how do you say that INDIAN Elections are Democratic?

Question

the answer may be upto 2 pages

Answer 1

Elections in India is more than a process of voting someone to rule the nation. Since independence, elections in India have evolved a long way, but all along elections have been a significant cultural aspect of Independent India. It is more like a festival, an indication of jubilance, a show of loyalty, a change of power, and above all ensuring the importance of the individual in a democracy, the voter. From massive media coverage, to loads of freebie promises by political parties and fanatic hairdos, elections in India are very interesting to follow. With an electorate larger than 670 million people, an expenditure around $300 million and elections using more than 1 million electronic voting machines, elections in India are no small exercise.

It is a very elaborate process, that the size of the huge electorate mandates the elections to be conducted in a number of phases (there were four phases in 2004 General Elections). It involves a number of step-by-step processes from announcement of election dates by the Election Commission of India, which brings into force the 'model code of conduct' for the political parties, to the announcement of results and submission of the list of successful candidates to the executive head of the state or the centre. The submission of results mark the end of the election process, thereby paving way for the formation of the new government.

Indian Electoral System
India has at the federal level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The President of India is elected for a five year term by an electoral college consisting of members of federal and state legislatures. A system of proportional representation, with equal weightage for the Union and the States is adopted for the election.

Parliament has two chambers. The House of the People (Lok Sabha) has 545 members, 543 members elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies and 2 members appointed to represent the Anglo-Indian community. The two unelected members are a relic from the past. The special dispensation of nominating two members of European or Eurasian blood was created as a transitory arrangement, at the time of Independence in 1947, to protect the interests of the departing ruling class. The 543 members are elected under the plurality ('first past the post') electoral system.

The House of the States (Rajya Sabha) has 245 members, 233 members elected for a six year term, with one third retiring every two years. The members are elected by legistators of the state and union (federal) territories. The elected members are chosen under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote. The twelve nominated members are usually an eclectic mix of eminent artists (including actors), scientists, jurists, sportspersons, businessmen and journalists.


History of Elections in India
The first general elections were conducted in India in 1951, for 489 constituencies representing 26 Indian states. At that time, there were a few two-seat and even a three-seat constituency. The multi-seat constituencies were discontinued in the nineteen sixties. For quite a long period of time, till 1967, the Indian National Congress party dominated the elections and garnered not less than 65% of the votes polled.


History of Political Parties
In 1992, the heretofore dominant two-party system in India, where there are two major political parties, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party, gave way to a coalition system wherein no single party can expect to achieve a majority in the Parliament to form a Government, but rather has to depend on a process of coalition bulding with other parties to form a bloc and claim a majority to be invided to form the Government. Presently, the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress Party is in power, while the National Democratic Alliance forms the opposition.


Powers of Election Commission
The elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India, the authority created under the Constitution. It is a well established convention that once the election process commences, no courts intervene until the results are declared by the election commission. During the elections, vast powers are assigned to the election commission to the extent that it can function as a civil court, if needed.

Electoral Process in India takes at least a month for state assembly elections with the duration increasing further for the General Elections, as the sheer size of the electorate and immense logistics require the general election be conducted in a number of phases. Publishing of electoral rolls is a key process that happens before the elections and is vital for the conduct of elections in India. Indian Constitution set the eligibility of an individual for voting. Any person, who is a citizen of India, and above 18 years of age is eligible to enroll as a voter in the electoral rolls. It is the responsibility of the eligible voters to enroll their names. Normally, voter registrations are allowed one week prior to the last date for nomination of candidates. Apart from this, ECI conducts periodical door-to-door voter registration/verification drives and publishes the electoral rolls online and offline, where electoral are made public at Head Post Offices of a town/city.


Pre elections
Before the elections, the election commission announces the dates of nomination, polling and counting. The model code of conduct comes in force from the day the dates are announced. The model code of conduct is a code of conduct mutually agreed upon by various parties to be followed during the elections.

The code of conduct specifies that the central and state governments cannot announce any major sops to the electorate to prevent any unfair swings in the voting pattern. No party is allowed to use the government resources for campaigning. Candidates are required to declare their assets, age, educational qualifications and criminal history. Convicted criminals are debarred from standing in the elections as well as disfranchised. Persons still on trial may contest, but can be debarred if found guilty. The code of conduct stipulates that campaigning be stopped 48 hours prior to polling day.

Like-minded political parties form alliances and seat-sharing arrangements in each state. The seat-sharing arrangement helps the alliance field a candidate from one party to prevent splitting of the votes. For a long time, extravagant electoral spending by the parties and candidates alike had much impact on vote swing. The stakes in the elections are so huge that extravagant spending by political parties ranged from putting up huge hoardings, posting posters on walls, and giving freebies (political parties used to give colour televisions and gold coins as gifts) during campaigning. Today, the model code of conduct bans such extravagant spending during campaigning, protects voters from harassment by the parties and also imposes ban on use of loudspeakers after 10pm.


Voting Day
Campaigning ends the day before the voting day. Government schools and colleges are chosen to be the polling stations. The day of the elections is declared a holiday and all liquor shops and bars are shut down. The Collector of each district is in charge of polling. Government servants are employed to many of the polling stations. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are being increasingly used instead of ballot boxes.


Post elections
After the election day, the EVM’s are stored in a strong room under heavy security. After the different phases of the elections are complete, a day is set to count the votes. The votes are tallied and typically, the verdict is known within a few hours. The candidate who has mustered the most votes is declared the winner of the constituency.

The party or coalition that has won the most seats is invited by the President to form the new government. The coalition or party must prove its majority in the floor of the house (Lok Sabha) in a vote of confidence by obtaining a simple majority (minimum 50%) of the votes in the House.
hence in every procedure attention is paid to fair means and rights of everyone,thus elections are said to be democratic

hope it helped u:)

Answer 2

India is the largest democratic country in the world, with a federal system of governance. Democracy is a system of government by all the eligible members of a state, through elected representatives. The term "federalism" is used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (such as states or provinces).

Parliamentary system of India :

The Parliament of India, also known as Sansad is the supreme legislative body in India. The Parliament comprises the President of India and the two Houses—Lok Sabha (House of the People) and Rajya Sabha (Council of States).

Those elected or nominated (by the President) to either house of Parliament are referred to as members of parliament or MPs. The MPs of Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of the State Legislative Assemblies, in accordance with proportional representation. At present there are 233 members in Rajya Sabha and also twelve members nominated by the President as representatives of literature, science, art and social services.

All members of Lok Sabha except two, (two members of the Anglo-Indian Community nominated by president of India) are directly elected through general elections which takes place every five years, in normal circumstances. Prime Minister is the head of government at the national level and is elected by the members of Lok Sabha.

Election Commission of India:

The Election Commission of India is an autonomous, constitutionally established authority responsible for administering all the electoral processes in the Republic of India. The Election Commission prepares, maintains and periodically updates the Electoral Roll, which shows who are entitled to vote, supervises the nomination of candidates, registers political parties and monitors the election campaign. It also facilitates the coverage of the election process by the media, organises the polling booths where voting takes place, and looks after the counting of votes and the declaration of results.

General Election:

A general election is a process in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen by eligible memebers. In parliametary system the election is normally held every 5 years.The General election to constitute the 16th Lok Sabha in India is scheduled from 7 April to 12 May 2014.

According to the commission electoral strength in 2014 is 81.45 crores. Election is scheduled in all 543 parliamentary constituencies. The result of this election will be declared on 16 May 14. Election cost to government is expected to be Rs. 3,500 crores while parties are expected to spend Rs. 30,500 crores.

General Election Process:

The entire process consists of
Division of the country into different constituencies
Preparation of voters list
Nomination of Candidates,
Campaign
Polling and
Counting of votes.
General election 3
Election Campaign

· The country has been divided into 543 Parliamentary Constituencies, based on population, geographies and the boundaries of the states and administrative areas.
· The Constitution puts a limit 550 elected members, apart from two nominated representatives of the Anglo-Indian community. There are also provisions for reserved constituencies to ensure the representation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
· Any citizen of sound mind and over the age of 18 can vote irrespective of caste, creed, religion or gender.
· The electoral roll, list of all people in the constituency who are registered to vote, is normally revised every year to add the names of those who turn 18 on the 1st January of that year.
· The process of providing photo identity cards to all voters are under progress.
· Any Indian citizen who is registered as a voter and is over 25 years of age is allowed to contest elections to the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assemblies.
· Every candidate has to make a deposit of Rs. 10,000/- for Lok Sabha election, except for candidates from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. They pay half of these amounts. The deposit is returned if the candidate receives more than one-sixth of the total number of valid votes polled in the constituency.
· Nominations must be supported at least by one registered elector of the constituency, in the case of a candidate sponsored by a registered Party and by ten registered electors from the constituency in the case of other candidates.
· Returning Officers, appointed by the Election Commission, are put in charge to receive nominations of candidates in each constituency, and oversee the formalities of the election.
· Candidates are given a week to put forward their nominations. These are scrutinised by the Returning Officers and if not found to be in order can be rejected after a summary hearing. Validly nominated candidates can withdraw within two days after nominations have been scrutinised.
· After this, a list of competing candidates is prepared by the Returning Officer, and ballot papers are printed. Ballot papers are printed with the names of the candidates (in languages set by the Election Commission) and the symbols allotted to each of the candidates. Candidates of recognised Parties are allotted their Party symbols.
· Once an election has been called, parties issue manifestos detailing the programmes they wish to implement if elected to government, the strengths of their leaders etc. The campaign is the period when the political parties declare the candidates, put forward their programmes and seek the vote of electorate. The official campaign lasts at least two weeks from the drawing up of the list of nominated candidates, and officially ends 48 hours before polling closes.
· During the election campaign the political parties and candidates are to abide by Model Code of Conduct evolved by the Election Commission, which lays down broad guidelines as to how the political parties and candidates should conduct themselves during the election campaign.
· Polling is the process of casting votes and is held on a number of different days in different constituencies, based on the declarations made by the commission.
· Voting is by secret ballot. Polling booths are set up in public institutions, like schools and community halls. Each polling station is open for at least 8 hours on the day of the election.

· On entering the polling station, the elector is checked against the Electoral Roll, and allocated a ballot paper. The elector votes by marking the ballot paper with a rubber stamp on or near the symbol of the candidate of his choice, inside a screened compartment in the polling station. The voter then folds the ballot paper and inserts it in a common ballot box which is kept in full view of the Presiding Officer and polling agents of the candidates. Now India has switched over to electronic voting machines. Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) retains all the characteristics of voting by ballot papers. EVM saves considerable time, money and manpower.
· Political parties have to be registered with the Election Commission. Parties are expected to hold organisational elections and have a written constitution.
· Recognition offers privileges like right to access to electoral rolls , time for political broadcasts on the state-owned television and radio stations and party symbol . National parties are given a symbol that is for their exclusive use throughout the country.
· Limits are stipulated on the amount of money a candidate can spend during the election campaign.
· Any voter or candidate can file an election petition in case of any malpractice during the election.
· Observers are appointed by commission to ensure that the campaign is conducted fairly, and people are free to vote. They keep track on the amount that each candidate and party spends on the election.
· Once polling is over, counting of votes takes place on the pre-determined date. The Returning Officer declares the name of the candidate who gathered majority of the votes as the winner,. The winner gets the right to represent the constituency.

Answer 3

It is still democratic. As people get more educated these incidents will be much lesser. It has already tremendously improved compared to my father's days.