Electoral Politics

Q56. What is an election commission? Who appoints the Chief Election Commissioner and how can he/she be removed?

Ans. The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering Union and State election processes in India.

The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is appointed by the President of India. But once appointed, the Chief Election Commissioner is not answerable to the President or the government. Even if the ruling party or the government does not like what the Commission does, it is virtually impossible for it to remove the CEC.

Q57. Describe the procedure of voting on polling day.

Ans. 

Q58. How is electoral competition helpful to political parties and leaders to win elections?

Or

How does electoral competition help the political parties and leaders to win elections?

Ans. Electoral competition helps the political parties and leaders to win elections in the following ways:

1. Regular electoral competition provides incentives to political parties and leaders. 

2. They know that if they raise issues that people want to be raised, their popularity and chances of victory will increase in the next elections. But if they fail to satisfy the voters with their work they will not be able to win again.

Q59. What is the Model Code of Conduct for election campaigns?

Or

Discuss the Model Code of Conduct for election campaigns.

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Explain the Model Code of Conduct for election campaigns.

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Describe the Model Code of Conduct for election campaigns.

Ans. All the political parties in our country have agreed to a Model Code of Conduct for election campaigns. According to this, no party or candidate can:

1. Use any place of worship for election propaganda;

2. Use government vehicles, aircrafts and officials for elections; and

3. Once elections are announced, Ministers shall not lay foundation stones of any projects, take any big policy decisions or make any promises of providing public facilities.

Q60. What are the details the candidates have to give in the legal declaration before contesting the elections? 

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What are the legal declarations that every candidate has to make? What is the significance of a legal declaration made by a candidate?

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What legal declaration is required to be submitted by each candidate?

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Why has personal information of a candidate to be made public?

Or

What legal declaration is required to be submitted by each candidate who wishes to contest election?

Ans. Every candidate has to make a legal declaration, giving full details of:

1. Serious criminal cases pending against the candidate;

2. Details of the assets and liabilities of the candidate and his or her family; and

3. Education qualifications of the candidate.

This information has to be made public. This provides an opportunity to the voters to make their decision on the basis of the information provided by the candidates.

Q61. Here are some reports of electoral malpractices from different parts of the world. Is there anything that these countries can learn from India to improve their elections? What would you suggest in each case? 

a. During an election in Nigeria, the officer in charge of counting votes deliberately increased the votes of one candidate and declared him elected. The court later found out that more than five lakh exercises votes cast for one candidate were counted in favour of another.

b. Just before elections in Fiji, a pamphlet was distributed warning voters that a vote for former Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry will lead to bloodshed. This was a threat to voters of Indian origin.

c. In the US, each state has its own method of voting, its own procedure of counting and its own authority for conducting elections. Authorities in the state of Florida took many controversial decisions that favoured Mr. Bush in the presidential elections in 2000. But no one could change those decisions.

Ans. (a) In this case the agents of all candidates should be present there to ensure that the counting is done properly.

(b) The election commission should set up an inquiry into the case and the candidate or party involved in distributing such pamphlets should be debarred from contesting elections.

(c) There should be a single election commission which should be free from political influence should be made responsible for conducting elections throughout the country.

Q62. What are the ways to ensure free and fair election in India?

Ans. Measures to ensure free and fair election in India 

1. Misuse of government facilities and officials by the ruling party should be prevented.

2. Intimidation of voters and rigging on the polling day should be checked.

3. Excessive use of money by rich candidates and big parties should be checked.

4. Inclusion of false names and exclusion of genuine names in the voters’ list should be checked.

Q63. What is meant by seats in elections? Explain with example.

Ans. 

1. In our country we follow an area based system of representation. The country is divided into different areas for purposes of elections. These areas are called electoral constitutencies. The voters who live in an area elect one representative.

2. Sometimes constituencies are counted as ‘seats’, for each constituency represents one seat in the assembly. When we say that ‘Lok Dal won 60 seats’ in Haryana, it means that candidates of Lok Dal won in 60 assembly constituencies in the state and thus Lok Dal had 60 MLAs in the state assembly.