Class 9 Social Science Chapter 7: Elections
- 5 topics
- 180 MCQs
- 30 short answers
- 15 long answers
- 100 flashcards
- 20 games
- ~148 min read
- English
Why Elections Matter, and the Two Kinds of Them
An election is the machinery through which a citizen's right to choose is actually used. This topic asks what elections secure — accountability, representation, legitimacy and equality — then separates the offices India fills by a direct vote of the people from those filled indirectly by the representatives they have already chosen, and ends with the science that studies all of it.
What you will be able to do
- State what an election is and what it secures for a democracy.
- Explain why elections have to be held at regular, fixed intervals.
- Distinguish a direct election from an indirect one, with Indian examples of each.
- Name the offices in India filled by direct election and those filled indirectly.
- Define psephology and trace the origin of the word.
Key points
An election is the process through which citizens choose their representatives, and it is the principal means by which the right to vote is exercised.
Elections secure accountability: those who are elected must answer to the people who elected them.
They secure representation, because decisions are taken on the people's behalf by persons the people have chosen.
They secure legitimacy, because authority rests on a mandate that has been freshly given rather than assumed.
They secure equality, because every citizen's vote counts the same whoever that citizen may be.
In a direct election the citizens themselves vote to choose their representatives — this is how the Lok Sabha, the Vidhan Sabha and the local bodies are filled, every five years.
In an indirect election the citizens choose representatives, and those representatives then elect the office-holder — this is how the President, the Vice President and the members of the Rajya Sabha are chosen.
Psephology is the scientific study of elections; the name joins the Greek psēphos, meaning a pebble, to -logy, meaning systematic study.
Full explanation
The Simplest Definition
An election is the process by which the citizens of a country choose the people who are to represent them. Nothing more complicated than that is needed to begin. What makes it matter is the next sentence: it is the principal means by which a citizen exercises the right to vote, and that right is, for most people on most days, the whole of their share in governing.
India is a democracy of over 140 crore people. They cannot all sit in one room and settle matters between them. So they send representatives, and elections are how the sending is done.
Four Things an Election Secures
It is worth being precise about what is gained, because "elections are important" is not an answer that earns marks.
Accountability. Those who are elected must answer to those who elected them. An election is not only the moment of choosing; it is also the moment of judging what was done with the last five years.
Representation. Decisions are taken on the people's behalf by persons the people themselves have picked. A law made in Parliament reaches a village a thousand kilometres away, and the link between the two is the representative.
Legitimacy. Authority that rests on a mandate freshly given is of a different kind from authority that is merely held. This is why a government cannot simply continue past its term: whatever it did well, its licence has run out and must be renewed by the people.
Equality. One citizen, one vote — whoever that citizen is, whatever they own, whatever they have studied. Inside the polling booth the wealthiest voter in the constituency and the poorest have exactly the same weight.
Three Questions Worth Asking
The chapter puts three questions, and all three have the same answer: no.
Can a class representative carry on into the next year without facing a fresh election? Can a government continue past its term without going back to the people for a mandate? Is there a real choice before the voter if only one party contests?
Each question isolates one of the conditions. The first is about the fixed term. The second is about the mandate. The third is about choice — for voting without an alternative to vote for is a ritual, not an election.
Why Periodic
A single election at the founding of a country would settle nothing for long. People change their minds; circumstances change; representatives disappoint. Periodic elections — held at regular, fixed intervals — are what keep the link between the governed and the governing alive rather than historical.
In India the interval is five years for every directly elected body.
The First Kind: Direct Elections
In a direct election the citizens themselves cast the votes that decide the result. You walk into a polling station, you mark a ballot, and your mark counts towards the outcome.
India holds direct elections, every five years, for:
- the Lok Sabha, at the central level;
- the Vidhan Sabha, or Legislative Assembly, at the state level;
- the local bodies — Panchayats, municipal corporations and the rest.
Between them these three cover the whole ladder of government, from a village ward to the national Parliament.
The Second Kind: Indirect Elections
Not every office is filled this way. In an indirect election the citizens vote for representatives, and those representatives then elect the office-holder. The citizen's influence is still there, but it travels through one step.
India uses indirect election for:
- the President of India;
- the Vice President;
- the members of the Rajya Sabha.
So the Head of State of the world's largest democracy is chosen without a single ordinary voter marking a ballot for the post — and is nonetheless elected, by people whom ordinary voters chose.
Telling the Two Apart
The test is simple: ask who casts the deciding vote. If it is the citizen, the election is direct. If it is somebody the citizen elected earlier, the election is indirect.
A useful shorthand: you vote for the Sabhas, and the Sabhas vote for the rest.
Psephology
Elections have a science of their own. Psephology is the scientific study of elections — of how people vote, why they vote as they do, and what the results reveal.
The name is a small piece of history. It joins the Greek psēphos, meaning a pebble, to -logy, meaning systematic study. In ancient Greece a voter recorded a choice by dropping a pebble, and the pebble has outlived the practice by two and a half thousand years.
Back to the Citizen
All of it returns to one sentence. Elected representatives are accountable to the people; the right to elect them and to hold them to account is secured by periodic elections; and the vote is the principal means by which a citizen exercises that right.
Everything that follows in this chapter — the systems, the laws, the Commission, the parties — exists to make that one sentence true in practice for 96.8 crore people at once.
Concepts and terms
The process through which the citizens of a country choose the people who will represent them. It is the principal means by which a citizen exercises the right to vote, and it is what makes representative government possible at all.
An election in which the citizens themselves cast the votes that decide who is chosen. India uses it, every five years, for the Lok Sabha at the centre, the Vidhan Sabha in each state, and the local bodies such as Panchayats and municipal corporations.
An election in which the citizens do not vote for the office-holder at all. They elect representatives, and those representatives then do the electing. India fills the offices of President and Vice President, and the seats of the Rajya Sabha, in this way.
The scientific study of elections — of voting patterns, results and the behaviour behind them. The word joins the Greek psēphos, a pebble, to the ending -logy, systematic study, because pebbles were what voters dropped to record a choice in ancient Greece.
Elections and Their Two Kinds: Common Errors
Did you know
Voters in ancient Greece recorded a choice by dropping a small pebble, and that pebble — psēphos — is the reason the modern science of elections is called psephology.
Not one of India's three highest ceremonial and upper-house positions — President, Vice President and Rajya Sabha membership — is filled by a vote of the general public.
The five-year rhythm applies right down the ladder: the Lok Sabha, the Vidhan Sabha of a state and the Panchayat of a village all face the voters on the same five-year cycle.
Memory tricks
What elections secure — A-R-L-E: Accountability, Representation, Legitimacy, Equality. — Four words in that order cover the whole of the first section: who answers to whom, who decides for whom, where authority comes from, and why every vote weighs the same.
Direct or indirect — You vote for the Sabhas; the Sabhas vote for the rest. — Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and the local bodies come from your own ballot. The President, the Vice President and the Rajya Sabha come from the ballots of people you have already elected.
Practice MCQs with answers (36)
- A The process by which a government decides which laws it will introduce next
- B The process by which citizens of a country choose the people who will represent them
- C The process by which officials are selected on the basis of a written examination
- D The process by which courts settle disputes between the centre and the states
Show answer
Why:
Choosing representatives is the whole of the definition.
- A Court hearings, because the right to vote is enforced by judges when it is denied
- B Legislative debates, because representatives speak there on behalf of their voters
- C Elections, because they are the principal means by which a citizen exercises the right to vote
- D Census operations, because that is when the state counts its eligible citizens
Show answer
Why:
The right is permanent; the election is the occasion on which it is exercised.
- A Taxation, defence, administration and foreign policy
- B Accountability, representation, legitimacy and equality
- C Literacy, employment, health care and housing
- D Federalism, secularism, socialism and republicanism
Show answer
Why:
A-R-L-E is the mnemonic for the four.
- A Equality, because every citizen's vote carries the same weight at the polls
- B Accountability, because the elected must answer to those who elected them
- C Legitimacy, because authority rests on a mandate freshly given by voters
- D Representation, because decisions are taken on the people's behalf by others
Show answer
Why:
Answering for what was done is exactly what accountability means.
- A Equality, because the vote of every citizen in the village weighed the same
- B Legitimacy, because the government held office on a mandate freshly given
- C Accountability, because the government must answer for the scheme later on
- D Representation, because decisions are taken on the people's behalf by persons they chose
Show answer
Why:
The representative is the link between a distant decision and the people affected.
- A Equality, because all citizens must be treated alike whatever they possess
- B Representation, because somebody must speak for the people in the legislature
- C Legitimacy, because authority rests on a fresh mandate and this one has expired
- D Accountability, because the government has to explain its record to the voters
Show answer
Why:
Competence does not renew a mandate; only the people can do that.
- A Legitimacy, because the result of the poll gives the winner a mandate
- B Equality, because one citizen has one vote whoever that citizen may be
- C Representation, because both voters will be spoken for in the legislature
- D Accountability, because both may question the winner after the election
Show answer
Why:
Wealth, property and education make no difference to the weight of a ballot.
- A None of them
- B 1 and 2 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Why:
All three questions are answered in the negative.
- A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
- C A is true but R is false
- D A is false but R is true
Show answer
Why:
Both are true. The length of the term is the rule itself; what justifies having a term at all is that a mandate goes stale.
- A An indirect election, held every five years
- B A direct election, held every six years
- C A direct election, held every five years
- D An indirect election, held every six years
Show answer
Why:
Direct, and on a five-year cycle.
- A An indirect election, because the Panchayat later chooses its own head
- B A direct election, but only because the body concerned is a local one
- C An indirect election, because a local body is not part of Parliament
- D A direct election, because the citizen's own ballot decides the result
Show answer
Why:
The local bodies are filled by direct election, exactly as the Lok Sabha is.
- A Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the local bodies
- B Vidhan Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the office of President
- C Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and the local bodies
- D Local bodies, office of Vice President and Vidhan Sabha
Show answer
Why:
The Rajya Sabha, the President and the Vice President are all indirect.
- A A direct election, because citizens did vote at some earlier stage
- B An indirect election, because the citizen's influence travels through one step
- C A nominated appointment, because no general public ballot takes place
- D A by-election, because it is held separately from the general election
Show answer
Why:
The vote is real; it is simply cast by an already-elected body.
- A The President, the Vice President and the members of the Lok Sabha
- B The Prime Minister, the Vice President and the members of the Rajya Sabha
- C The President, the Chief Minister and the members of the Vidhan Sabha
- D The President, the Vice President and the members of the Rajya Sabha
Show answer
Why:
Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha are direct; the Prime Minister and Chief Minister are not elected to office by any such poll.
- A Ordinary citizens do in fact vote for the President at the general election
- B The President is chosen by the Prime Minister and then confirmed by Parliament
- C An indirect election is still an election; the voters are elected representatives
- D The office is filled by seniority among the judges of the Supreme Court
Show answer
Why:
Who votes changes; that voting happens does not.
- A Who cast the deciding vote — the citizen, or somebody the citizen elected earlier?
- B How many candidates contested the seat and how close the final margin was
- C Whether the office is at the central level or at the level of a state
- D Whether the voting took place on a single day or over several phases
Show answer
Why:
Follow the ballot, not the office.
- A Psephology
- B Demography
- C Cartography
- D Epigraphy
Show answer
Why:
Demography studies populations, cartography maps, epigraphy inscriptions.
- A A crowd, because elections gather large numbers of people in one place
- B A pebble, because voters in ancient Greece recorded a choice by dropping one
- C A voice, because voting in ancient Greece was done by shouting aloud
- D A city, because the earliest elections were held in the Greek city states
Show answer
Why:
Psēphos means pebble; the ballot has outlived the pebble by millennia.
- A The right of the representative to be treated fairly by classmates
- B The chance to have more than one candidate stand for the post
- C The rule that the representative must answer questions from the class
- D The fresh mandate that made the post democratic in the first place
Show answer
Why:
Performing well is not the same as being freshly authorised.
- A Because turnout is never a reliable indicator of how satisfied voters really are
- B Because a single party cannot by itself form a government after the results
- C Because the counting of votes takes place only where two parties are contesting
- D Because a voter with no alternative to vote for is performing a ritual, not choosing
Show answer
Why:
Choice has to exist before the act of voting can mean anything.
- A 1 and 3 only
- B 1 and 2 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Why:
The Rajya Sabha is indirect, which makes statement 2 wrong.
- A The Lok Sabha, because the other three are filled indirectly by representatives
- B The Vidhan Sabha, because the other three are bodies at the central level
- C The Rajya Sabha, because the other three are filled by a direct vote of citizens
- D A municipal corporation, because the other three are elected every five years
Show answer
Why:
Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and a municipal corporation are all direct; the Rajya Sabha is not.
- A All three are filled by indirect election conducted among elected members
- B All three are filled by direct election and face the voters every five years
- C All three elect their presiding officer before any other business begins
- D All three are dissolved together whenever a general election is announced
Show answer
Why:
The five-year direct cycle runs the whole length of the ladder.
- A Because the Constitution forbids any public assembly on matters of government
- B Because only citizens above a certain level of education may debate such questions
- C Because such numbers make direct assembly impossible, so representatives are sent instead
- D Because the states would never agree on a single place for all to meet
Show answer
Why:
Scale is the reason representative government exists at all.
- A A is false but R is true
- B Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- C Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
- D A is true but R is false
Show answer
Why:
The influence is real but indirect; it travels through one step, which is what R describes.
- A Vote, because what citizens do at a polling station is not technically voting
- B Rest, because there are no offices at all left over once the Sabhas are filled
- C You, because only representatives and not ordinary citizens may cast ballots
- D Sabhas, because the Rajya Sabha is itself filled indirectly and not by your ballot
Show answer
Why:
The shorthand means Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha; the Rajya Sabha belongs on the other side.
- A Those elected must answer for what they did, before the same voters decide again
- B Those elected must keep a written record of every meeting they have attended
- C Those elected must be courteous to any voter who approaches them in public
- D Those elected must belong to the same constituency in which they will serve
Show answer
Why:
Answering matters because the answering has a consequence at the next poll.
- A Vice President — indirect election by elected representatives
- B Vidhan Sabha member — indirect election by the local bodies
- C Lok Sabha member — indirect election by the state assemblies
- D Panchayat member — indirect election by the district administration
Show answer
Why:
Only the first pairing is right; the other three are all direct elections.
- A A shift from direct election to indirect election for that particular office
- B A shift from an elected office to a nominated one at the central level
- C A shift from indirect election to direct election for that particular office
- D No change at all, because the President is already chosen by the citizens
Show answer
Why:
The office is presently indirect, so opening it to all citizens would make it direct.
- A Demography, the statistical study of the size and structure of populations
- B Historiography, the study of how historical accounts are written and used
- C Jurisprudence, the study of the theory and philosophy underlying law
- D Psephology, the scientific study of elections and of voting behaviour
Show answer
Why:
Voting patterns and the behaviour behind them are the subject matter of psephology.
- A 1 and 2 only
- B 1 and 3 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Why:
The mind has nothing to do with it; the confusion with psyche is a common error.
- A Legitimacy, because a winner's authority rests on a mandate freshly given
- B Representation, because decisions are taken on behalf of all the people
- C Accountability, because the elected must answer to those who elected them
- D Equality, because one citizen has one vote whatever that citizen owns or earns
Show answer
Why:
Nothing about a voter alters the weight of the ballot.
- A Because ballot boxes have been replaced by electronic machines in modern India
- B Because only the counting of the votes, and not the casting, decides the winner
- C Because the act of voting is optional and no citizen is compelled to perform it
- D Because a fixed term, a fresh mandate and a genuine choice must all be present
Show answer
Why:
The three questions in the chapter isolate exactly those three conditions.
- A Because the public did vote for the post, in the same poll as the Lok Sabha
- B Because the Head of State is chosen by rotation among the state governors
- C Because the office is filled by an election in which elected representatives vote
- D Because the term elected is used loosely and the post is really an appointment
Show answer
Why:
Indirect election is election; the electorate is simply a narrower one.
- A The Election Commission is the only body capable of conducting a fair poll
- B Representatives are accountable to the people, and periodic elections secure that
- C Political parties matter more to a democracy than individual candidates do
- D A written constitution is by itself enough to guarantee a working democracy
Show answer
Why:
Accountability secured by periodic elections is the thread the whole chapter follows.
- A Rajya Sabha itself, which belongs under Indirect along with President and Vice President
- B Lok Sabha, which belongs under Indirect because the Speaker is chosen by members
- C Vidhan Sabha, which belongs under Indirect because states are not the central level
- D Local bodies, which belong under Indirect because their heads are chosen internally
Show answer
Why:
The Rajya Sabha sits with the President and Vice President on the indirect side.
Important short questions (6)
An election is the process by which the citizens of a country choose the people who will represent them. It is the principal means by which a citizen exercises the right to vote.
Accountability, because those elected must answer to those who elected them; representation, because decisions are taken on the people's behalf. Legitimacy, because authority rests on a mandate freshly given; and equality, because every citizen's vote counts the same.
A direct election is one in which the citizens themselves cast the votes that decide the result. India uses it every five years for the Lok Sabha at the central level, the Vidhan Sabha at the state level, and the local bodies such as Panchayats and municipal corporations.
In an indirect election the citizens elect representatives, and those representatives then elect the office-holder. India fills the offices of President and Vice President, and the seats of the Rajya Sabha, in this manner.
Psephology is the scientific study of elections, of voting patterns and of the behaviour behind the results. The name joins the Greek psēphos, meaning a pebble, to the ending -logy, meaning systematic study, because voters in ancient Greece recorded a choice by dropping a pebble.
Because people change their minds, circumstances change and representatives disappoint. A mandate given long ago no longer describes what the people now want, so regular fixed intervals keep the link between the governed and the governing alive. In India that interval is five years.
Long answer questions (3)
An election is the process by which the citizens of a country choose the people who will represent them, and it is the principal means by which a citizen exercises the right to vote.
It secures accountability. Those who are elected must answer to those who elected them, and the answering has consequences, because the same voters decide at the next poll whether to return them.
It secures representation. India has over 140 crore people, who cannot gather in one place to settle public questions, so decisions are taken on their behalf by persons they have themselves chosen.
It secures legitimacy. Authority that rests on a mandate freshly given is of a different kind from authority that is merely held, which is why a government cannot continue past its term however well it has governed.
It secures equality. One citizen has one vote, whoever that citizen may be; inside the polling booth the wealthiest voter of a constituency and the poorest carry exactly the same weight.
In a direct election the citizens themselves cast the votes that decide the result. A voter enters a polling station, marks a ballot, and that mark counts towards the outcome.
India holds direct elections every five years for the Lok Sabha at the central level, for the Vidhan Sabha or Legislative Assembly at the state level, and for the local bodies such as Panchayats and municipal corporations. Between them these cover the whole ladder of government, from a village ward to the national Parliament.
In an indirect election the citizens do not vote for the office-holder at all. They elect representatives, and those representatives then do the electing, so the citizen's influence travels through one step.
India uses indirect election for the President, for the Vice President and for the members of the Rajya Sabha. The Head of State of the world's largest democracy is therefore chosen without any ordinary voter marking a ballot for the post, and is nonetheless elected.
The test that separates the two is a single question: who casts the deciding vote? If it is the citizen, the election is direct; if it is somebody the citizen elected earlier, it is indirect.
The first question asks whether a class representative may carry on into the next year without facing a fresh election. The answer is no, and the condition being tested is the fixed term. A post held for a stated period does not renew itself; performing well is not the same as being freshly authorised.
The second asks whether a government may continue past its term without going back to the people for a mandate. Again no, and the condition is legitimacy. Authority rests on a mandate freshly given, and however competent a government has been its licence has run out and only the people can renew it.
The third asks whether there is a real choice before the voter if only one party contests. No once more, and the condition is choice itself. A voter with no alternative to vote for is performing a ritual rather than choosing, so a choice must exist before the act of voting can carry any meaning.
Taken together the three isolate what an election has to contain if it is to be more than the physical act of dropping a ballot into a box: a fixed term, a fresh mandate and a genuine choice.
Flashcards (20)
Play this topic
- Match the Term to Its Meaning
- Direct, Indirect or Neither?
- Complete the Statement
- Unscramble the Election Words
Turning Votes into Seats: Three Electoral Systems
Countries that all call themselves democracies count the same ballots in strikingly different ways. What separates one electoral system from another is the rule by which votes are converted into seats. This topic works through the plurality system India chose for its directly elected houses, the majority system with its second round, proportional representation, and the single transferable vote used for the Legislative Councils of six states.
What you will be able to do
- State what distinguishes one electoral system from another.
- Explain the first-past-the-post system and name the Indian houses that use it.
- Contrast the majority system with first-past-the-post, including the second round.
- Describe proportional representation and the Indian offices filled by it.
- Outline the single transferable vote and name the six states with a Legislative Council.
Key points
What separates one electoral system from another is the rule by which votes are turned into seats.
Under first-past-the-post each voter votes for one candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins, even on well under half the votes polled.
The framers of the Constitution chose this plurality system, and it is used for the Lok Sabha and for the Vidhan Sabha of each state.
Under the majority system a winner must take more than half the votes; if nobody does, the top two candidates go to a second round.
Under proportional representation voters vote for a party rather than a person, and seats are allotted in proportion to the votes each party wins.
India uses proportional representation for the Rajya Sabha and for the offices of President and Vice President.
The single transferable vote is used for the Vidhan Parishad: voters rank candidates, a quota is calculated, and surplus or eliminated votes pass to the next preference marked.
Six states have a bicameral legislature with both a Vidhan Sabha and a Vidhan Parishad: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
Full explanation
The Question Behind Every System
Every democracy collects ballots. What each one does next is a matter of choice, and the choice has consequences. What distinguishes one electoral system from another is the way it allots seats — the rule that turns a pile of votes into a bench of legislators.
Three such rules matter for this chapter, and a fourth method is used for one particular house.
First-Past-The-Post
Under first-past-the-post, each voter votes for one candidate in their own constituency. When the counting is done, whoever has the most votes is elected. There is no minimum share to clear.
This means a candidate can win on well under half the votes polled. Suppose four candidates stand and the vote divides forty, thirty, twenty and ten. The first is elected on forty per cent, although sixty per cent of that constituency wanted somebody else.
Because the winner needs only a plurality — the largest share, not a majority — the arrangement is called a plurality system. The framers of the Constitution chose it, and it is used for the Lok Sabha and for the Vidhan Sabha of every state.
The name comes from horse racing, where the only question is who crossed the line first.
The Majority System
The majority system begins in exactly the same way. Each voter votes for one candidate, one candidate per constituency is to be elected, and the votes are counted.
The difference is the bar. To win, a candidate must take more than fifty per cent of the votes. If nobody does, the contest is not over: the top two candidates go to a second round, and since only two now remain, one of them must cross the bar.
In the worked example the first round produced no winner, and the second round was taken by one party with fifty-five per cent. The advantage is that the winner has the support of more than half the voters who took part. The cost is a second exercise, with all the time and expense that implies.
Proportional Representation
Proportional representation changes the object of the vote itself. Voters vote for a party, not for a person. Seats are then allotted to each party in proportion to the total votes it received.
If four parties take forty, thirty-five, fifteen and ten per cent of the vote, and a hundred seats are to be filled, they receive forty, thirty-five, fifteen and ten seats. Power is shared in the same ratio as support.
India applies this to the Rajya Sabha and to the election of the President and the Vice President.
Comparing the Three
The same set of ballots can therefore produce three different results.
| System | What the voter votes for | The bar to win |
|---|---|---|
| First-past-the-post | One candidate | The most votes, however few |
| Majority | One candidate | More than half; else a second round |
| Proportional | A party | A share of seats matching the share of votes |
None of the three is simply right. Each buys something at a price — decisiveness, broad support, or exact reflection of opinion.
The Single Transferable Vote
Elections to the Vidhan Parishad use a fourth method, the single transferable vote, and it works by ranking.
First a quota is worked out: take the total valid votes, divide by one more than the number of seats to be filled, and add one to the result. That figure is the number of votes a candidate needs.
Then:
- Voters mark the candidates in order of preference — first, second, third and so on.
- First preferences are counted. Anyone who reaches the quota is declared elected.
- The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and each of those ballots passes to the next preference marked on it.
The transfers continue until the seats are filled. Nothing is thrown away: a vote for a candidate who cannot win moves on to do useful work elsewhere.
Six States With Two Houses
Most Indian states have a single house. Six have two: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. Their legislatures are bicameral, with a Lower House, the Vidhan Sabha, and an Upper House, the Vidhan Parishad or Legislative Council.
The Council is filled from several directions at once. Some members are elected by the Vidhan Sabha, some by the local bodies, and some by the graduates and the teachers of the state. The Governor nominates a further group, chosen for distinction in art, science, social service, literature and co-operative work.
Why So Many Methods
It is fair to ask why one country needs four arrangements. The answer is that the houses do different jobs. A directly elected house is meant to give a clear verdict and a working government, which plurality does briskly. An upper house is meant to reflect the balance of opinion and to bring in experience from outside politics, which proportional and preferential methods do better. The method follows the purpose.
Concepts and terms
The set of rules by which votes cast are converted into seats won. Two countries may hold equally free elections and still produce very different legislatures, because what distinguishes one system from another is precisely the way it allots seats.
A plurality system. Each voter votes for one candidate in a constituency, and whoever polls the most votes is elected, even if that is far short of half the votes cast. The framers of the Constitution chose it for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha.
A system in which voters vote for a party rather than for a person, and each party receives seats in proportion to the share of the total vote it wins. India applies it to the Rajya Sabha and to the election of the President and the Vice President.
The method used for the Vidhan Parishad. Voters rank the candidates in order of preference; a quota is worked out from the valid votes and the seats to be filled; anyone reaching the quota is elected, and the lowest candidate is eliminated so that those ballots pass to the next preference marked on them.
Electoral Systems: Common Errors
Did you know
Under first-past-the-post a party can win a clear majority of seats in a house while a clear majority of voters chose somebody else, because seats are decided constituency by constituency and nothing is carried over.
A Legislative Council draws its members from several directions at once — the Legislative Assembly, the local bodies, and the graduates and teachers of the state — with a further group nominated by the Governor.
The quota under the single transferable vote is deliberately set just above the share that would make a tie possible, which is why the formula ends by adding one.
Memory tricks
The three systems by their winning bar — Most, More-than-half, Matching share. — First-past-the-post asks only for the most votes; the majority system asks for more than half; proportional representation asks for nothing but a matching share of the seats.
The six bicameral states — A-B-K-M-T-U: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh. — Six initials in alphabetical order cover every state that has a Legislative Council as well as a Legislative Assembly.
Practice MCQs with answers (36)
- A The size of the population, because larger countries always produce larger majorities
- B The literacy rate, because better-educated voters divide their support more evenly
- C The number of days over which the polling was conducted in each of the countries
- D The electoral system, because what separates one from another is the way it allots seats
Show answer
Why:
The conversion rule, not the honesty of the count, is what differs.
- A Nobody, because a second round must be held between the first two candidates
- B The candidate on thirty per cent, because the leader fell short of half the votes
- C The candidate on forty per cent, because the most votes is all that is required
- D All four in proportion, because the seat is shared according to the vote shares
Show answer
Why:
First-past-the-post sets no minimum share; the largest share is enough.
- A Because several candidates may be elected from the same constituency at once
- B Because the votes of a plurality of constituencies are pooled before counting
- C Because a plurality of parties must agree before any candidate can be declared
- D Because the winner needs only the largest share of votes, not more than half of them
Show answer
Why:
Plurality means the largest share; majority means more than half.
- A 1, 2 and 3
- B 1 and 2 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1 and 3 only
Show answer
Why:
All three describe the system accurately.
- A First-past-the-post, because the leading candidate had not reached fifty per cent
- B Proportional representation, because seats are shared after the second counting
- C The single transferable vote, because preferences are redistributed in round two
- D The majority system, because with only two candidates left one must cross half
Show answer
Why:
Two candidates cannot both fall below half of the votes cast.
- A At the ballot paper: only the majority system allows a voter to rank candidates
- B At the winning bar: one asks for the most votes, the other for more than half
- C At the constituency: the majority system fills several seats from one area
- D At the object of the vote: the majority system asks the voter to choose a party
Show answer
Why:
The start is the same; the threshold and the second round are the difference.
- A A candidate, after which the leading candidate in each constituency is elected
- B A party, after which seats are allotted in proportion to the votes it received
- C A candidate, after which a second round is held if nobody has cleared half
- D A ranked list of candidates, after which surplus votes are transferred onward
Show answer
Why:
Voting for the party is what makes the proportional arithmetic possible.
- A All hundred seats to the party that polled forty per cent
- B Fifty seats each to the two parties that led the poll
- C Forty, thirty-five, fifteen and ten seats respectively
- D Twenty-five seats each, since four parties crossed the threshold
Show answer
Why:
The share of seats simply mirrors the share of votes.
- A The Lok Sabha, the office of President and the office of Vice President
- B The Rajya Sabha, the Vidhan Sabha and the office of Vice President
- C The Rajya Sabha, the office of President and the office of Vice President
- D The Vidhan Parishad, the local bodies and the office of President
Show answer
Why:
The Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha are plurality; the Vidhan Parishad uses the transferable vote.
- A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
- C A is true but R is false
- D A is false but R is true
Show answer
Why:
Nothing is carried over from the losing votes, which is what allows the mismatch. The assertion stands, the reason is false.
- A First-past-the-post, in which the three leading candidates are all elected
- B The majority system, in which three rounds are held one after another
- C Proportional representation, in which parties are ranked instead of persons
- D The single transferable vote, in which voters rank candidates by preference
Show answer
Why:
Ranking is the distinguishing mark of the transferable vote.
- A Divide the total valid votes by the number of seats to be filled, then subtract one
- B Divide the total valid votes by one more than the seats to be filled, then add one
- C Take half of the total valid votes and add one to whatever figure results
- D Take the votes polled by the leading candidate and add one to that figure
Show answer
Why:
Seats plus one in the divisor, and one added at the end.
- A 1 and 2 only
- B 1 and 3 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Why:
Eliminated candidates' ballots move to the next preference, so the third statement is wrong.
- A It is set aside as a wasted vote and plays no further part in the count
- B It is returned to the voter, who may attend and mark a fresh preference
- C It passes to the next preference the voter had marked on the same ballot
- D It is divided equally among all the candidates who are still in the contest
Show answer
Why:
Transfer is the whole point of the method; nothing is thrown away.
- A Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh
- B Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh
- C Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal
- D Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttarakhand
Show answer
Why:
Six states only, and those six.
- A It has two houses, the Vidhan Sabha below and the Vidhan Parishad above
- B It has two houses, the Lok Sabha below and the Rajya Sabha above
- C It has one house divided into two benches for government and opposition
- D It has two houses that sit only when the Governor summons them jointly
Show answer
Why:
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are the houses of Parliament, not of a state.
- A The Vidhan Sabha, because the state assembly reserves seats for professionals
- B The Vidhan Parishad, because most houses are not filled from such electorates
- C The Lok Sabha, because Parliament sets aside seats for educational interests
- D The Rajya Sabha, because the upper house of Parliament represents the states
Show answer
Why:
The Legislative Council alone draws members from graduate and teacher constituencies.
- A Service in the armed forces, the police and the revenue administration
- B Art, science, social service, literature and co-operative work
- C Long membership of a recognised national or state political party
- D Ownership of land or of industry above a stated value in the state
Show answer
Why:
The nominated seats bring distinction from outside politics into the house.
- A First-past-the-post — more than half the votes, failing which a second round
- B Majority system — more than half the votes, failing which a second round
- C Proportional representation — the most votes in each single-member seat
- D Majority system — a share of seats matching the party's share of the votes
Show answer
Why:
Only the first row pairs the system with its own rule.
- A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
- C A is true but R is false
- D A is false but R is true
Show answer
Why:
The method follows the purpose; that is exactly the reasoning the chapter gives.
- A It falls from six to five, but the legislature is still called bicameral
- B It falls from six to five, and the legislature becomes a unicameral one
- C It rises from six to seven, since a new single house has been created
- D It stays at six, because the Council continues to exist on paper only
Show answer
Why:
Six states presently have two houses; losing one leaves five, and a single-house legislature is unicameral.
- A A second exercise has to be conducted, with the time and expense that implies
- B The winner may be elected on far less than half the votes actually polled
- C Voters lose the ability to choose an individual rather than a party list
- D Constituency boundaries have to be redrawn before every round of voting
Show answer
Why:
Broader support is bought with a second round.
- A A party with ninety per cent support concentrated in a single constituency
- B An election in which only one candidate contests each of the constituencies
- C An election in which every constituency records an identical total turnout
- D A party with twenty per cent support spread thinly across every constituency
Show answer
Why:
Thin, even support wins few seats under plurality but a fifth of the seats under proportional counting.
- A Cricket, where a target must be passed before the allotted overs are finished
- B Athletics, where a runner may be disqualified for crossing a lane marking
- C Horse racing, where only who crossed first matters and not by what margin
- D Archery, where the closest arrow to the centre of the target takes the prize
Show answer
Why:
The margin is irrelevant; crossing the line first is everything.
- A To set the figure just above the level at which a tie would become possible
- B To allow for ballots that are later found to be invalid during the counting
- C To reserve one vote for the returning officer in the event of a deadlock
- D To account for the candidate who will eventually be eliminated as lowest
Show answer
Why:
The added one guarantees that no more candidates can reach the quota than there are seats.
- A That the rule for converting votes into seats shapes the outcome by itself
- B That one of the two counts must necessarily have been conducted dishonestly
- C That voters change their minds between the first count and the second count
- D That the turnout figure determines which of the two systems is more accurate
Show answer
Why:
Same ballots, different rules, different legislature — the central point of the topic.
- A 1 and 2 only
- B 1 and 3 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Why:
The Governor nominates only a portion of the house, so the third statement is wrong.
- A A Rajya Sabha, making its legislature the equal of the national Parliament
- B A Lok Sabha, since that is the name of every lower house in the country
- C A Delimitation Commission, since a new house needs new constituencies first
- D A Vidhan Parishad, making its legislature bicameral like six other states
Show answer
Why:
The upper house of a state is the Vidhan Parishad or Legislative Council.
- A It wins every seat, because the most votes is sufficient in each constituency
- B It wins no seat, because it failed to secure more than half in any of them
- C It wins exactly half the seats, since its share fell short of half the votes
- D A second round is ordered in every constituency across the entire state
Show answer
Why:
Under plurality the leader in each seat is elected regardless of the share.
- A An upper house must always produce a government with a working majority
- B An upper house is smaller, so preferences are easier to count accurately there
- C An upper house has no power to make laws, so its composition matters less
- D An upper house must reflect the balance of opinion and bring in outside experience
Show answer
Why:
Decisiveness is the job of the lower house; reflection is the job of the upper.
- A Vidhan Sabha — proportional representation, with votes cast for parties
- B Rajya Sabha — first-past-the-post, with the leading candidate elected
- C Vidhan Parishad — the single transferable vote, with ranked preferences
- D Lok Sabha — the majority system, with a second round where needed
Show answer
Why:
Only the first pairing matches the chapter.
- A First-past-the-post, because the runner-up inherits the votes of those below
- B Proportional representation, because parties are ranked by their vote shares
- C The majority system, because the second round doubles the value of a vote
- D The single transferable vote, because ballots transfer to the next preference
Show answer
Why:
Only a ranked ballot lets a later preference do the deciding.
- A Each has been tried in India and abandoned after a single general election
- B Each produces exactly the same legislature whenever turnout is high enough
- C Each buys something at a price — decisiveness, broad support, or exact reflection
- D Each was designed for a country much smaller than India is at present
Show answer
Why:
They are trade-offs, not a ranking from worst to best.
- A They chose proportional representation for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha
- B They left the choice of system to be settled by each state for its own house
- C They chose the plurality system for the directly elected houses of the country
- D They adopted the majority system with a second round for all national polls
Show answer
Why:
The plurality system was a deliberate choice for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha.
- A Twelve thousand and one
- B Ten thousand and one
- C Thirty thousand and one
- D Six thousand and one
Show answer
Why:
Sixty thousand divided by six seats plus one gives ten thousand, and one is added.
- A Because every ballot paper is preserved in the record office after counting
- B Because all candidates receive an equal share of the eliminated candidate's votes
- C Because the count is repeated until every candidate has reached the quota
- D Because a vote for a candidate who cannot win moves on to do work elsewhere
Show answer
Why:
Transfer to the next preference is what keeps the vote alive.
Important short questions (6)
The way it allots seats. Two countries may count their ballots equally honestly and still produce legislatures of quite different shape, because the rule that converts votes into seats is different in each.
Each voter votes for one candidate in a constituency, and the candidate with the most votes is elected, even on well under half the votes polled. Because only the largest share is needed it is called a plurality system. The framers of the Constitution chose it for the Lok Sabha and for the Vidhan Sabha of each state.
Both begin alike, with each voter marking one candidate. The difference is the winning bar: under the majority system a candidate must take more than fifty per cent of the votes, and if nobody does, the top two go to a second round, which one of them must then win.
Voters vote for a party rather than a person, and seats are allotted in proportion to the total votes each party receives, so that power is shared in the same ratio as support. India applies it to the Rajya Sabha and to the elections of the President and the Vice President.
First, voters mark the candidates in order of preference. Second, the first preferences are counted and anyone who reaches the quota is declared elected. Third, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and each of those ballots passes to the next preference marked on it.
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. The Vidhan Parishad holds members elected by the Vidhan Sabha and the local bodies, and by the graduates and teachers of the state, together with members nominated by the Governor for distinction in art, science, social service, literature and co-operative work.
Long answer questions (3)
What separates one electoral system from another is the way it allots seats, and three rules matter here.
Under first-past-the-post each voter votes for one candidate and the one with the most votes is elected, however small that share may be. Four candidates polling forty, thirty, twenty and ten per cent give the seat to the first, although sixty per cent of the constituency preferred somebody else. India uses this for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha.
Under the majority system the voting is the same but the bar is higher: a candidate must take more than fifty per cent. Where nobody does, the top two contest a second round, which one of them must win. The winner therefore has the support of more than half of those who voted, at the cost of a second exercise.
Under proportional representation the object of the vote changes. Voters vote for a party, and seats are allotted in proportion to the votes each party wins, so that forty, thirty-five, fifteen and ten per cent of the vote become forty, thirty-five, fifteen and ten of a hundred seats. India uses it for the Rajya Sabha and for the President and Vice President.
No one of the three is simply right. Each buys something at a price: decisiveness, broad support, or an exact reflection of opinion.
The single transferable vote is the method used for elections to the Vidhan Parishad, the Legislative Council of a state.
A quota is worked out first. The total valid votes are divided by one more than the number of seats to be filled, and one is added to the result; that figure is what a candidate needs. The final addition sets the quota just above the level at which a tie would be possible.
The counting then runs in three steps. Voters mark the candidates in order of preference. First preferences are counted, and anyone reaching the quota is declared elected. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and each of those ballots passes to the next preference marked on it, so that a vote for somebody who cannot win still does useful work.
Six states have such a house: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. Their legislatures are bicameral, with the Vidhan Sabha as the Lower House and the Vidhan Parishad as the Upper House.
The Council draws members from several directions at once. Some are elected by the Vidhan Sabha, some by the local bodies, and some by the graduates and the teachers of the state, while the Governor nominates a further group distinguished in art, science, social service, literature and co-operative work.
The answer the chapter gives is that the method follows the purpose, because the houses do different jobs.
A directly elected house is meant to give a clear verdict and to produce a working government. First-past-the-post does that briskly: each constituency is settled by the largest share, a result is available quickly, and a majority usually emerges. This is why the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha are filled that way.
An upper house is meant to reflect the balance of opinion rather than to manufacture a majority. Proportional representation suits that purpose, since the share of seats tracks the share of votes, and India uses it for the Rajya Sabha and for the offices of President and Vice President.
A Legislative Council has a further purpose still, which is to bring experience from outside ordinary politics into the legislature. That is why its members come from the Vidhan Sabha, the local bodies and the graduates and teachers of the state, why the Governor nominates persons distinguished in art, science, social service, literature and co-operative work, and why the ranked, transferable ballot is used to elect them.
Each arrangement therefore buys something at a price, and the price is accepted where the purpose of the house justifies it.
Flashcards (20)
Play this topic
- Match the System to Its Rule
- True or False: Counting the Votes
- Complete the Statement
- Unscramble the System Words
The Laws That Govern an Election
An election of this size cannot run on goodwill. Three Acts of Parliament set out who may vote, how a candidate is nominated, what a campaign may and may not do, and how a disputed result is settled. Alongside them runs delimitation, the periodic redrawing of constituency boundaries that keeps one representative from speaking for five times as many people as another.
What you will be able to do
- Name the three principal Acts governing elections in India and state what each one covers.
- List the matters dealt with by the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
- List the matters dealt with by the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
- Give examples of electoral offences and corrupt practices.
- Define delimitation, explain why it is necessary, and name the constitutional provision behind it.
Key points
The Representation of the People Act, 1950 settles how many seats there are and where their boundaries run, provides for the voters' list to be drawn up and kept current, and secures the vote for every citizen aged eighteen or more, without discrimination.
The Representation of the People Act, 1951 deals with the conduct of elections and with disputes arising after them.
It lays down the rules for the nomination of candidates, for campaigns, for voting procedures and for the resolution of disputes.
The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 governs the two offices filled by indirect election.
Electoral offences and corrupt practices are listed in the 1951 Act; together these laws secure the integrity, transparency and accountability of the whole process.
Constituency boundaries are not fixed for ever; they are altered as population density changes.
Delimitation is the process of settling the number of seats and fixing the territorial boundaries of each constituency in a state, for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha, so that the ratio of seats to population is as nearly equal as possible.
Article 82 of the Constitution requires a Delimitation Commission to be established, and India has had four — in 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002.
Full explanation
Why an Election Needs Statutes
An election that involves crores of voters, lakhs of polling stations and hundreds of parties cannot be run on custom and good intentions. It needs written rules that everyone can consult and that a court can enforce.
Three Acts of Parliament carry the weight. Together they secure the integrity, transparency and accountability of the process — which is the sentence worth remembering, because it explains why the detail matters.
The Representation of the People Act, 1950
This Act sets the stage before anyone casts a vote. It deals mainly with:
- the allocation of seats and the delimitation of constituencies;
- the preparation and revision of electoral rolls;
- ensuring that every citizen of eighteen and above has the right to vote, without discrimination.
Notice what these three have in common. None of them concerns the contest itself. They concern the arena in which the contest will take place: how many seats there are, where their boundaries run, and who is entitled to enter and vote.
The Representation of the People Act, 1951
The 1951 Act governs everything about the conduct of elections, and also what happens after them when a result is challenged.
It lays down rules for:
- the nomination of candidates;
- election campaigns;
- voting procedures;
- the resolution of disputes.
So the 1950 Act arranges the stage and the 1951 Act runs the play — and, if there is an argument afterwards about how the play went, settles that too.
A Separate Act for Two Offices
The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 deals with the two offices filled by indirect election. Because the electorate and the method there are quite different from a general election, a law of their own was thought necessary.
Electoral Offences and Corrupt Practices
The 1951 Act does not merely describe procedure; it lists conduct that is forbidden because it distorts a free choice. Three examples show the range.
Inducements. Any gift, offer or promise made by a candidate, or by anyone with the candidate's consent, to make somebody contest, withdraw, vote or refrain from voting. Note how wide that is: buying a withdrawal is as much an offence as buying a vote, and inducing someone not to vote is as much an offence as inducing them to vote a particular way.
Appeals to identity. Asking for votes on the ground of religion, caste, race, community or language. The objection is not to the identity but to the appeal — a vote sought on that basis is not a vote about governing.
Improper assistance. Taking help from gazetted officers, judges and magistrates, members of the armed forces, the police or excise officers. The state's own servants must stand outside the contest, because the machinery of government is not the property of whoever currently controls it.
Boundaries That Move
Now to the second half of the topic. A constituency is a territory, and its boundaries are not fixed for ever. They shift with changes in population density, because people move, towns grow and villages empty.
Delimitation is the process of settling the number of seats and fixing the territorial boundaries of the constituencies in each state, for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha. The aim is a ratio of seats to population as nearly equal as possible across all constituencies.
What Happens Without It
Imagine boundaries left untouched for fifty years while some districts triple in population and others shrink. One Member of Parliament might then represent five lakh people while another represented twenty-five lakh.
Both would have one seat and one vote in the house. The citizen in the crowded constituency would therefore count for a fifth of the citizen in the empty one — which defeats the whole object of equal representation. Delimitation exists to stop that drift.
Article 82 and the Four Commissions
The Constitution does not leave this to administrative discretion. Article 82 requires a Delimitation Commission to be established for the purpose.
India has had four of them, set up in 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002. The first three came at roughly ten-year intervals; then nearly thirty years passed before the fourth, so that a whole generation voted in constituencies drawn before they were born.
The Thread Running Through
Every item in this topic serves one idea. The rolls decide who counts; the boundaries decide how much each person counts for; the rules of nomination and campaigning decide whether the contest is honest; and the dispute provisions decide what happens when somebody says it was not. Integrity, transparency and accountability is not a slogan attached to the Acts — it is a description of what the three of them, taken together, are for.
Concepts and terms
The Act that settles the groundwork of an election: how seats are allocated, how constituencies are delimited, how electoral rolls are prepared and revised, and the guarantee that every citizen aged eighteen and above may vote without discrimination.
The Act that governs everything else — the actual conduct of an election and the settling of disputes that follow it. Nomination of candidates, campaigning, voting procedure and the resolution of disputes all sit here, as do electoral offences and corrupt practices.
Conduct forbidden by the 1951 Act because it distorts a free choice — for instance a gift, offer or promise made by a candidate or with the candidate's consent to induce somebody to contest, withdraw, vote or refrain from voting; an appeal for votes on grounds of religion, caste, race, community or language; or the taking of help from certain public servants.
The process of settling the number of seats and fixing the territorial boundaries of the constituencies in each state, for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha, so that the ratio of seats to population is as nearly equal as possible across them.
Election Law and Delimitation: Common Errors
Did you know
Offering somebody an inducement to stay out of a contest is an offence quite as much as offering an inducement to vote a particular way — withdrawal is named in the same clause as voting.
The list of public servants whose help a candidate may not take runs from gazetted officers and judges to members of the armed forces, the police and the excise department.
Nearly thirty years separated the third Delimitation Commission of 1973 from the fourth of 2002, so a generation of Indians voted in constituencies drawn before they were born.
Memory tricks
Which Act does what — Fifty sets the stage; fifty-one runs the play. — The 1950 Act arranges seats, boundaries, rolls and the franchise before anyone votes. The 1951 Act governs the election itself and everything that follows from it.
The four Delimitation Commissions — 52, 63, 73, 2002 — about a decade apart, then a long pause. — Three commissions came in reasonably quick succession after independence; the fourth arrived almost thirty years after the third.
Practice MCQs with answers (36)
- A The Representation of the People Act, 1951, which covers the conduct of polls
- B The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, which covers rolls
- C The Representation of the People Act, 1950, which covers electoral rolls
- D No Act at all, since the roll is prepared under administrative instructions
Show answer
Why:
The preparation and revision of electoral rolls belongs to the 1950 Act.
- A Allocation of seats, delimitation, electoral rolls and the right to vote at eighteen
- B Nomination of candidates, campaigns, voting procedures and electoral disputes
- C Election of the President, election of the Vice President and their disputes
- D Registration of political parties, allotment of symbols and inner-party elections
Show answer
Why:
The second list belongs to the 1951 Act and the third to the 1952 Act.
- A The Representation of the People Act, 1951, which governs the conduct of elections
- B The Representation of the People Act, 1950, which governs seats and boundaries
- C The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, for all candidates
- D Article 82 of the Constitution, which deals with the electoral machinery
Show answer
Why:
Nomination and campaigning are matters of conduct, and conduct belongs to 1951.
- A 1, 2 and 3
- B 1 and 2 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1 and 3 only
Show answer
Why:
All four functions — nomination, campaign, polling and disputes — sit in the 1951 Act.
- A Ask whether the matter concerns Parliament or a state legislative assembly
- B Ask whether the matter concerns a candidate or concerns an ordinary voter
- C Ask whether the matter concerns the arena or the contest that takes place in it
- D Ask whether the matter arises before polling day or on polling day itself
Show answer
Why:
Seats, boundaries, rolls and the franchise are the arena; nomination, campaign, polling and disputes are the contest.
- A Because the Constitution forbids any single Act from covering two offices
- B Because the electorate and the method there differ from a general election
- C Because those two offices were created only after the 1951 Act was passed
- D Because the President and Vice President are appointed rather than elected
Show answer
Why:
Indirect election by a special electorate called for a law of its own.
- A As lawful, since no voter was offered anything and no vote was actually bought
- B As a matter for the 1950 Act, since it concerns who may stand for a seat
- C As lawful if the rival refuses the money and remains in the contest regardless
- D As a corrupt practice, since inducing a withdrawal is named alongside inducing a vote
Show answer
Why:
The clause covers contesting, withdrawing, voting and refraining from voting alike.
- A To campaign, to donate, to vote, or to observe the counting
- B To contest, to withdraw, to vote, or to refrain from voting
- C To contest, to donate, to nominate, or to challenge the result
- D To enrol, to withdraw, to vote, or to serve as a polling agent
Show answer
Why:
Those four verbs are what make the clause so wide.
- A Because an appeal on that ground is not an appeal about governing at all
- B Because speeches at election meetings may not be delivered in a regional language
- C Because only a registered national party may refer to language in a campaign
- D Because the Act permits such appeals only during the last week of a campaign
Show answer
Why:
The objection is to the basis of the appeal, not to the identity itself.
- A Age, occupation, income, education or residence
- B Religion, caste, race, community or language
- C Party membership, past service, wealth or family
- D Gender, region, employment, property or health
Show answer
Why:
Five grounds are named, and they concern identity rather than policy.
- A Nothing, provided the officers are doing the work outside their duty hours
- B Nothing, provided the officers belong to a district other than the constituency
- C The Act allows it only if every other candidate is offered the same assistance
- D The Act forbids taking help from such officers, who must stand outside the contest
Show answer
Why:
The machinery of government is not the property of whoever currently controls it.
- A 1 and 2 only
- B 1 and 3 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Why:
The list covers public servants, not private citizens.
- A They must stay exactly as they are, since boundaries once drawn are permanent
- B They must be revised, since boundaries shift with changes in population density
- C They must be abolished, since a shrinking district cannot hold a constituency
- D They must be decided by the voters of the two areas at the next general election
Show answer
Why:
Boundaries are not fixed for ever; delimitation is how they are adjusted.
- A Deciding which citizens are entitled to have their names on an electoral roll
- B Settling the number of seats and fixing constituency boundaries in each state
- C Fixing the dates on which polling will be held in each phase of an election
- D Allotting election symbols among the parties contesting in a particular state
Show answer
Why:
Numbers and boundaries together, for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha.
- A The Rajya Sabha and the Vidhan Parishad
- B The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha
- C The Vidhan Parishad and the local bodies
- D The Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha
Show answer
Why:
The directly elected houses are the ones divided into territorial constituencies.
- A The geographical area of each constituency, measured in square kilometres
- B The number of candidates permitted to contest in each of the constituencies
- C The ratio of seats to population, as nearly equal as it can be made
- D The amount of money that each candidate may lawfully spend on a campaign
Show answer
Why:
Equality of representation is about people per seat, not land per seat.
- A That larger constituencies always return candidates with far bigger majorities
- B That Parliament should have five times as many members as it presently has
- C That population figures cannot be relied upon when boundaries are being drawn
- D That without delimitation one citizen's vote would count for a fifth of another's
Show answer
Why:
Both members hold one seat and one vote, so unequal populations make unequal citizens.
- A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
- C A is true but R is false
- D A is false but R is true
Show answer
Why:
Article 82 requires a Delimitation Commission for the purpose, which is what takes it out of the government's hands. The assertion stands, the reason is false.
- A Article 82, and two commissions
- B Article 324, and four commissions
- C Article 324, and six commissions
- D Article 82, and four commissions
Show answer
Why:
Article 82 is the provision; the commissions came in 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002.
- A 1 and 2 only
- B 1 and 3 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Why:
Nearly thirty years separated the third from the fourth, so the intervals were not equal.
- A A whole generation may vote in constituencies drawn before they were born
- B Such a vote would be invalid because the boundaries had become out of date
- C The constituency must be abolished until a new commission has reported
- D Votes cast in an old constituency are counted at half their normal weight
Show answer
Why:
The long gap between 1973 and 2002 is the chapter's own illustration.
- A The Acts replace the Election Commission in the conduct of a general election
- B The Acts permit any citizen to challenge a result without going through a court
- C The Acts were passed on the same day and are read as a single piece of law
- D The rolls settle who counts, the rules settle whether the contest is honest
Show answer
Why:
The phrase describes what the three, taken together, are for.
- A The 1950 Act, at the stage of preparing the roll for that constituency
- B The 1952 Act, since nomination rules are uniform for every office
- C The 1951 Act, at the stage of nomination in the conduct of the election
- D Article 82, since nomination affects the number of seats to be filled
Show answer
Why:
Nomination is a matter of conduct, which belongs to 1951.
- A The contest, because the list is used by officials on the day of polling
- B The arena, because candidates are nominated from the names on that list
- C The contest, because parties campaign among the persons whose names appear
- D The arena, because it settles who may take part before any contest begins
Show answer
Why:
Rolls belong with seats, boundaries and the franchise, all of which precede the contest.
- A The 1950 Act, which provides for the revision of the roll after an election
- B The 1951 Act, which provides for the resolution of disputes after an election
- C Article 82, which provides for a commission to re-examine the boundaries
- D No law at all, since a declared result cannot be questioned once announced
Show answer
Why:
Post-election disputes are expressly part of the 1951 Act.
- A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
- C A is true but R is false
- D A is false but R is true
Show answer
Why:
A guarantee tied to an age produces a new cohort automatically each year.
- A Because both settle the arena, deciding how many seats there are and where
- B Because both are decided by the returning officer of each of the constituencies
- C Because both must be completed on the day the election schedule is announced
- D Because both are matters of the conduct of the poll rather than of preparation
Show answer
Why:
Numbers and boundaries are two halves of one question about the arena.
- A A campaign expense, because gifts count towards the permitted spending limit
- B A matter for the returning officer alone, who may caution the candidate
- C A corrupt practice, because a gift is used to induce voting in a certain way
- D A lawful activity, unless the gifts are worth more than a stated sum of money
Show answer
Why:
Gifts, offers and promises to induce a vote are corrupt practices.
- A Resolution of an election dispute — the Representation of the People Act, 1950
- B Nomination of a candidate — the Representation of the People Act, 1950
- C Election of the Vice President — the Representation of the People Act, 1951
- D Revision of the electoral roll — the Representation of the People Act, 1950
Show answer
Why:
Disputes and nomination belong to 1951, and the Vice President to the 1952 Act.
- A Candidates in crowded constituencies would be barred from contesting there
- B The state would lose the right to send members to Parliament altogether
- C Citizens in crowded constituencies would be under-represented in the house
- D Every constituency would automatically be given an equal number of voters
Show answer
Why:
More people sharing one seat means each of them counts for less.
- A Because officials would otherwise be overworked during the election season
- B Because only elected persons are permitted to take part in public affairs
- C Because government machinery must not serve whoever happens to control it
- D Because officials are not entitled to vote in the constituency they serve in
Show answer
Why:
The point is neutrality of the state, not the convenience of its servants.
- A The 1951 Act, which forbids appeals to caste or religion during a campaign
- B The 1952 Act, which applies to every election held anywhere in the country
- C Article 82, which requires equality of population across all constituencies
- D The 1950 Act, which guarantees the vote at eighteen without discrimination
Show answer
Why:
The non-discrimination guarantee attaches to the franchise, which is a 1950 matter.
- A The first applies to state elections only; the second applies to national ones only
- B The first restrains a candidate campaigning; the second protects a citizen's franchise
- C The first is found in the Constitution; the second is found in no statute at all
- D The first applies before polling day; the second applies only after counting ends
Show answer
Why:
One is a corrupt practice under the 1951 Act; the other is a guarantee under the 1950 Act.
- A Because the first three were abandoned before they could complete their work
- B Because 1952, 1963 and 1973 were close together and 2002 came much later
- C Because each commission is required to sit for exactly ten years at a stretch
- D Because no population figures were available between 1973 and the year 2002
Show answer
Why:
The dates themselves show the pattern.
- A Nomination, which fixes how many candidates may contest a single seat
- B Delimitation, which fixes how many people share a single seat in a house
- C Campaign rules, which fix what a candidate may say to the voters of a seat
- D Dispute resolution, which fixes what happens when a result is challenged
Show answer
Why:
Unequal constituency populations make unequal citizens, which is the delimitation point.
- A One applies to Parliament alone; the other applies to state assemblies alone
- B One replaced the other, so only the later of the two Acts is now in force
- C One arranges the stage before voting; the other runs the contest and settles it
- D One deals with voters and the other deals only with the Election Commission
Show answer
Why:
Arena and contest is the division between them.
Important short questions (6)
It settles how many seats there are and where their boundaries run, provides for the voters' list to be drawn up and kept current. Secures the vote for every citizen who has turned eighteen, with no discrimination between one citizen and another.
It deals with the conduct of elections and with disputes arising after them. It lays down rules for the nomination of candidates, for election campaigns, for voting procedures and for the resolution of disputes.
A gift, offer or promise made by a candidate or with the candidate's consent to make somebody contest, withdraw, vote or refrain from voting. An appeal for votes on the ground of religion, caste, race, community or language. And taking help from gazetted officers, judges and magistrates, the armed forces, the police or excise officers.
Delimitation is the process of settling the number of seats and fixing the territorial boundaries of the constituencies in each state, for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha. Its aim is a ratio of seats to population that is as nearly equal as possible across all constituencies.
Because constituency boundaries are not fixed for ever and shift with changes in population density. Without delimitation one Member of Parliament might represent five lakh people while another represented twenty-five lakh, which would defeat the object of equal representation.
Article 82 of the Constitution requires a Delimitation Commission to be established. India has had four such commissions, set up in 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002.
Long answer questions (3)
Three Acts of Parliament carry the weight of the electoral law.
The Representation of the People Act, 1950 sets the stage before anyone votes. It deals with the allocation of seats and the delimitation of constituencies, with the preparation and revision of electoral rolls, and with ensuring that every citizen of eighteen and above may vote, without discrimination.
The Representation of the People Act, 1951 governs the conduct of elections and the disputes that follow them, laying down rules for the nomination of candidates, for campaigns, for voting procedures and for the resolution of disputes.
The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 covers the two offices filled by indirect election, because the electorate and the method there are quite different from those of a general election.
The 1951 Act also lists conduct that is forbidden. Taking help from gazetted officers, judges and magistrates, the armed forces, the police or excise officers counts as a corrupt practice. So does an appeal for votes on the ground of religion, caste, race, community or language. And so does a gift, offer or promise meant to make somebody contest, withdraw, vote or refrain from voting.
Taken together these laws secure the integrity, transparency and accountability of the electoral process, which is the purpose all the detail serves.
Delimitation is the process of settling the number of seats and fixing the territorial boundaries of the constituencies in each state, for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha.
It is needed because constituency boundaries are not fixed for ever. They shift with changes in population density, since people move, towns grow and villages empty, and a line drawn decades ago may no longer enclose a sensible number of people.
The aim is a ratio of seats to population that is as nearly equal as possible across all constituencies. Without that, one Member of Parliament might represent five lakh people while another represented twenty-five lakh, and since both would hold one seat and one vote in the house, the citizen in the crowded constituency would count for a fifth of the other. That would defeat the object of equal representation altogether.
The Constitution does not leave the matter to administrative discretion. Article 82 requires a Delimitation Commission to be established for the purpose.
India has had four such commissions, set up in 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002. The first three came at roughly ten-year intervals, after which nearly thirty years passed before the fourth, so that a whole generation voted in constituencies drawn before they were born.
Electoral offences and corrupt practices are kinds of conduct listed in the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and they are forbidden because each distorts a free choice.
The first example is inducement. Any gift, offer or promise made by a candidate, or by anyone with the candidate's consent, to make somebody contest, withdraw, vote or refrain from voting is forbidden. The clause is deliberately wide: buying a withdrawal is an offence exactly as buying a vote is, and paying somebody to stay at home is as serious as paying them to attend.
The second is an appeal to identity. Asking for votes on the ground of religion, caste, race, community or language is a corrupt practice. The objection is not to the identity of the voter or the candidate but to the basis of the appeal, since a vote sought on that ground is not a vote about how the country should be governed.
The third is improper assistance. A candidate may not take help from gazetted officers, judges and magistrates, members of the armed forces, the police or excise officers. The machinery of government belongs to the state and not to whoever currently controls it, so its servants must stand outside the contest.
Each rule protects the same thing: a choice made freely, on the merits, by voters who were neither bought, nor appealed to on irrelevant grounds, nor faced with the weight of the state on one side.
Flashcards (20)
Play this topic
- Match the Matter to Its Law
- True or False: The Election Statutes
- Complete the Statement
- Unscramble the Legal Words
The Election Commission of India
One body carries the whole weight of conducting an election across 96.8 crore voters. This topic sets out what the Election Commission is, the constitutional provisions behind it, how it reaches every district through officers borrowed from the states, the four great tasks it performs, the steps it takes so that no voter is left behind, and why a fair process matters quite as much as a completed one.
What you will be able to do
- Describe the Election Commission of India and name the constitutional Articles that provide for it.
- Explain how the Commission reaches the ground through state officers given election duty.
- Set out the Commission's principal functions, including the electoral roll and the schedule.
- Describe the steps taken so that no eligible voter is left out.
- Explain why fairness, and not merely the holding of a poll, is what gives an election its value.
Key points
The Election Commission of India is an autonomous permanent constitutional body, established on 25 January 1950.
It runs the elections for both houses of Parliament, for the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council of a state, and for the two highest offices of the Republic.
The Commission owes its existence, its powers and its duties to Articles 324 to 329 of the Constitution, which place the superintendence, direction and control of the process in its hands.
A Chief Electoral Officer supervises the work in each state, appointed by the Commission from among the civil servants in consultation with the State Government.
State officers such as District Magistrates, Sub-Divisional Magistrates and Tahsildars are given election duty as District Election Officers, Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers.
The Commission creates and maintains the electoral roll; only a person whose name appears on it may vote, and Special Intensive Revision updates, verifies and corrects the list.
It decides the election schedule, weighing the weather, the agricultural cycle, examinations and festivals, and it registers political parties and allots symbols, acting as a quasi-judicial body in such disputes.
Voting from home for persons over 85 and for persons with a benchmark disability of forty per cent was extended nationwide for the first time at the 2024 General Elections.
Full explanation
One Body, One Task
The laws described in the last topic have to be applied by somebody. That somebody is the Election Commission of India, an autonomous permanent constitutional body established on 25 January 1950.
Each of those words is doing work. Autonomous, because it must supervise contests in which the government of the day is itself a competitor. Permanent, because the roll and the machinery cannot be assembled afresh every five years. Constitutional, because it owes its existence to the Constitution and not to the pleasure of any ministry.
It conducts the elections to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, the Vidhan Sabha and the Vidhan Parishad, and for the offices of President and Vice President of India.
Articles 324 to 329
The Constitution provides for the Commission and defines its powers and duties in Articles 324 to 329. The first of these vests in it the superintendence, direction and control of the whole electoral process — a wide grant of authority, given deliberately, because a body that could be overruled on detail could not guarantee fairness on principle.
How a Small Body Reaches Every Village
The Commission does not maintain an army of its own across the country. It borrows one.
In each State a Chief Electoral Officer supervises the work. That officer is appointed by the Commission from among the civil servants, in consultation with the State Government.
Below that level, officers already serving the state — District Magistrates, Sub-Divisional Magistrates, Tahsildars and others — are given election duty. While on that duty they act as District Election Officers, Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers, and in those roles they answer to the Commission.
This is how a compact central body conducts the largest election on earth without duplicating the entire administration of the country.
The First Task: the Electoral Roll
Only a person whose name appears on the electoral roll may vote. Everything else follows from that, which is why compiling the roll is the Commission's foundational work.
Enumerators visit every household to gather the particulars. The list is then kept current by Special Intensive Revision, which updates, verifies and corrects it:
- names are added for those who have newly turned eighteen;
- names are removed on death, on change of residence, on duplicate enrolment, or where a person is permanently untraceable.
A roll that is out of date disenfranchises the living and leaves room for the names of those who have gone.
The Second Task: the Schedule
The Commission decides when the country votes. The decision is not a matter of picking a convenient week.
It weighs the weather, the agricultural cycle, examinations and festivals. A poll in the middle of a harvest, a monsoon or a board examination would keep away exactly the voters the exercise exists to include.
The Third Task: Parties and Symbols
The Commission registers political parties and allots election symbols to them. A symbol is not decoration: a voter who cannot read a name can recognise a picture, so the allotment is a serious matter.
It also insists on inner-party elections, so that parties which ask the country to practise democracy practise it within themselves. When disputes arise on registration, symbols or such internal matters, the Commission decides them in a judge-like manner, acting as a quasi-judicial body.
The Fourth Task: Free and Fair Elections
The last task is the reason for the other three: ensuring that elections are free and fair.
Leaving No Voter Behind
India has over 96.8 crore eligible voters, living across every kind of terrain that exists. Reaching all of them takes deliberate effort, and the Commission's initiatives cover both infrastructure and technology-assisted inclusion for persons with disabilities, senior citizens, transgender persons and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.
The most striking of these is voting from home. For voters above 85 and for persons with a benchmark disability of forty per cent, it was extended across the whole country for the first time at the 2024 General Elections.
The Digital Machinery
A set of applications now carries much of the load:
- Voter Helpline — for a citizen to check enrolment and find their polling station;
- Saksham — for voters with disabilities to ask for assistance;
- cVIGIL — for any citizen to report a campaign violation as it happens;
- Suvidha — for candidates and parties to seek the permissions a campaign requires;
- Sugam — for the vehicles an election needs;
- ERONET — for the officers who manage the electoral roll;
- ETPBS — for transmitting postal ballots electronically to service voters.
Beyond India's Borders
The Commission does not work alone in the world. The India International Election Visitors Programme brings election management bodies from other countries to observe Indian elections — twenty-eight of them in one recent programme — alongside international organisations working in this field.
National Voters' Day
Every 25 January, the anniversary of the Commission's own founding, is observed as National Voters' Day. New voters are enrolled and a voters' pledge is taken, affirming the intention to vote, and to vote without being swayed by inducement.
Why Fairness, Not Merely Completion
The chapter ends this section with a warning worth taking seriously.
Without fairness, public confidence in electoral institutions can slowly erode. Where candidates are influenced by personal favours, where votes are not counted accurately, or where some people simply cannot reach the polling booth, elections are still held — but their democratic value is reduced.
Democracy lies not only in conducting elections but in keeping the process inclusive, impartial and trustworthy. That is the standard against which the Commission's work is to be judged.
Concepts and terms
An autonomous permanent constitutional body established on 25 January 1950, which runs the elections to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, the Vidhan Sabha and the Vidhan Parishad, and for the offices of President and Vice President. Articles 324 to 329 provide for it and define what it may and must do.
The list of persons entitled to vote. Enumerators visit every household to compile it, and only a person whose name appears on it may cast a ballot. Special Intensive Revision updates, verifies and corrects the list, adding those who have newly turned eighteen and removing names on death, change of residence, duplicate enrolment or permanent untraceability.
The arrangement by which officers of a State Government — District Magistrates, Sub-Divisional Magistrates, Tahsildars and others — are placed at the Commission's disposal as District Election Officers, Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers, so that a small central body can reach every district in the country.
The Commission registers political parties, allots them symbols and insists that they hold elections within their own organisations. When disputes arise on such matters it decides them in a judge-like manner, which is why it is described as acting quasi-judicially.
The Election Commission: Common Errors
Did you know
The Commission came into being on 25 January 1950, a day before the Constitution itself took effect — the machinery for elections was ready before the Republic began.
Enumerators physically visit households to compile the roll, so the largest electorate on earth is built one doorstep at a time.
Voting from home for citizens over 85 and for persons with a benchmark disability of forty per cent was extended across the country for the first time at the 2024 General Elections.
Memory tricks
The Commission's four great tasks — Roll, Schedule, Symbols, Fairness. — It settles who may vote, when they will vote, which party stands under which sign, and whether the whole thing was conducted honestly.
Two dates that share a day — 25 January twice over: founded in 1950, celebrated every year since. — The Commission was established on 25 January 1950, and the same date is observed as National Voters' Day.
Practice MCQs with answers (36)
- A It is a committee of Parliament, because members of both houses sit upon it
- B It is a court, because it settles every dispute arising out of an election result
- C It is autonomous, because it must supervise contests in which the government competes
- D It is a state body, because a Chief Electoral Officer works in each of the states
Show answer
Why:
An autonomous permanent constitutional body cannot be a department of any ministry.
- A 26 January 1950, and the day is observed as Republic Day for that reason
- B 25 January 1950, and the day is observed as National Voters' Day
- C 15 August 1947, and the day is observed as Independence Day each year
- D 26 November 1949, and the day is observed as Constitution Day each year
Show answer
Why:
The Commission's founding date and National Voters' Day are the same.
- A Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha alone, since the other bodies are filled indirectly
- B Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the Panchayats of every district in the country
- C The office of President alone, all other elections being run by the states
- D Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, Vidhan Parishad, President and Vice President
Show answer
Why:
Directly and indirectly elected bodies alike come within its charge.
- A Articles 82 to 87
- B Articles 14 to 18
- C Articles 368 to 372
- D Articles 324 to 329
Show answer
Why:
Article 82 concerns delimitation; the Commission's range begins at 324.
- A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
- C A is true but R is false
- D A is false but R is true
Show answer
Why:
Both are true. The date the Commission was set up does not explain why its authority had to be granted so widely.
- A By placing officers already serving the states on election duty under its control
- B By recruiting a permanent staff of several lakh officers of its own in each state
- C By handing over the conduct of polling entirely to the government of each state
- D By asking political parties to supply the officials needed at each polling station
Show answer
Why:
It borrows an administration rather than duplicating one.
- A The State Government appoints from among its ministers, consulting the Commission
- B The Governor appoints from among the judges, consulting the Chief Minister first
- C The Commission appoints from among the civil servants, consulting the State Government
- D Parliament appoints from among its own members, consulting the state assembly
Show answer
Why:
Appointment rests with the Commission; the state is consulted, not obeyed.
- A 1 and 2 only
- B 1 and 3 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Why:
On election duty they answer to the Commission, which is the whole point of the arrangement.
- A She may vote after showing the document, since identity is what really matters
- B She cannot vote, because only a person whose name is on the roll may do so
- C She may vote in the next phase, once the roll has been corrected for her name
- D She may vote and her ballot will be counted separately by the returning officer
Show answer
Why:
The roll is decisive, which is why its preparation and revision matter so much.
- A Citizens must apply in writing, so the roll contains only those who took the trouble
- B It is copied from the census, so no separate exercise is needed at any stage
- C Political parties submit lists of supporters, which are then merged into one roll
- D Enumerators visit every household, so the largest electorate is built doorstep by doorstep
Show answer
Why:
Household enumeration is what makes the roll comprehensive.
- A It prints, distributes and displays the roll
- B It seals, stores and archives the old roll
- C It updates, verifies and corrects the roll
- D It translates, indexes and publishes the roll
Show answer
Why:
Three verbs, and each is a distinct operation on the list.
- A 1 and 2 only
- B 1 and 3 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Why:
Abstaining from voting is not a ground; duplicate enrolment and untraceability are.
- A It keeps both entries, because he has genuine connections with the two places
- B It removes both entries, because enrolling twice is treated as a corrupt practice
- C It removes the duplicate, because one citizen must appear on the roll only once
- D It transfers the decision to the courts, which alone may strike a name off a roll
Show answer
Why:
Duplicate enrolment is one of the recognised grounds for removal.
- A The convenience of the largest party and its campaign preparations
- B The weather, the agricultural cycle, examinations and festivals
- C The dates on which the previous three elections happened to be held
- D The availability of counting machines in the capital of each state
Show answer
Why:
The schedule is built around the lives of voters, not around politics.
- A Because it would keep away exactly the voters the exercise exists to include
- B Because counting cannot lawfully be carried out during an examination season
- C Because candidates would be unable to file nominations during those weeks
- D Because the weather during harvest makes electronic machines unreliable
Show answer
Why:
Turnout is the object; a date that suppresses it undoes the work.
- A Because a voter who cannot read a name can still recognise a picture
- B Because symbols are printed on the ballot before the candidates are known
- C Because a party may not campaign at all until a symbol has been allotted
- D Because the symbol determines the order in which candidates are listed
Show answer
Why:
The symbol makes the ballot usable by every voter, whatever their literacy.
- A That a party without internal elections cannot be allotted an election symbol
- B That parties asking the country to practise democracy should practise it themselves
- C That internal elections reduce the expenditure a party incurs on campaigning
- D That the Commission must appoint the office-bearers of every registered party
Show answer
Why:
Inner-party democracy is demanded on grounds of consistency.
- A It sits as a bench of judges drawn from the High Court of each of the states
- B It decides disputes over registration, symbols and party matters in a judge-like way
- C It may imprison any candidate found to have committed a corrupt practice
- D It hears appeals against the judgments of the courts in election disputes
Show answer
Why:
Quasi-judicial means deciding in a judge-like manner, not being a court.
- A Persons with disabilities, senior citizens, transgender persons and vulnerable tribal groups
- B Government employees, students, industrial workers and members of co-operatives
- C First-time voters, members of political parties, journalists and polling agents
- D Residents of metropolitan cities, of state capitals and of district headquarters
Show answer
Why:
The measures are aimed at those for whom reaching a booth is hardest.
- A Postal balloting, which has been available to every citizen since 1950
- B Proxy voting, under which a relative may cast the ballot on her behalf
- C Voting from home, first extended nationwide at the 2024 General Elections
- D Advance voting, which allows any voter to vote a week before polling day
Show answer
Why:
Home voting covers those above 85 and persons with a forty per cent benchmark disability.
- A 1, 2 and 3
- B 1 and 2 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1 and 3 only
Show answer
Why:
All three particulars are accurate.
- A cVIGIL, through which a citizen reports a campaign violation as it happens
- B Suvidha, through which candidates seek the permissions a campaign requires
- C ERONET, through which officers manage and revise the electoral roll
- D ETPBS, through which postal ballots reach service voters electronically
Show answer
Why:
Each application has its own user, and cVIGIL's user is the ordinary citizen.
- A Saksham — returning officers, who use it to declare the result of a count
- B Sugam — voters with disabilities, who use it to request help at the booth
- C cVIGIL — candidates, who use it to apply for permission to hold a rally
- D ETPBS — service voters, who receive postal ballots transmitted electronically
Show answer
Why:
Saksham serves voters with disabilities, Sugam manages vehicles and cVIGIL serves citizens.
- A A scheme sending Indian officers abroad to conduct elections in other countries
- B An arrangement bringing election bodies of other countries to observe Indian polls
- C A programme under which Indians living abroad are enrolled as postal voters
- D A conference at which the Commission settles disputes between political parties
Show answer
Why:
Election management bodies from other countries come to observe, alongside international organisations.
- A Election results of the previous year are formally published by the Commission
- B New voters are enrolled, and a voters' pledge is taken by those present
- C Political parties submit their accounts and receive their symbols for the year
- D Constituency boundaries are reviewed and adjusted wherever populations moved
Show answer
Why:
Enrolment and the pledge are what mark the day.
- A To vote only for a candidate belonging to a recognised national party
- B To vote in every election held in the state for the following five years
- C To vote in the constituency where the voter was born rather than resides
- D To vote without being swayed by any inducement offered to the voter
Show answer
Why:
The pledge is aimed at the very conduct the law calls a corrupt practice.
- A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
- C A is true but R is false
- D A is false but R is true
Show answer
Why:
The chapter's warning is precisely that holding a poll is not the same as holding a fair one.
- A The Commission would lose its constitutional status and become a department
- B Public confidence in electoral institutions may weaken over a period of time
- C Parliament would be required to hold fresh elections within six months
- D The number of eligible voters in the country would begin to fall steadily
Show answer
Why:
Erosion of confidence is the slow damage the chapter warns about.
- A Rapid, economical and convenient
- B Traditional, ceremonial and formal
- C Inclusive, impartial and trustworthy
- D Centralised, uniform and mechanical
Show answer
Why:
These three describe the standard against which the Commission's work is judged.
- A Preparing and revising the electoral roll each year
- B Deciding the schedule on which the country will vote
- C Registering political parties and allotting them symbols
- D Ensuring that elections are free and fair
Show answer
Why:
The roll, the schedule and the symbols all exist to make a free and fair election possible.
- A Because the Constitution requires every public body to exist without interruption
- B Because its members are appointed for life and cannot be replaced at intervals
- C Because elections in India are held continuously without any gap between them
- D Because the roll and the machinery cannot be rebuilt from nothing every five years
Show answer
Why:
Continuity of the roll and the apparatus is what permanence secures.
- A One is appointed by Parliament; the other is elected by the voters of a district
- B One belongs to the Commission's permanent staff; the other is a party nominee
- C One works only during an election; the other holds office throughout the year
- D One supervises election work across a state; the other conducts it for a constituency
Show answer
Why:
Both are officers on election duty, but at different levels of the structure.
- A cVIGIL, opened by a citizen who has just seen gifts being distributed
- B Saksham, opened by a voter with a disability who needs help at the booth
- C ERONET, opened by an ordinary voter wishing to find a polling station
- D Suvidha, opened by a party seeking permission to hold a public meeting
Show answer
Why:
ERONET serves the officers who manage the roll; a voter looking for a polling station uses Voter Helpline.
- A Because polling is not held at all in areas that are difficult to reach
- B Because constituency boundaries are drawn to follow natural features
- C Because the weather in hilly regions decides the national polling schedule
- D Because over 96.8 crore voters live across every kind of terrain that exists
Show answer
Why:
Geography is part of what makes reaching every voter a deliberate effort.
- A Political parties jointly settle the schedule by agreement before each election
- B The Supreme Court fixes the schedule and appoints the officers for each poll
- C The Commission is autonomous and constitutional, and decides these matters itself
- D Each State Government runs the election within its own territory independently
Show answer
Why:
Independence written into the Constitution is what removes the decision from the contestants.
- A A government department arranges polling stations and announces the results
- B A court hears every complaint that arises during the course of an election
- C An independent body settles who may vote, when, under which symbols, and how fairly
- D Political parties jointly administer the electoral process through a committee
Show answer
Why:
Roll, schedule, symbols and fairness are the four tasks, and independence is what makes them possible.
Important short questions (6)
It is an autonomous permanent constitutional body, set up on 25 January 1950. It runs the elections to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, the Vidhan Sabha and the Vidhan Parishad, and for the offices of President and Vice President.
A Chief Electoral Officer supervises the work in each state, appointed by the Commission from among the civil servants in consultation with the State Government. Officers already serving the state, such as District Magistrates, Sub-Divisional Magistrates and Tahsildars, are given election duty as District Election Officers, Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers.
It is the process by which the electoral roll is updated, verified and corrected. Names are added for those who have newly turned eighteen, and removed on death, on change of residence, on duplicate enrolment, or where a person is permanently untraceable.
It weighs the weather, the agricultural cycle, examinations and festivals. A poll held during a harvest, a monsoon or a board examination would keep away exactly the voters the exercise exists to include.
It registers political parties and allots them election symbols, and it insists that they hold elections within their own organisations. When disputes arise on such matters it decides them in a judge-like manner, acting as a quasi-judicial body.
It allows a polling team to record a vote at the voter's residence. It is available to voters above 85 and to persons with a benchmark disability of forty per cent, and was extended across the country for the first time at the 2024 General Elections.
Long answer questions (3)
The Election Commission of India is an autonomous permanent constitutional body, established on 25 January 1950. Articles 324 to 329 of the Constitution provide for it and define its powers and duties, vesting in it the superintendence, direction and control of the electoral process.
It runs the elections to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, the Vidhan Sabha and the Vidhan Parishad, and for the offices of President and Vice President.
Its first function is the electoral roll. Enumerators visit every household to compile it, and only a person whose name appears on it may vote. Special Intensive Revision then updates, verifies and corrects the list, adding those who have newly turned eighteen and removing names on death, change of residence, duplicate enrolment or permanent untraceability.
Its second function is deciding the schedule, for which it weighs the weather, the agricultural cycle, examinations and festivals.
Its third is registering political parties and allotting them symbols, insisting on inner-party elections and deciding disputes on such matters as a quasi-judicial body.
Its fourth, for whose sake the others exist, is ensuring that elections are free and fair.
India has over 96.8 crore eligible voters, living across every kind of terrain that exists, so reaching all of them takes deliberate effort rather than good intentions. The Commission's initiatives cover both infrastructure and technology-assisted inclusion, and they are aimed particularly at persons with disabilities, senior citizens, transgender persons and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups. The most striking of them is voting from home. A polling team records the vote at the voter's own residence, and the facility is available to voters above 85 and to persons with a benchmark disability of forty per cent. It was extended across the whole country for the first time at the 2024 General Elections. A set of applications carries much of the remaining load. Voter Helpline lets a citizen check enrolment and find a polling station; Saksham allows voters with disabilities to ask for assistance; cVIGIL allows any citizen to report a campaign violation as it happens. Suvidha handles the permissions a campaign needs and Sugam the vehicles; ERONET serves the officers who manage the roll; and ETPBS transmits postal ballots electronically to service voters. Every 25 January, National Voters' Day, new voters are enrolled and a voters' pledge is taken, affirming an intention to vote and to vote without being swayed by inducement.
Conducting an election is the visible part of the work, but the chapter warns that a poll may be completed from beginning to end and still have little democratic value.
Three failures are named. Candidates may be influenced by personal favours, so that the contest is settled by obligation rather than by the voters. Votes may not be counted accurately, so that the result does not reflect what was actually cast. Some people may simply be unable to reach the polling booth, so that a part of the electorate never enters the reckoning at all.
Where any of these happens, elections are still held, but their democratic value is reduced, and public confidence in electoral institutions may gradually weaken. That erosion is slow and hard to reverse, which is why the warning is worth taking seriously.
What is required beyond the holding of a poll is that the process be kept inclusive, impartial and trustworthy. Inclusive, so that every eligible voter can actually take part; impartial, so that the machinery favours nobody; trustworthy, so that the result is believed.
This is the standard against which the Commission's work is to be judged, and it explains why the roll, the schedule, the symbols and the inclusion measures all matter as much as the counting does.
Flashcards (20)
Play this topic
- Match the Term to Its Meaning
- True or False: The Commission at Work
- Complete the Statement
- Unscramble the Commission Words
Political Parties, and the Challenges Elections Face
Between the citizen and the government stands the political party. This topic sets out what parties actually do, why India's multi-party system mirrors the country itself, what defection is and how the law of 1985 answers it, the tests by which a party is recognised as national or as a state party, the era of alliances, and the challenges a free and fair election now has to withstand.
What you will be able to do
- State the role political parties play in a democracy.
- Explain why India has a multi-party system and how the cycle from citizen to government runs.
- Define defection and describe the law of 1985 that deals with it.
- State the tests by which a party is recognised as national or as a state party, and what a registered unrecognised party is.
- Name the challenges elections face and the means by which they are met.
Key points
Political parties organise public opinion, campaign on specific issues, offer voters meaningful choices and enable voters to decide with information in hand.
Voters learn about candidates, their policies and their stand on social, economic, cultural and political questions chiefly through the parties.
The winning party forms the government and makes and implements policy, while the opposition ensures accountability through debates and committees.
India has a multi-party system, which mirrors its diversity of languages, cultures, religions and regions.
Defection is abandoning or switching from the party under whose banner a candidate was elected, either by joining another or by acting against the party's decisions in the legislature.
The Anti-Defection Law came in 1985, through the 52nd Amendment; a member who gives up membership or votes against the party's direction may be disqualified, and the Speaker or Chairman decides.
A party may be recognised as a national party or a state party on meeting stated tests of votes and seats; one that is registered but meets none of them is a registered unrecognised political party.
Misinformation, fake news and intimidation are among the challenges, met through the election laws, the Model Code of Conduct, electronic voting machines with the paper audit trail, and voter awareness campaigns.
Full explanation
The Link Between Citizen and Government
A citizen has views. A government has powers. Something has to connect the two, and in a democracy that something is the political party.
Parties work at the grassroots and are essential to a democratic system. Four verbs describe what they do:
- they organise public opinion, gathering views that would otherwise stay scattered;
- they campaign on specific issues, so that a contest is about something;
- they offer voters meaningful choices, without which voting is a ritual;
- they enable voters to decide with information in hand.
That last point deserves emphasis. Voters learn about candidates, about their policies and about their stand on social, economic, cultural and political questions chiefly through the parties. Strip the parties away and the ordinary voter would face a list of unfamiliar names.
The Cycle They Drive
The whole process can be set out as a circle.
Citizens hold views. Parties organise those views into programmes. Parties then contest elections, planning campaigns and preparing manifestos that put their promises on record. The winning party forms the government and makes and implements policy. The opposition ensures accountability through debates and committees. And at the next election the citizens judge all of it and the circle begins again.
Notice that losing does not end a party's function. Scrutiny is work, and somebody has to do it.
Why So Many Parties
India has a multi-party system, and the chapter gives a reason rather than merely a description: it mirrors the country's diversity of languages, cultures, religions and regions.
A country of that variety could hardly be spoken for by two organisations. Parties rooted in a single state or a single set of concerns exist because the concerns exist.
Defection
Now to a difficulty. A candidate is elected under a party's banner, carrying that party's promises. What happens when the same person abandons or switches from the party afterwards?
Defection covers two kinds of conduct: joining another party, and acting against the party's decisions in the legislature. The second matters because it can defeat the voters' choice without any formal change of label.
The chapter is careful to give two readings. Read one way, defection is political opportunism — a seat won on one set of promises used to serve another. Read another way, it may be a matter of conscience, or a response to changing public expectations. Both readings are offered, and the student is expected to hold them together.
The Anti-Defection Law
Parliament answered the question in 1985, through the 52nd Amendment to the Constitution.
Under it, a member who gives up membership of the party on whose ticket they were elected, or who votes against the direction given by that party, may be disqualified from the house.
The decision is not taken by a court in the first instance. It is taken by the Speaker of the house, or by the Chairman in the upper house — the presiding officer.
Recognition: National, State, or Neither
Not every party stands on the same footing before the Election Commission. Recognition is earned by performance, and there is more than one route to it.
A party may be recognised as a national party if it satisfies any one of these:
- six per cent of the valid votes in four or more states, together with four Lok Sabha seats;
- two per cent of the seats in the Lok Sabha, with members elected from at least three states;
- recognition as a state party in four states.
A party may be recognised as a state party on any one of several tests, such as:
- six per cent of the valid votes in the state together with two Assembly seats;
- three per cent of the Assembly seats, or three seats, whichever is the greater;
- eight per cent of the valid votes polled in the state.
And a party that is registered but satisfies none of these is a registered unrecognised political party, either because it polled too few votes or because it has never contested an election since registration.
The Era of Alliances
For the first two decades after independence a single party governed at the centre. From 1967 the picture changed, and coalitions became a regular feature of Indian politics. The Janata Government of 1977 was the first alliance government at the centre, and later decades produced the National Democratic Alliance and the United Progressive Alliance.
An alliance is what a multi-party system produces when no single party commands a majority: parties that differ on much agree on enough to govern together.
The Challenges
A free and fair election across 96.8 crore voters, thousands of polling stations and hundreds of parties is not easy to defend. The chapter names three challenges in particular:
- misinformation;
- fake news;
- intimidation.
The first two travel faster than any correction; the third works quietly and leaves little evidence.
How They Are Met
The Election Commission meets them through several instruments at once:
- the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951, which make the worst conduct unlawful;
- the Model Code of Conduct, which binds parties and candidates once an election is announced;
- electronic voting machines together with the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail, which allows the machine's record to be checked against paper;
- voter awareness campaigns, which arm the citizen rather than merely punishing the offender.
And the chapter ends by naming what no institution can supply on its own: constant vigilance and active citizen participation, which together make elections more representative and the democracy more robust.
Concepts and terms
An organisation that gathers scattered views into a programme and puts it before the country. It organises public opinion, campaigns on specific issues, offers voters meaningful choices and enables them to decide with information in hand, which is why voters learn about candidates and their positions chiefly through parties.
An arrangement in which many parties compete for power rather than two. India's mirrors the diversity of the country itself — its languages, cultures, religions and regions — since no single organisation could speak for all of that at once.
Abandoning or switching from the party under whose banner a candidate was elected, either by joining another party or by acting against the party's decisions in the legislature. Read one way it is political opportunism; read another, a matter of conscience or of changing public expectations.
A party that has been registered with the Election Commission but has not met the tests for recognition as a national or state party, either because it polled too few votes or because it has never contested an election since registration.
Parties and Challenges: Common Errors
Did you know
A party can be registered with the Election Commission and yet never have contested a single election since registration, in which case it stays on the unrecognised list.
The era of alliances in Indian politics is traced from 1967, and the Janata Government of 1977 was the first of its kind at the centre.
The paper audit trail attached to an electronic voting machine lets a voter see a printed slip confirming the vote just cast, so the machine's record can be checked against paper.
Memory tricks
What parties do — Organise, campaign, offer, enable. — They organise public opinion, campaign on issues, offer meaningful choices, and enable voters to decide with information in hand.
The date and the amendment — Eighty-five and fifty-two: the year, then the amendment. — The Anti-Defection Law came in 1985, through the 52nd Amendment.
Practice MCQs with answers (36)
- A They should indeed be abolished, since independent candidates would serve as well
- B They exist only to raise money for campaigns and have no other useful function
- C They matter only at the time of polling and play no part between elections
- D They are the link rather than the barrier, since voters learn of candidates through them
Show answer
Why:
Strip the parties away and a ballot becomes a list of unfamiliar names.
- A Organising opinion, campaigning on issues, offering choices and enabling decisions
- B Collecting taxes, appointing officials, framing budgets and enforcing the law
- C Conducting elections, preparing rolls, allotting symbols and counting the votes
- D Drawing constituency boundaries, fixing schedules, and settling election disputes
Show answer
Why:
The third list describes the Election Commission's work, not a party's.
- A Legal, judicial, administrative and procedural questions
- B Social, economic, cultural and political questions
- C Military, diplomatic, commercial and technical questions
- D Historical, geographical, scientific and literary questions
Show answer
Why:
Those four cover the range of public life on which a contest turns.
- A Because a losing party automatically joins the government it failed to defeat
- B Because the opposition ensures accountability through debates and committees
- C Because the losing party administers the constituencies it happened to win
- D Because a fresh election must be held within a year whenever a party loses
Show answer
Why:
Scrutiny is continuing work, and somebody has to do it.
- A 1, 2 and 3
- B 1 and 2 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1 and 3 only
Show answer
Why:
All three are stages of the same circle.
- A Because the Constitution requires at least six parties to contest every election
- B Because it reflects a diversity of languages, cultures, religions and regions
- C Because the Election Commission may not register fewer than a stated number
- D Because a single party is forbidden by law from contesting in all the states
Show answer
Why:
Parties rooted in a state or a set of concerns exist because the concerns exist.
- A Delimitation, because the legislator's constituency changes its representation
- B Nomination, because the legislator must be nominated afresh by the new party
- C Defection, because a seat won on one set of promises is used to serve another
- D Recognition, because the rival party gains a member and so gains in status
Show answer
Why:
The voters chose a banner as much as a person.
- A No, because she has not joined any other party and keeps her original label
- B Yes, because acting against the party's decisions in the legislature is included
- C No, because a legislator is entitled to vote as she pleases on every question
- D Yes, but only if she later resigns her seat and contests a fresh election
Show answer
Why:
The second limb of the definition needs no change of label at all.
- A A criminal offence on one reading, a civil wrong against the party on the other
- B A state matter on one reading, a matter for Parliament alone on the other
- C Political opportunism on one reading, conscience or changed expectations on the other
- D A recent problem on one reading, an ancient Indian practice on the other
Show answer
Why:
The student is expected to hold both readings together.
- A 1975, by the 42nd Amendment
- B 1985, by the 52nd Amendment
- C 1992, by the 73rd Amendment
- D 1950, by the 1st Amendment
Show answer
Why:
The year and the amendment number go together as a pair.
- A Giving up party membership, or voting against the direction the party gives
- B Missing a sitting of the house, or failing to speak during a general debate
- C Criticising the government in public, or writing an article in a newspaper
- D Contesting from a different constituency, or changing residence mid-term
Show answer
Why:
Both limbs of defection have their answer in the disqualification provision.
- A The Election Commission, so the matter is settled by the electoral machinery
- B The Supreme Court alone, so the matter is settled outside politics entirely
- C The presiding officer of the house, so the matter is settled within the legislature
- D The party's own executive, so the matter is settled by those most affected
Show answer
Why:
The Speaker or the Chairman decides, which keeps the question inside the house.
- A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
- C A is true but R is false
- D A is false but R is true
Show answer
Why:
The second limb of the definition is precisely why the law is not confined to formal switching.
- A State party status, because six per cent is a state-level threshold only
- B Registered unrecognised status, because four seats is far too small a number
- C No status at all, because a party must win seats in every one of those states
- D National party status, by the votes-across-states test combined with four seats
Show answer
Why:
Six per cent in four or more states plus four Lok Sabha seats is one of the national routes.
- A Ten per cent of Lok Sabha seats, with members elected from at least two states
- B Two per cent of Assembly seats in any single state of the Indian Union
- C Fifty per cent of Lok Sabha seats from a single state of the Indian Union
- D Two per cent of Lok Sabha seats, with members elected from at least three states
Show answer
Why:
The share is small but the spread across three states is essential.
- A It qualifies for recognition as a national party by that route
- B It must surrender its state party status in three of those states
- C It becomes a registered unrecognised party in the remaining states
- D It may contest only in those four states at the next general election
Show answer
Why:
State party status in four states is itself one of the three national routes.
- A 1, 2 and 3
- B 1 and 2 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1 and 3 only
Show answer
Why:
Any one of several tests will do, and all three are among them.
- A As a state party, because registration by itself confers that status
- B As a national party, because it is registered at the national level
- C As deregistered, because a party must contest within five years of registering
- D As a registered unrecognised political party, having met none of the tests
Show answer
Why:
Never having contested is one of the two ways a party ends up unrecognised.
- A Registration is decided by Parliament; recognition is decided by the Supreme Court
- B Registration is a door a party enters; recognition has to be earned by performance
- C Registration lasts five years; recognition lasts for the lifetime of the party
- D Registration applies to national parties; recognition applies to state parties
Show answer
Why:
Tests of votes and seats stand between the one and the other.
- A From 1952, and the first government after independence
- B From 1985, and the government formed after the 52nd Amendment
- C From 2004, and the United Progressive Alliance government
- D From 1967, and the Janata Government of 1977
Show answer
Why:
The change begins in 1967; the Janata Government of 1977 was the first alliance government at the centre.
- A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
- C A is true but R is false
- D A is false but R is true
Show answer
Why:
Coalition is what a many-party system produces when nobody has a majority.
- A Illiteracy, poverty and unemployment among voters
- B Delimitation, defection and disqualification of members
- C Misinformation, fake news and intimidation
- D Low turnout, high expenditure and delayed counting
Show answer
Why:
The first two travel faster than any correction; the third leaves little evidence.
- A Because no law in India has ever been passed to deal with false statements
- B Because they travel faster than any correction that might be issued later
- C Because they can be spread only by candidates and never by ordinary people
- D Because the Election Commission has no machinery of any kind to detect them
Show answer
Why:
Speed is the difficulty; the correction arrives after the damage.
- A Delimitation commissions, electoral rolls, symbol allotment and inner-party elections
- B Presidential elections, Rajya Sabha elections and Legislative Council elections
- C The Anti-Defection Law, the 52nd Amendment and disqualification by the Speaker
- D The election laws, the Model Code of Conduct, machines with a paper trail, and awareness campaigns
Show answer
Why:
Four instruments, applied together rather than one at a time.
- A A facility allowing a voter to change a vote after it has been recorded
- B A printed record so that the machine's count can be checked against paper
- C A device that transmits each vote to the counting centre as it is cast
- D A screen showing the running totals of every candidate during polling
Show answer
Why:
Verifiability is the point: the electronic record has a paper counterpart.
- A Only on the day of polling and for the hours that polling continues
- B Once an election has been announced by the Election Commission
- C From the moment a party is first registered with the Commission
- D After the counting of votes, until the new house has been constituted
Show answer
Why:
Announcement of the election is what brings the Code into operation.
- A Because awareness campaigns replace the criminal law relating to elections entirely
- B Because such campaigns are run by political parties and not by the Commission
- C Because only offenders who admit their conduct are ever prosecuted in practice
- D Because a voter who can recognise a false claim does not need to be protected from it
Show answer
Why:
Prevention at the point of reception is different in kind from punishment after the fact.
- A Constant vigilance and active participation by citizens themselves
- B A larger budget for the conduct of general elections in the country
- C A single national party able to command a majority without allies
- D A guarantee that every voter will turn out on the day of polling
Show answer
Why:
Citizens are part of the machinery, not merely its beneficiaries.
- A Yes, because six per cent of the valid votes is sufficient on its own
- B Yes, but only if it has contested in at least three other states as well
- C No, because that route also requires two seats in the Assembly of the state
- D No, because a party must poll at least twenty per cent in any single state
Show answer
Why:
That test pairs the vote share with two Assembly seats; the seat-free test requires eight per cent.
- A Because a manifesto is a legal document enforceable in a court of law
- B Because the Election Commission allots symbols on the basis of manifestos
- C Because promises written down before the counting can be checked afterwards
- D Because a party may not contest again until its last manifesto is fulfilled
Show answer
Why:
Putting the programme on record is what makes later accountability possible.
- A National party — any party that has an office in the capital of the country
- B State party — a party formed by the government of a state for that state
- C Registered unrecognised party — registered, but meeting none of the recognition tests
- D Alliance — a single party contesting under more than one election symbol
Show answer
Why:
Only the first pairing matches the definitions in this topic.
- A Corrupt practices are not forbidden by any of the election statutes at all
- B Misinformation is committed only by officials, who cannot be prosecuted
- C Intimidation always leaves a written record that can be produced in court
- D False claims spread before any correction can reach the same audience
Show answer
Why:
Speed and the absence of evidence are what make these challenges distinctive.
- A The voters chose a person alone, so the party has no claim upon the member
- B The voters chose a party alone, so the identity of the candidate is irrelevant
- C The voters chose a banner and a programme as much as they chose a person
- D The voters chose neither, since candidates are nominated by the Commission
Show answer
Why:
That is exactly why abandoning the banner raises a question at all.
- A 1, 2 and 3
- B 1 and 2 only
- C 2 and 3 only
- D 1 and 3 only
Show answer
Why:
Each describes a different instrument accurately.
- A All of the tests at once, since recognition requires every condition to be met
- B A simple application to the Commission, since no electoral test is involved
- C A majority of the seats in the Legislative Assembly of that particular state
- D Any one of several tests, such as eight per cent of the valid votes in the state
Show answer
Why:
The tests are alternatives; satisfying any one of them is enough.
- A Parties are a necessary evil that the law is gradually working to remove
- B Elections would be fairer if independent candidates replaced every party
- C Parties connect citizens to power, and both law and vigilance keep that link honest
- D The Election Commission alone is responsible for the health of a democracy
Show answer
Why:
The role of parties, the answer to defection, the tests of recognition and the challenges all serve that one argument.
Important short questions (6)
They organise public opinion, campaign on specific issues, offer voters meaningful choices and enable voters to decide with information in hand. Voters learn about candidates, their policies and their stand on social, economic, cultural and political questions chiefly through them.
Because it mirrors the country's diversity of languages, cultures, religions and regions. A country of that variety could hardly be spoken for by two organisations, so parties rooted in a single state or a single set of concerns exist alongside the larger ones.
Defection is abandoning or switching from the party under whose banner a candidate was elected, either by joining another party or by acting against the party's decisions in the legislature. Read one way it is political opportunism; read another, it may be a matter of conscience or of changing public expectations.
It came in 1985, through the 52nd Amendment to the Constitution. A member who gives up membership of the party on whose ticket they were elected, or who votes against the direction that party gives, may be disqualified from the house. The Speaker, or the Chairman in the upper house, decides.
Six per cent of the valid votes in four or more states together with four Lok Sabha seats. Or two per cent of the seats in the Lok Sabha with members elected from at least three states. Or recognition as a state party in four states.
One that has registered with the Election Commission but satisfied none of the tests for recognition as a national or state party. That is either because it polled too few votes or because it has never contested an election since registration.
Long answer questions (3)
Parties work at the grassroots and are essential to a democratic system, because something has to connect the views a citizen holds with the powers a government exercises.
They organise public opinion, gathering views that would otherwise stay scattered. They campaign on specific issues, so that a contest is about something. They offer voters meaningful choices, without which voting would be a ritual. And they enable voters to decide with information in hand, since voters learn about candidates, their policies and their stand on social, economic, cultural and political questions chiefly through them.
The process runs as a circle. Citizens hold views; parties organise those views into programmes; parties contest elections, planning campaigns and preparing manifestos that put their promises on record; the winning party forms the government and makes and implements policy; and the opposition ensures accountability through debates and committees. At the next election the citizens judge all of it, and the circle begins again.
India's is a multi-party system, and the reason is that it mirrors the country's diversity of languages, cultures, religions and regions. A land of that variety could hardly be spoken for by two organisations, which is also why alliances became a regular feature from 1967 onwards.
Defection is abandoning or switching from the party under whose banner a candidate was elected. It covers two kinds of conduct: joining another party, and acting against the party's decisions in the legislature. The second matters particularly, because it can defeat the voters' choice without any formal change of label.
The chapter offers two readings rather than one. Read as political opportunism, a defection turns a seat won on one set of promises to the service of another. Read differently, it may be an act of conscience, or a response to changing public expectations, and a student is expected to hold both readings together.
Parliament answered the question in 1985, through the 52nd Amendment to the Constitution. Under the law that resulted, a member who gives up membership of the party on whose ticket they were elected, or who votes against the direction that party gives, may be disqualified from the house.
The decision is not taken by a court in the first instance. It is taken by the presiding officer, the Speaker of the house or the Chairman in the upper house, which keeps the question within the legislature itself.
A free and fair election across more than ninety-six crore voters, thousands of polling stations and hundreds of parties is not easy to defend, and the chapter names three challenges in particular: misinformation, fake news and intimidation.
The first two are difficult because they travel faster than any correction that might follow, so the damage is done before an answer can reach the same audience. Intimidation is difficult for the opposite reason: it works quietly and leaves little evidence behind.
The Election Commission meets them through several instruments at once. The Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951 make the worst conduct unlawful. The Model Code of Conduct binds parties and candidates from the moment an election is announced. Electronic voting machines together with the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail allow the machine's record to be checked against a printed slip, so that the count can be verified. Voter awareness campaigns arm the citizen rather than merely punishing the offender, which is a different kind of protection altogether.
The chapter ends by naming what no institution can supply on its own: constant vigilance and active citizen participation, which together make elections more representative and the democracy more robust.
Flashcards (20)
Play this topic
- Match the Term to Its Meaning
- True or False: Parties and Their Rules
- Complete the Statement
- Unscramble the Party Words
Class 9 Social Science Chapter 7 — frequently asked questions
An election is the process by which the citizens of a country choose the people who will represent them. It is the principal means by which a citizen exercises the right to vote.
Accountability, because those elected must answer to those who elected them; representation, because decisions are taken on the people's behalf. Legitimacy, because authority rests on a mandate freshly given; and equality, because every citizen's vote counts the same.
A direct election is one in which the citizens themselves cast the votes that decide the result. India uses it every five years for the Lok Sabha at the central level, the Vidhan Sabha at the state level, and the local bodies such as Panchayats and municipal corporations.
The way it allots seats. Two countries may count their ballots equally honestly and still produce legislatures of quite different shape, because the rule that converts votes into seats is different in each.
Each voter votes for one candidate in a constituency, and the candidate with the most votes is elected, even on well under half the votes polled. Because only the largest share is needed it is called a plurality system. The framers of the Constitution chose it for the Lok Sabha and for the Vidhan Sabha of each state.
Both begin alike, with each voter marking one candidate. The difference is the winning bar: under the majority system a candidate must take more than fifty per cent of the votes, and if nobody does, the top two go to a second round, which one of them must then win.
It settles how many seats there are and where their boundaries run, provides for the voters' list to be drawn up and kept current. Secures the vote for every citizen who has turned eighteen, with no discrimination between one citizen and another.
It deals with the conduct of elections and with disputes arising after them. It lays down rules for the nomination of candidates, for election campaigns, for voting procedures and for the resolution of disputes.
A gift, offer or promise made by a candidate or with the candidate's consent to make somebody contest, withdraw, vote or refrain from voting. An appeal for votes on the ground of religion, caste, race, community or language. And taking help from gazetted officers, judges and magistrates, the armed forces, the police or excise officers.
It is an autonomous permanent constitutional body, set up on 25 January 1950. It runs the elections to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, the Vidhan Sabha and the Vidhan Parishad, and for the offices of President and Vice President.
All Class 9 Social Science chapters
All Social Science chapters · Every Class 9 subject · The whole NCERT library
Study this chapter properly, free
Everything above is on this page to read. In the Veda app the same chapter becomes spaced-repetition flashcards, timed tests that mark themselves, Veda Bites you can swipe, and games — with your progress tracked topic by topic.
Get Veda free