procedure of counting and its own authority for conducting elections. Authorities in the state of Florida took many controversial decisions that favoured Mr. Bush in the presidential elections in 2000. But no one could change those decisions. 10 Here are some reports of malpractices in Indian elections. Identify what the problem in each case is. What should be done to correct the situation? 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 voters and attacking meetings of other parties. 11 Ramesh was not in class when this chapter was being taught. He came the next day and repeated what he had heard from his father. Can you 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 this session. While collecting news items, divide these into three parts: < Important events that took place before the election – main agenda discussed by political parties; information about people’s demand; role of the Election Commission. < Important events on the day of the election and counting – turnout in elections; reports of malpractice; re-polls; the types of predictions made; and the final outcome. < Post elections – reasons offered by political parties for winning or losing elections; analysis of the election verdict by the media; selection of the Chief Minister. 54 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 2024-25  National Voters’ Day (NVD) Pledge We, the citizens of India, having abiding faith in democracy, hereby pledge to uphold the democratic traditions of our country and the dignity of free, fair and peaceful elections, and to vote in every election fearlessly and without being influenced by considerations of religion, race, caste, community, language or any inducement. Is Electoral Literacy Club (ELC) functioning in your school? For details about Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) How did your school celebrate the National Voters’ Day programme of the Election Commission of India, on 25th January? Did you take the NVD Pledge? visit http://ecisveep.nic.in The tableau of the Election Commission of India passes through the Rajpath, New Delhi, on the occasion of the 67th Republic Day Parade in 2016. 55 2024-25