Electoral Politics

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1. The ruling parties routinely lose elections in India both at the national and state level. In fact in every two out of the three elections held in the last fifteen years, the ruling party lost.
2. In India, about half of the sitting MPs or MLAs lose elections.
3. Candidates who are known to have spent a lot of money on ‘buying votes’ and those with known criminal connections often lose elections.
4. Barring very few dispute elections, the electoral outcomes are usually accepted as ‘people’verdict’ by the defeated party.

1. The ruling parties routinely lose elections in India both at the national and state level. In fact in every two out of the three elections held in the last fifteen years, the ruling party lost.
2. In India, about half of the sitting MPs or MLAs lose elections.
3. Candidates who are known to have spent a lot of money on ‘buying votes’ and those with known criminal connections often lose elections.
4. Barring very few dispute elections, the electoral outcomes are usually accepted as ‘people’verdict’ by the defeated party.

1. Candidates and parties with a lot of money may not be sure of their victory but they do enjoy a big and unfair advantage over smaller parties and independents.
2. In some parts of the country, candidates with criminal connection have been able to push others out of the electoral race and to secure a ticket’ from major parties.
3. Some families tend to dominate political parties; tickets are distributed to relatives from these families.
4. Very often elections offer little choice to ordinary citizens, for both the major parties are quite similar to each other both in policies and practice.
5. Smaller parties and independent candidates suffer a huge disadvantage compared to bigger parties.

An independent and powerful commission appointed by the President of India to conduct free and fair election is called Election Commission.

The commission has three members and once they are appointed, they are not answerable to the President or the government.

1. Powers and functions of the Election Commission of India.
2. EC takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and control of elections from the announcement of elections to the declaration of results.
3. It implements the Code of Conduct and punishes any candidate or party that violates it.
4. During the election period, the EC can order the government to follow some guidelines, to prevent use and misuse of governmental power to enhance its chances to win elections, or to transfer some government officials.
5. When on election duty, government officers work under the control of the EC and not the government

1. People’s participation in the election is usually measured by voter turn out figures.
2. Turnout indicates the percent of eligible voters who actually cast their vote. In India, the turnout has either remained stable or actually gone up.
3. In India, the poor, illiterate and under privileged people vote in larger proportion as compared to the rich and privileged sections.
4. Common people in India attach a lot of importance to elections. They feel that through elections they can bring pressure on political parties to adopt policies and programmes favourable to them.
5. The interest of voters in election-related activities has been increasing over the years. During the 2004 elections, more than one-third of voters took part in campaign-related activities. More than half of the people are being close to one or the other political party.