Electoral Process in India S. Manikandan

India has an asymmetric federal government, with elected officials at the federal, state and local levels. At the national level, the head of government, Prime Minister, is elected by members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament of India. The elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India.

The Function of Electoral System Introduction Number of Candidates Indian Elections -Scale of Operation Campaign Constituencies & Reservation of Seats Polling Days How Constituency Boundaries are drawn up Ballot Papers & Symbols Reservation of Seats How the voting takes place System of Election Political Parties and Elections Parliament Registration with Election Commission Rajya Sabha - The Council of States Recognition and Reservation of Symbols Nominated Members Limit on poll expenses State Assemblies Free Campaign time on state owned electronic media President and Vice-President Who can vote? Splits and mergers and anti-defection law The Electoral Roll Election Petitions Computerisation of Rolls Supervising Elections, Election Observers Electors' Photo Identity Cards Counting of Votes Voter Education Media Coverage When do elections take place? Conclusion Scheduling the Elections Who can stand for Election

Introduction India is a constitutional democracy with a parliamentary system of government, and at the heart of the system is a commitment to hold regular, free and fair elections. These elections determine the composition of the government, the membership of the two houses of parliament, the state and union territory legislative assemblies, and the Presidency and vice-presidency.

Cont… Elections are conducted according to the constitutional provisions, supplemented by laws made by Parliament. The major laws are Representation of the People Act, 1950, which mainly deals with the preparation and revision of electoral rolls, the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which deals, in detail, with all aspects of conduct of elections and post election disputes. The Supreme Court of India has held that where the enacted laws are silent or make insufficient provision to deal with a given situation in the conduct of elections, the Election Commission has the residuary powers under the Constitution to act in an appropriate manner.

Elections in India -Scale of Operation Elections in India are events involving political mobilisation and organisational complexity on an amazing scale. A vast number of civilian police and security forces were deployed to ensure that the elections were carried out peacefully.

Cont… Conduct of General Elections in India for electing a new Lower House of Parliament (Lok Sabha) involves management of the largest event in the world. The electorate exceeds 670 (80 cr.)million electors in about 7,00,000 polling stations spread across widely varying geographic and climatic zones. Polling stations are located in the snow-clad mountains in the Himalayas, the deserts of the Rajasthan and in sparsely populated islands in the Indian Ocean.

Cont… The Indian general election of 2014 was held to constitute the 16th Lok Sabha, electing members of parliament for all 543 parliamentary constituencies of India. Running in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014, it was the longest election in the country's history. According to the Election Commission of India, 814.5 million people were eligible to vote, with an increase of 100 million voters since the last general election in 2009, making it the largest-ever election in the world. Around 23.1 million or 2.7% of the total eligible voters were aged 18–19 years. A total of 8,251 candidates contested for the 543 Lok Sabha seats. The average election turnout over all nine phases was around 66.38%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections.

Constituencies & Reservation of Seats The country has been divided into 543 Parliamentary Constituencies, each of which returns one MP to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament. The size and shape of the parliamentary constituencies are determined by an independent Delimitation Commission, which aims to create constituencies which have roughly the same population, subject to geographical considerations and the boundaries of the states and administrative areas.