Elections in India

Elections in India are more than a process of voting someone to rule the nation. Since independence, elections in India have evolved a long way, but all along elections have been a significant cultural aspect of Independent India. It is more like a festival, an indication of jubilance, a show of loyalty, a change of power, and above all ensuring the importance of the individual in a democracy, the voter. From massive media coverage, to loads of freebie promises by political parties and fanatic hairdos, elections in India are very interesting to follow. Indian elections have an electorate larger than 670 million people - over twice that of the next largest, the European Parliament elections - and require an expenditure of around $300 million, using more than 1 million electronic voting machines, making elections in India no small exercise.

It is a very elaborate process, that the size of the huge electorate mandates the elections to be conducted in a number of phases (there were four phases in 2004 General Elections). It involves a number of step-by-step processes from announcement of election dates by the Election Commission of India, which brings into force the 'model code of conduct' for the political parties, to the announcement of results and submission of the list of successful candidates to the executive head of the state or the centre. The submission of results mark the end of the election process, thereby paving way for the formation of the new government.

Indian Electoral System

India has at the federal level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The President of India is elected for a five year term by an electoral college consisting of members of federal and state legislatures. A system of proportional representation, with equal weightage for the Union and the States is adopted for the election.

Parliament has two chambers. The House of the People (Lok Sabha) has 545 members, 543 members elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies and 2 members appointed to represent the Anglo-Indian community. The two unelected members are a relic from the past. The special dispensation of nominating two members of European or Eurasian blood was created as a transitory arrangement, at the time of Independence in 1947, to protect the interests of the departing ruling class. The 543 members are elected under the plurality ('first past the post') electoral system.

The House of the States (Rajya Sabha) has 245 members, 233 members elected for a six year term, with one third retiring every two years. The members are elected by legistators of the state and union (federal) territories. The elected members are chosen under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote. The twelve nominated members are usually an eclectic mix of eminent artists (including actors), scientists, jurists, sportspersons, businessmen and journalists.

History of elections in India

The first general elections were conducted in India in 1951, for 489 constituencies representing 26 Indian states. At that time, there were a few two-seat and even a three-seat constituency. The multi-seat constituencies were discontinued in the 1960s. For quite a long period of time, till 1967, the Indian National Congress party dominated the elections and garnered not less than 65% of the votes polled.

History of political parties

The dominance of the Indian National Congress was broken for the first time in 1977, with the defeat of the the party led by Indira Gandhi, by an unlikely coalition of all the major other parties, which protested against the imposition of a controversial Emergency from 1975-1977. The weak coalition was marked by a strong undercurrent of dissent and lead to its breaking apart in 1979. A similar coalition, led by VP Singh was swept to power in 1989 in the wake of major allegations of corruption by the incumbent Prime-Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. It too lost its steam in 1990.

In 1992, the heretofore one-party-dominant politics in India gave way to a coalition system wherein no single party can expect to achieve a majority in the Parliament to form a Government, but rather has to depend on a process of coalition building with other parties to form a bloc and claim a majority to be invited to form the Government. This has been a consequence of strong regional parties which ride on the back of regional aspirations. While parties like the TDP and the DMK had traditionally been strong regional contenders, the 1990s saw the emergence of other regional players such as the Lok Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Janta Dal. These parties are traditionally based on regional aspirations, e.g. Telengana Rastra Samiti or strongly influenced by caste considerations, e.g. Bahujan Samaj Party which claims to represent the Dalits.

A coalition of non-congress parties was formed again in 1996, but was a lost cause by 1997, when it became a congress supported regime. It disintegrated in 1998, which swept the National Democratic Alliance to the power for the first time. This too was short-lived and lost the majority on the floor of the house by a single vote in a no-confidence motion. A coalition of non-congress parties worked for the first time in the period 1999-2004, when for the first time, a non-congress government was able to complete its term in office.

Presently, the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress Party is in power, while the National Democratic Alliance forms the opposition.

Powers of Election Commission

The elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India, the authority created under the Constitution. It is a well established convention that once the election process commences, no courts intervene until the results are declared by the election commission. During the elections, vast powers are assigned to the election commission to the extent that it can function as a civil court, if needed.

Electoral Process

File:EVM carried on elephant.jpg

Conducting elections in India is a mammoth task. The newspaper clip shows the election officials carry the EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) on an elephant. These officials are preparing for their way to a remote polling station, located in tea garden areas situated in mountainous terrain, inaccessible by conventional means of transport (road, air etc).

Electoral Process in India takes at least a month for state assembly elections with the duration increasing further for the General Elections, as the sheer size of the electorate and immense logistics require the general election be conducted in a number of phases. Publishing of electoral rolls is a key process that happens before the elections and is vital for the conduct of elections in India. Indian Constitution set the eligibility of an individual for voting. Any person, who is a citizen of India, and above 18 years of age is eligible to enroll as a voter in the electoral rolls. It is the responsibility of the eligible voters to enroll their names. Normally, voter registrations are allowed one week prior to the last date for nomination of candidates. Apart from this, ECI conducts periodical door-to-door voter registration/verification drives and publishes the electoral rolls online and offline, where electoral are made public at Head Post Offices of a town/city.

Pre elections

Before the elections, the election commission announces the dates of nomination, polling and counting. The model code of conduct comes in force from the day the dates are announced. The model code of conduct is a code of conduct mutually agreed upon by various parties to be followed during the elections.

The code of conduct specifies that the central and state governments cannot announce any major sops to the electorate to prevent any unfair swings in the voting pattern. No party is allowed to use the government resources for campaigning. Candidates are required to declare their assets, age, educational qualifications and criminal history. Convicted criminals are debarred from standing in the elections as well as disfranchised. Persons still on trial may contest, but can be debarred if found guilty. The code of conduct stipulates that campaigning be stopped 48 hours prior to polling day.

Like-minded political parties form alliances and seat-sharing arrangements in each state. Alliances are even formed after the elections to enable government formation. It is not unlikely to see parties having won mandate from people on opposing platforms come toegther for the sake of power. This negates the democratic aspect of the exercise and at times the common voter ends up with a government which he may have voted against in large number. The seat-sharing arrangement helps the alliance field a candidate from one party to prevent splitting of the votes. For a long time, extravagant electoral spending by the parties and candidates alike had much impact on vote swing. The stakes in the elections are so huge that extravagant spending by political parties ranged from putting up huge hoardings, posting posters on walls, and giving freebies (political parties used to give colour televisions and gold coins as gifts) during campaigning. Today, the model code of conduct theoretically bans such extravagant spending during campaigning, aims to protect voters from harassment by the parties and also imposes ban on use of loudspeakers after 10pm.

Voting Day

Campaigning ends the day before the voting day. Government schools and colleges are chosen to be the polling stations. The day of the elections is declared a holiday and all liquor shops and bars are shut down. The Collector of each district is in charge of polling. Government servants are employed to many of the polling stations. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are being increasingly used instead of ballot boxes to prevent election fraud via booth capturing, which is heavily prevalent in certain parts of India.

Post elections

After the election day, the EVM’s are stored in a strong room under heavy security. After the different phases of the elections are complete, a day is set to count the votes. The votes are tallied and typically, the verdict is known within a few hours. The candidate who has mustered the most votes is declared the winner of the constituency.

The party or coalition that has won the most seats is invited by the President to form the new government. The coalition or party must prove its majority in the floor of the house (Lok Sabha) in a vote of confidence by obtaining a simple majority (minimum 50%) of the votes in the House.

Elections as of now

Indian general elections, 2004

The Electoral Reforms

Proposed Electoral Reforms by Election Commission of India

http://eci.gov.in/PROPOSED_ELECTORAL_REFORMS.pdf

External links

• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• BBC Feature: Indian Elections 1999