Tag: election in indian democracy

The voting age of elections to the Lok Sabha and to the Legislative Assemblies of States was lowered from 21 years to 18 years through the Sixty-first Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution (Sixty-first Amendment) Act, 1988. Article 326 of the Constitution, which concerns to elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies, was amended to effect this change.

Democracy is a system in which the citizens elect their representatives who rule them. The ultimate power in a democracy lies with the people. It can be direct or representative. In a direct democracy, people directly vote for the issues which concern the nation whereas, in a representative form, people choose their representatives who deliberate over the issues.

The Lower house of Indian Parliament is known as Lok Sabha. The members of Lok Sabha are elected directly by the people. It is held in every 5 years and is called the general elections. The entire country is divided into 543 constituencies. Upto 530 members represent the territorial constituencies in States and upto 20 members represent the Union Territories. Any person living in that constituency whose age is above 18 years can vote for the Lok Sabha elections. From each constituency a member is elected. Thus, the Lok Sabha is formed.

Following are the essential conditions of democratic elections: 

1. Everyone should have one vote and each vote should have equal value.
2. Parties and candidates should be free to contest elections and should offer some real choice to the voters.
3. Elections must be held regularly after few years.
4. The candidate preferred by the people should get elected.
5. Elections should be conducted in a free and fair atmosphere.

An election is a formal and organized process by which a population chooses through voting an individual to hold political office. Elections are the integral part and foundation of modern representative democracy since the 17th century.

An election is a process where people vote in order to choose their representative person or group of persons to hold public office. The person or group of persons who get the majority of the votes from people become the winner of elections while the others getting fewer votes to become losers.

Elections to the Vidhan Sabhas are carried out in the same manner as for the Lok Sabha election. The states and union territories are also divided into single-member constituencies. The candidate with the most votes in each constituency wins and becomes the MLA for that seat. A political party whose MLAs have won more than half the number of constituencies in a state can be said to be in majority.

A constituency is an electoral unit into which eligible electors are organized to elect representatives to a legislative or another public body. In India, each constituency elects one representative each to each Houses of Parliament and State Legislature. 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.

The Election Commission of India, as an autonomous constitutional authority, administers the election processes in India. It allows symbols to the political parties. It gives recognition to the national parties, state parties, and regional parties. The commission formulates electoral rolls and updates the voter's list from time to time.