1) The country is divided into electoral constituencies for both the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly elections. One representative is elected from each constituency by the voters.
2) The country is divided into 543 constituencies for the Lok Sabha elections. The selected representative is called the Member of Parliament or MP.
3) Similarly, each state is divided into a number of Assembly constituencies and the representative selected from each constituency is called the Member of Legislative Assembly or MLA.
1) In open electoral competitions, certain weaker sections of the society may not stand a good chance of winning because of the influence of powerful sections. Hence, the makers of our Constitution prepared a system of reserved constituencies for these weaker sections.
2) Certain constituencies are reserved for the people belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST).
3) In the Lok Sabha, seats reserved for the SCs and STs are 79 and 41 respectively. These are in proportion to their population in the total population of the country.
4) Seats are reserved for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) as well.
1) The list of people who are eligible for voting is prepared by the Election Commission of India.
2) This ensures that everyone in the country gets an equal opportunity of choosing their political representatives.
3) Regardless of a person‟s caste, creed, colour and gender, every citizen of and above 18 years of age is eligible to vote.
- Eligibility for Contesting Elections
1) An Indian citizen.
2) Age should be minimum 25 years.
3) There are restrictions on people with criminal records, but those are extreme cases.
4) The candidate has to fill a „nomination form‟ and give a „security deposit‟.
5) Also, a legal declaration has to be made with details of pending criminal cases against the candidate, assets and liabilities of the candidate and the educational qualifications of the candidate.
1) Election campaigns in India takes place for two weeks, starting from the declaration of the final list of candidates contesting the elections and concluding 48 hours before the date of polling.
2) During this campaign, candidates reach out to the voters. Political leaders hold election meetings and rallies for informing the voters about their policies and persuading them to vote for them.
3) Some successful slogans used during campaigns are “Garibi Hatao” (used by the Congress, led by Indira Gandhi, in the year 1971), “Save Democracy” (used by Janata party in 1977), “Land to the Tiller’ (used by The Left Front in West Bengal Assembly elections, 1977), etc.
1) Hold election propaganda in places of worship
2) Use government aircrafts and vehicles, government officials, etc.
3) On the announcement of elections, ministers cannot take policy decisions or start any big projects.
- Polling and Counting of votes
1) A person, with his name on the voter‟s list can go to a polling booth, get identified by the officials, get the mark on his finger, and caste the vote for the candidate of his choice.
2) Agents of the candidates are permitted to be seated inside the polling booths for ensuring that a fair voting takes place.
3) Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are used for casting votes instead of the ballot paper.
4) Counting of votes begin after few days of election.