Election Commission and Type of Elections in India

India being the largest democracy of the world, elections in India have been the largest electoral exercise in the world since the 1st general elections of 1952. The cultural, linguistic, religious and ethnic diversity of the country make this event more complex. Election Commission of India has the authority of conducting the the General Election (Lok Sabha Election) and State Legislative Elections.

Some of the salient features of elections in India are:

The provisions regarding to the elections are in the Articles 324 to 329 under the Part XV of the constitution.

Article 324 grants exclusive authority to the Election Commission (EC) of India to supervise, direct, and control elections.

The Election Commission should comprise the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners, who will be appointed by the President.

India has been divided into single member territorial constituencies. Every constituency will have one electoral roll for both Parliamentary and Assembly elections and no person shall be included or excluded from the electoral roll-on grounds of religion, race, caste and sex.

Every individual who is a citizen of India and has attained the voting age shall be entitled to be registered as a voter. The exception can happen if the person is disqualified on the ground of “non residence, unsoundness of mind, crime or corrupt or illegal practice.”

The Constitution empowers the Parliament to formulate laws regarding the preparation of electoral rolls, delimitation of constituencies and relevant processes.

The Constitution also prohibits courts’ interference in electoral matters.

No court can question the validity of any law related to the delimitation of constituencies or the allotment of seats.

Type of Elections:

First Past the Post system:

In India, First Past the Post system of elections is being follow in the elections to Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.

The first-past-the-post (FPTP) system; The Indian constitution adopts the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system of elections, otherwise known as simple majority where a candidate with the greatest number of votes from a constituency wins the seat.

What are advantages and benefits of a FPTP voting system?

Voter’s convenience: It’s simple to understand. In a political environment, FPTP enables voters to clearly express a view on which party they think should form the next government.

Lesser expenditure: It doesn’t cost much to administer. It’s is fairly quick to count the votes and work out who has won; meaning results can be declared relatively quickly after the polls close.

Also Read: Representation of people Act, 1951

What are Issues with FPTP system?

It does not always allow for a truly representative mandate, as the candidate could win despite securing less than half the votes in a contest.

The FPTP system tends to magnify the seat share of the party with the largest vote share, while parties receiving a lower vote share tend to get a much lower seat share.

The disproportionate number of seats accrued by a party despite a lower vote share.

The other issue with the FPTP is that the threshold is so high that newer parties cannot enter the fray.

Breeds Two-Party system: Duverger, a French political scientist, argued that the FPTP system tends to bring about a two-party system at the constituency level. In countries like India, this translated into the establishment of a two-party system at the State level which happened between 1967 and 1989.

But the FPTP system can’t be criticize for polarization in Indian Politics. Polarization has a link to the politicization of certain social cleavages.

Also Read: Election Commission of India

Proportional representation system (PR):

This refers to an electoral system in which the distribution of seats corresponds closely with the proportion of the total votes cast for each party.

This is a much difficult but representative system than the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, which is in use in India.

If a party gets 40% of the total votes, for example, a perfectly proportional system would allow it to get 40% of the seats.

Also Read: President Election

What are some Advantages of PR system?

This system avoids the anomalous results of plurality/majority systems and is better able to produce a representative legislature.

Facilitate minority parties’ access to representation.

This fulfils the principle of inclusion, which can be crucial to stability in divided societies and has benefits for decision making in established democracies, such as achieving a more balanced representation of minorities in decision-making bodies and providing role models of minorities as elected representatives.

The incentive under PR systems is to maximize the overall vote regardless of where those votes might come from. Every vote, even from areas where a party is electorally weak, goes towards gaining another seat.

What are Issues with Proportional representation system?

Logistical difficulties: First, as certain constituencies have a large population, its implementation becomes impractical and administratively difficult.

India’s poor literacy rate: This system may be too ‘advanced’ for our nation which had a poor literacy rate.

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Threatens the stability of the government.

Coalition governments, which in turn lead to legislative gridlock and consequent inability to carry out coherent policies.

The proportional representation (PR) system in Europe and elsewhere, where seats are allocated roughly in accordance with the vote share, also produces distinct polarization.

The 1978 Sri Lankan Constitution instituted the PR system. Since then, there has been ethnic polarization despite the small parties getting seat shares higher than what they would have received in a FPTP system.

Similarly in Israel, which also enjoys a thoroughgoing PR system, there is severe polarization in ethnic, religious and political terms.