1 Introduction
What would happen if, in the middle of a chess game, the black knight suddenly started moving straight instead of two and a half squares? Or if a cricket match had no umpire at all? Every sport needs rules that everyone has agreed to follow, and it needs an umpire whose decisions everyone accepts. Change the rules and the result of the game changes completely. Exactly the same is true of elections.
- There can be very different rules or systems for conducting elections, and the outcome depends entirely on which rules are chosen
- Elections also need some impartial machinery to run them fairly
- Both of these decisions, the rules and the machinery, must be fixed before the game of electoral politics begins, so they cannot be left to whichever government happens to be in power
- That is why these basic decisions about elections are written into the constitution of a democratic country, not left to ordinary law
2 Elections and Democracy
Two simple questions are worth asking before anything else: can we have democracy without holding elections? And can we hold elections without having democracy?
2.1 Direct democracy versus indirect democracy
- In a large democracy, all citizens cannot directly take part in every single decision, so people elect representatives instead
- This is exactly why elections become so important, whenever we think of Indian democracy our minds usually go straight to the last election
Direct Democracy
- Citizens themselves take part directly in day-to-day decision-making and in running the government
- The ancient city-states of Greece and today’s Gram Sabhas are the closest real examples
- Not workable once the population runs into lakhs or crores
Indirect Democracy
- Citizens elect representatives, and those representatives actually govern and administer
- This method of choosing representatives is what we call an election
- Citizens play a limited, indirect role in policy-making itself
Holding elections does not, by itself, make a country a democracy. Many non-democratic rulers hold elections in ways carefully designed so that their own power is never really threatened, just to appear democratic. The real question is always whether elections are genuinely free and fair.
2.2 Five basic questions the constitution must answer
Every democratic constitution lays down these five basic rules about elections, leaving the fine details to be worked out through ordinary laws passed by the legislature.
Who is eligible to vote?
Who is eligible to contest?
Who is to supervise elections?
How do voters choose their representatives?
How are votes counted and representatives elected?
The first three questions are about making sure elections are free and fair. The last two are about making sure representation is fair. This chapter looks at both sides.
3 Election System in India
The candidate with the most votes wins, this sounds so obvious that it seems not even worth thinking about. But there are actually several very different ways of conducting an election, and each way can change who wins. Some rules favour bigger parties, some favour smaller ones; some favour the majority community, others protect minorities.
3.1 First Past the Post System (FPTP)
First Past the Post (FPTP) is the system in which the country is divided into constituencies, each constituency elects one representative, and the candidate who gets the highest number of votes in that constituency is declared elected, even if that candidate did not win an outright majority. It is also called the Plurality System. This is the method prescribed by the Indian Constitution.
In the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party won 415 of 543 seats, more than 80 percent of all seats. Yet Congress got only 48 percent of the total votes. The BJP got 7.4 percent of the votes but only 2 seats. This happened because in many of the constituencies Congress won, its candidates got less than 50 percent of the votes there, with the rest split among several other candidates.
- Votes that go to losing candidates are effectively wasted, they win no seat at all
- If one party gets just 25 percent of the votes in every constituency and everyone else gets even less, that party could win every single seat with only 25 percent of the vote
3.2 Proportional Representation (PR)
Proportional Representation (PR) is a system in which each party gets the same share of seats in the legislature as its share of the votes. Voters vote for a party, not an individual candidate, and each party fills its quota of seats from a list of candidates it declared before the election.
- In Israel and the Netherlands the whole country is treated as a single constituency
- In Argentina and Portugal the country is instead divided into several multi-member constituencies
- In both versions, the voter’s choice is for a party, not a candidate
Israel holds elections to its parliament, the Knesset, every four years. A party must win at least 3.25 percent of the vote to get any seats at all, which lets even quite small parties win representation. In the 2015 election, Likud won 23.40 percent of the vote and 30 seats, while the Zionist Camp won 18.67 percent of the vote and 24 seats. This system often produces coalition governments.
India uses PR only in a limited way, for certain indirect elections: the President, Vice President, the Rajya Sabha, and Vidhan Parishads.
3.3 FPTP versus PR : the full comparison
| Basis | FPTP | PR |
|---|---|---|
| Constituency | Small geographical units | Large areas, or the whole country as one unit |
| Representatives per constituency | Only one | More than one can be elected |
| Who the vote is for | Voter votes for a candidate | Voter votes for a party |
| Seats versus votes | A party can win more seats than its vote share | Every party gets seats in proportion to its votes |
| Winning majority | Not required | The winner gets a majority of votes |
| Examples | United Kingdom, India | Israel, Netherlands |
3.4 How PR works in Rajya Sabha elections : the Single Transferable Vote (STV)
The Single Transferable Vote (STV) system is the variant of PR used to elect members of the Rajya Sabha. The MLAs of each State are the voters, and every voter ranks the candidates in order of preference.
3.5 Why did India adopt FPTP?
Under PR, several representatives from different parties can come from the same constituency, so voters cannot easily tell whom to approach for local work. FPTP gives every constituency exactly one representative, so accountability is clear. This “one representative, one accountability” argument is the one examiners ask for most often.
- Experience has confirmed what the framers expected, FPTP has proved simple and familiar to ordinary voters
- It has helped larger parties win clear majorities at both the Centre and in the States
- FPTP usually produces a two-party system, where two large parties alternate in power
- India’s experience has been a little different, after independence one party dominated, alongside several smaller ones
- Since 1989 India has seen an era of multi-party coalitions, which has let smaller and newer parties enter the contest even under FPTP
Out of a total of 234 seats (elections held in 232), AIADMK won 40.77 percent of the votes and 135 seats, while DMK won 31.64 percent of the votes and 88 seats. Under a PR system like Israel’s, seats would have been allotted in proportion to these percentages instead, so the gap between AIADMK and DMK would have been far smaller, and INC (6.42 percent of the votes) would have won some seats too, instead of the zero it got under FPTP.
4 Reservation of Constituencies
- Under FPTP, whichever social group is dominant in an area can win almost everywhere
- India’s long history of caste-based discrimination makes this problem especially serious
- The framers of the Constitution recognised the need to ensure fair representation for disadvantaged social groups
4.1 Separate electorate versus reserved constituency
Before independence, the British government had introduced separate electorates, under which only voters belonging to a particular community could elect that community’s representative. This was sharply debated, and rejected, in the Constituent Assembly.
Separate electorates have been a curse to India, they have done incalculable harm to this country. We want to merge into the nation, for God’s sake keep your hands off reservation for a particular community.
Tajamul Husain, CAD, Vol. VIII, p. 333, 26 May 1949
In its place, the Constitution adopted reserved constituencies.
In a reserved constituency, all voters in that constituency, whatever community they belong to, are eligible to vote, but the candidates must belong to the particular community or social section for which the seat is reserved. Unlike separate electorates, the voters themselves are never divided by community.
I have come to say a few words on behalf of the Adivasis of India. We have been isolated and kept, as it were, in a zoo. We are willing to mix with you, and it is for that reason we have insisted on reservation of seats, not separate electorates. Under the 1935 Act, there were altogether only 24 Adivasi MLAs out of 1585, and not a single representative at the Centre.
Jaipal Singh, CAD, Vol. V, pp. 209-210, 27 August 1947
4.2 SC-ST reservation, and how the Delimitation Commission decides
- Reservation applies in both the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies
- It was originally created for just 10 years, then repeatedly extended through constitutional amendments
- The number of reserved seats is proportional to each group’s share of the population
The Delimitation Commission is an independent body, appointed by the President, that works with the Election Commission to draw the boundaries of constituencies across the country. It is also the body that decides which constituencies will be reserved, and for which community.
How ST seats are decided
- Constituencies with the highest Scheduled Tribe population are chosen
How SC seats are decided
- Constituencies with a higher Scheduled Caste population are chosen, but also spread across different regions of the State, because SC population is generally distributed evenly throughout a state
Which specific constituencies are reserved can rotate each time a new delimitation exercise is carried out.
4.3 Reservation for women
- The Constitution does not directly reserve seats for other disadvantaged groups such as women
- The demand for reserving at least one-third of seats for women has existed for many years
- Reservation for women already exists in rural and urban local bodies
A similar provision for the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies has now been made through the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women’s Reservation Act, 2023). This is a recent and important update, remember it by its name.
5 Free and Fair Elections
The true test of any election system is whether it is free and fair.
5.1 Universal adult franchise and the right to contest
Universal adult franchise means that every adult citizen of the country has the right to vote, regardless of education, property, caste or gender. In many countries, citizens, especially women, had to fight long battles to win this right.
- This right is consistent with the same principle of equality and non-discrimination studied in the chapter on Rights
- A constitutional amendment in 1989 lowered the minimum voting age from 21 to 18 years
- Every citizen also has the right to contest elections, but the minimum age to contest a Lok Sabha or Assembly election is 25 years
- A person sentenced to 2 years or more of imprisonment for an offence is disqualified from contesting
- There is no restriction based on income, education, class or gender on the right to contest
6 Independent Election Commission
Article 324 vests the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of all elections to Parliament, State legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice President in an independent Election Commission. The Supreme Court has upheld this interpretation.
- Every State has a Chief Electoral Officer who assists the Election Commission
- The Election Commission does not conduct panchayat or municipal elections, that is the job of the State Election Commissioners, who work independently of it
6.1 From a single-member to a multi-member Commission
The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) presides over the Commission but has no more power than the other Election Commissioners, all decisions are taken collectively.
The CEC and Election Commissioners are appointed by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers. This raises the concern that a ruling party could appoint someone favourable to it. To address this, it has been suggested that consultation with the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India be made compulsory for such appointments.
- The CEC and Election Commissioners hold office for six years, or until the age of 65, whichever is earlier
- Removing the CEC needs a recommendation by both Houses with a special majority, exactly the process used for impeaching the President
- The other Election Commissioners can simply be removed by the President
Special majority means a simple majority of the total membership of the House, together with a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. It also comes up in Chapter 5 (Legislature), and applies again here to the procedure for removing the CEC.
6.2 What the Election Commission does
Electoral rolls
Preparing and keeping the voters’ list accurate and up to date
Election schedule
Deciding the timing of elections, nomination dates, polling and counting dates
Protecting fairness
Postponing or cancelling elections, ordering a re-poll or recount, enforcing the Model Code of Conduct
Recognising parties
Giving recognition to political parties and allotting election symbols
The Election Commission’s own staff is very small, so it relies on the administrative machinery to actually run elections, and during the election period it has full control over those officials, including the power to stop or order their transfers.
6.3 Two big tests from history
Over the last 25 years the Election Commission has become more independent and assertive, not because its constitutional powers grew, but because it has simply started using the powers it always had more effectively.
7 Electoral Reforms
No election system is ever perfect. Based on 72 years of experience, the Election Commission, political parties, independent groups and scholars have all suggested reforms.
7.1 Suggestions, and their limits
✓ Major suggestions
- Move away from FPTP toward some form of Proportional Representation
- Reserve at least one-third of seats in Parliament and Assemblies for women
- Control the role of money in elections more strictly, with election expenses paid from a special government fund
- Bar candidates with pending criminal cases from contesting, even while an appeal is pending
- Fully ban appeals to caste and religion in campaigning
- Regulate how political parties function, to keep them transparent and democratic
✗ Limits
- There is no consensus on these suggestions
- Laws also have their limits, real change depends on candidates, parties and voters respecting the spirit of democratic competition
Beyond legal reforms, two other things help elections reflect people’s expectations: citizens themselves being more vigilant and active, and independent organisations acting as watchdogs over the process.
8 Conclusion
Where representative democracy is practised, elections, and how representative they truly are, are what make democracy effective and trustworthy. India’s election system’s success can be judged from five things.
- Voters have been able to freely choose their representatives and to change governments peacefully, at both the State and national level
- Voters have consistently taken keen interest in elections, and the number of candidates and parties contesting keeps rising
- The system has proved inclusive, the social background of our representatives has gradually changed, though the number of women legislators has still not risen satisfactorily
- In most parts of the country, election outcomes are not directly affected by rigging, even though attempts at it do happen
- Elections have become part and parcel of our democratic life, no government can imagine ignoring an election’s verdict
For all these reasons India’s election system has earned respect both within the country and abroad. Voters’ confidence has grown, and so has the standing of the Election Commission.
The chapter ends with a pledge Indian citizens take to show their faith in democracy: to uphold the dignity of free, fair and peaceful elections, and to vote fearlessly in every election, without being influenced by considerations of religion, race, caste, community, language or any other inducement.
- Direct democracy means citizens decide directly, indirect democracy means they decide through elected representatives
- The constitution’s five questions: who votes, who contests, who supervises, how representatives are chosen, how votes are counted
- FPTP: the candidate with the most votes wins, majority not required; Congress got 48% of the votes but over 80% of the seats in 1984
- PR: every party gets seats in proportion to its vote share, as in Israel
- Rajya Sabha elections use STV, quota = (total votes/(seats+1))+1
- India chose FPTP for simplicity, clear choice, accountability and stable government
- Separate electorates were rejected, reserved constituencies were adopted instead
- 84 seats reserved for SC, 47 for ST, extended up to 2030; the Delimitation Commission decides which seats
- Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 brought women’s reservation to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies too
- Universal adult franchise: voting age 18 since 1989; minimum age to contest is 25
- Article 324 created the Election Commission; permanently multi-member since 1993; removing the CEC needs a special majority
- 1991 Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination and 2002 Gujarat violence both led the EC to postpone elections
- Electoral reform suggestions: move toward PR, women’s reservation, controlling money and crime in politics
- Can I list six differences between FPTP and PR without looking?
- Do I remember the exact figures from the 1984 example?
- Can I state the STV quota formula and work through the Rajasthan example?
- Can I explain the difference between a separate electorate and a reserved constituency?
- Do I know the SC and ST reserved-seat numbers and how the Delimitation Commission decides?
- Can I explain the Election Commission’s structure, tenure, and how a CEC is removed?