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India
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Elections in the Republic of India include elections for the Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, the Legislative Assemblies, and numerous other Councils and local bodies.

According to the Constitution of India, elections for the Parliament and the State Legislative Assemblies should take place every five years, unless a state of emergency has been declared. Any vacancy caused by death or resignation must be filled through an election within six months of any such occurrence. The elections for the lower houses (in Parliament and in the states) use the first-past-the-post electoral system (i.e. the candidate with the majority of the votes wins the election).

Elections for one-third of the seats of the upper house of the Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, are conducted every two years. The members of the upper house are elected indirectly by the state legislative assemblies based on proportional representation. Members of the state legislative councils (in states that have an upper house) are elected indirectly through local bodies.

The 2014 general election involved an electorate of 863,500,000 people. It was conducted in nine stages.^[1][2] The expenditure for the 2014 election was approximately 3765 crore. The cost per voter was Rs 1375.^[3] Votes were cast using over one million electronic voting machines.^[4] In the 2014 election, the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power. The BJP secured a majority of 282 seats and Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India. As per the Center for media studies, Rs. 30,000 crore were spent during the 2014 Lok sabha elections in India.

Background

India's government is based on Federalism. Elected officials are appointed at federal, state and local levels. In India, there is universal suffrage. Results of elections are determined by first-past-the-post electoral system.^[5] Elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India.

The Prime Minister of India is elected by members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.^[6] The Constitution of India allows for up to 552 members in the Lok Sabha, with up to 530 members representing the States. Up to 20 members represent the Union Territories. In practice, 543 members of the Lok Sabha are elected every five years. Two members are elected by the President of India to represent the Anglo-Indian community.^[7]

In 1952, there were 1874 candidates vying for places in the Lok Sabha. In 1996, this number rose to 1,39,529 candidates. In 2009 there were only 80,708 candidates.^[8] The number of votes and seats won provides a ranking of the major political parties.^[9]

The Rajya Sabha is the upper house of the parliament. 233 of its members are elected indirectly by the legislative assemblies of the states and the Electoral College of the Union Territories. The President of India appoints 12 of its members. (See Wikipedia, "Rajya Sabha")^[10]. The 233 members are elected for a six-year term. Every two years, one-third of the members retire. The elected members are chosen by proportional representation via the single transferable vote. There are twelve nominated members who are usually an eclectic mix of eminent artists (including actors), scientists, jurists, sportsmen and women, executives, journalists and other citizens.^[10]

^* : 12 seats in Assam and 1 in Meghalaya did not vote.^[15]

• AIADMK - All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
  


• BJP - Bharatiya Janata Party
  


• BJS - Bharatiya Jana Sangh
  


• BLD - Bharatiya Lok Dal
  


• CPI - Communist Party of India
  


• CPM - Communist Party of India (Marxist)
  


• DMK - Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
  


• INC - Indian National Congress
  


• INC(I) - Indian National Congress (Indira)
  


• JD - Janata Dal
  


• JNP(S) - Janata Party (Secular)
  


• JP - Janata Party
  


• PSP - Praja Socialist Party
  


• RLD - Rashtriya Lok Dal
  


• SOC - Socialist Party
  


• SP - Samajwadi Party
  


• SWA - Swatantra Party
  


• TDP - Telugu Desam Party
  


• AAP - Aam Adami Party
  

Indian political parties

From 1947 to 1964, the Indian National Congress was India's dominant political party. It was led by Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 – 1964), K Kamaraj (1903 – 1975) and then Lal Bahadur Shastri (1905 – 1966). In the 1970s, the Congress party splintered. Indira Gandhi then led the party to election victory. In 1977, the Congress party lost to an opposition coalition that represented voters opposed to India's state of emergency which had been imposed in 1975. Indira Gandhi regained power but was assassinated in 1984. After her death, her son, Rajiv Gandhi (1941 – 1991) led the party. In 1989, the Congress party lost to a coalition led by VP Singh (1931 – 2008) after Rajiv Gandhi was accused of corruption. In 1991, the Congress party returned to power, led by P V Narasimha Rao (1921 – 2004).

In 1996, a coalition government was formed, mostly from regional parties. Further coalition governments followed, led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, I K Gujral and H D Deve Gowda. In 1999, the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power and completed a full term. For the next decade, the United Progressive Alliance led by the Indian National Congress party formed the government under Manmohan Singh.

Parties with strong traditional regional bases include the Telugu Desam Party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. In the 1990s, new regional parties emerged including the Indian National Lok Dal, Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, and Janata Dal. Such parties may promote regional aspirations such as Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Shiv Sena or caste considerations as in the case of the Bahujan Samaj Party. Though India is a democratic country but malpractices during the elections have been continuing since the first government was formed.

Election Commission

The Election Commission of India is an autonomous entity prescribed in the Constitution of India. It is the federal authority responsible for administering all the electoral processes of India and ensuring they are free and fair.^[16]

Elections are conducted according to constitutional provisions and parliamentary legislation. These include the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which mainly deals with the preparation and revision of electoral rolls, and the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which deals, in detail, with all aspects of the conduct of elections and post-election disputes. The Supreme Court of India has held that where the enacted laws are silent or make insufficient provision to deal with a given situation in the conduct of elections, the Election Commission has the residuary powers under the Constitution to act in an appropriate manner..

From 1947 to 16 October 1989, there was one Chief Election Commissioner. From 1989 to 1 January 1990, there were two commissioners. In 1990 of January, two chief commissioners were abolished and election commission acted as a single-member body. Again by The Election Commissioner Amendment Act, 1993 made the Election Commission a multi-member body. On 1 October 1993, a further two commissioners were appointed. Decisions are made by majority vote.

Electoral procedures

Candidates are required to file their nomination papers with the Electoral Commission. Then, a list of candidates is published. No party is allowed to use government resources for campaigning. No party is allowed to bribe the candidates before elections. The government cannot start a project during the election period. Campaigning ends by 6:00 pm two days before the polling day.

The polling is held between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm. The Collector of each district is in charge of polling. Government employees are employed as poll officers at the polling stations. Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are being used instead of ballot boxes to prevent election fraud. After the citizen votes his or her left index finger is marked with an indelible ink. This practice was instituted in 1962.

Indelible ink

Ink used in Indian elections

Ink bottle pledge

Research into an indelible ink was commenced by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). In the 1950s, M. L. Goel worked on this research at the Chemical Division of the National Physical Laboratory of India. The ink used contains silver nitrate, which makes it photo-sensitive. It is stored in amber coloured plastic or brown coloured glass bottles. On application, the ink remains on the fingernail for at least two days. It may last up to a month depending upon the person's body temperature and the environment.

Electronic voting

Ballot unit (left), control unit (right)

Voting machine

BHAVIK (EVM) were first used in the 1999 election and became the only method of voting in 2004. The EVMs save time and report results. A voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) was introduced on 14 August 2013. The first election to implement the VVPAT was a by-election in the Noksen assembly constituency in Nagaland.^[17] In the 2014 general election, VVPAT was operational in 8 constituencies as a pilot project.^{[18][19][20][21]} These included Lucknow, Gandhinagar, Bangalore South, Chennai Central, Jadavpur, Raipur, Patna Sahib and Mizoram constituencies.^{[22][23][24][25][26][27]} A slip generated by the VVPT tells a voter to which party or candidate their vote has been given, their name, their constituency and their polling booth.^{[28][29][30][31][32]}. VVPAT has been in news recently (2017), following the demand of opposition parties to make it mandatory in the upcoming elections all over India due to allegations on the government of hacking the EVM. For the voters, it is very important to know how the VVPAT works to enable them cross-check whether the vote they have given goes to the right candidate. Here is a brief " At the point when the voter presses the button against the name of the applicant of her/his decision on the EVM unit, the VVPAT unit produces a paper slip, additionally called 'ballot slip'. This paper slip contains the name, serial number, and image of the candidate selected by the voter for his vote. "

NOTA

On 27 September 2013, the Supreme Court of India judged that citizens have the right to a negative vote by exercising a "None of the above" (NOTA) option. This was the result of petitioning from the Electoral Commission and the People's Union for Civil Liberties from 2009. In November 2013, NOTA was introduced in five state elections.^[33]

Absentee voting

India does not provide general absentee voting.^[34][35][36] On 24 November 2010, the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2010 was gazetted to give voting rights to non-resident Indians but a physical presence at the voting booth is still required.^{[37][38][39][40]}

See also

• 
  49-O Popularly known as 'NOTA (None of The Above)'


• Legislative Assembly elections in India


• Election Commission of India


• Booth capturing


• British India - General Elections
  
  
  
  • Indian general election, 1920
  
  
  • Indian general election, 1923
  
  
  • Indian general election, 1926
  
  
  • Indian general election, 1930
  
  
  • Indian general election, 1934
  
  
  • Indian general election, 1945
  
  
  
  


• British India - Provincial Elections
  
  
  
  • Indian provincial elections, 1937
  
  
  • Indian provincial elections, 1946
  
  
  
  

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elections in India.

• 
  Live Election News & UpdatesLok Sabha General Election 2019 - Parliamentary Polls 2019 Latest News & Updates


• 
  Elections in India Government of India


• 
  Rajya Sabha Government Of India


• 
  Secondary level electoral data Datanet India.com


• 
  General elections in India Indo history.com


• Election Commission of India


• Adam Carr's election archive


• Peoples awareness in Indian Elections Indian elections.com


• 
  Qualification and disqualification Election Commission of India handbook for candidates