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Electoral Politics

The document outlines the essential conditions for democratic elections, including equal voting rights and regular election conduct. It highlights challenges to free and fair elections in India, such as financial advantages for certain candidates and political family dominance. Additionally, it explains the role of the Election Commission in overseeing elections and the significance of the Voter's List in ensuring all eligible citizens can participate in the electoral process.

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34 views3 pages

Electoral Politics

The document outlines the essential conditions for democratic elections, including equal voting rights and regular election conduct. It highlights challenges to free and fair elections in India, such as financial advantages for certain candidates and political family dominance. Additionally, it explains the role of the Election Commission in overseeing elections and the significance of the Voter's List in ensuring all eligible citizens can participate in the electoral process.

Uploaded by

helena
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CIVICS

CHAPTER-3: ELECTORAL POLITICS


I. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. What are the minimum conditions needed for a
democratic election?
​ Everyoneshould have the right to vote and every vote
should have equal value.
​ Parties and candidates should be free to contest elections
and they should offer some real choice to the voters.
​ Elections must be held regularly.
​ Candidates preferred by the people should be elected.
​ Elections should be conducted in a free and fair manner.

2. What are the challenges to free and fair elections in India?


​ Candidates and parties with a lot of money may not be sure
of their victory but they do enjoy a big and unfair advantage
over smaller parties and independents.
​ In some parts of the country, candidates with criminal
connection have been able to push others out of the
electoral race and to secure a ‘ticket’ from major parties.
​ Some families tend to dominate political parties; tickets are
distributed to relatives from these families.
​ Very often elections offer little choice to ordinary citizens, for
both the major parties are quite similar to each other both
in policies and practice.
​ Smaller parties and independent candidates suffer a huge
disadvantage compared to bigger parties.
3. Explain the role of the Election Commission in conducting
the free and fair elections.
​ ElectionCommission takes decisions on every aspect of
conduct and control of elections from the announcement of
elections to the declaration of results.
​ It implements the Code of Conduct and punishes any
candidate or party that violates it.
​ It allots election symbols to parties and independent
candidates.
​ During the election period, the Election Commission can
order the government to follow some guidelines, to prevent
use and misuse of governmental power to enhance its
chances to win elections, or to transfer some government
officials.
​ When on election duty, government officers work under the
control of the Election Commission and not the government.
4. What do you mean by Voter’s List? What is its
significance?
​ In a democratic election, the list of those who are eligible to
vote is prepared much before the election and given to
everyone. This list is officially called the Electoral Roll and is
commonly known as the Voters’ List.
The significance of Voter’s List is as follows:
​ This is an important step for it is linked to the first
condition of a democratic election.
​ Everyone should get an equal opportunity to choose
representatives.
​ In our country, all the citizens aged 18 years and above can
vote in an election.
​ Every citizen has the right to vote, regardless of his or her
caste, religion or gender.
​ It is the responsibility of the government to get the names of
all the eligible voters put on the Voter’s List.
​ As new persons attain voting age, names are added to the
voters’ list.
​ Names of those who move out of a place or those who are
dead are deleted.
​ A complete revision of the list takes place every five years.
This is done to ensure that it remains up to date.
​ In the last few years a new system of Election Photo Identity
Card (EPIC) has been introduced.
​ The government has tried to give this card to every person
on the voters’ list.
​ But the card is not yet compulsory for voting.
​ For voting, the voters can show many other proofs of
identity like the ration card or the driving licence.

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