Electoral System and Reforms
NCERT Class 11 - Indian Constitution at Work, Chapter 3
Electoral System and Reforms
India uses the first past the post system for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies - the country is divided into constituencies and the candidate with the most votes wins, even without a majority. Proportional representation is used only for the Rajya Sabha and the presidential election.
First past the post and proportional representation
| Point | First Past the Post | Proportional Representation |
|---|---|---|
| Unit | Single-member territorial constituency | Larger multi-member constituency or list |
| Who wins | The candidate with the most votes | Seats allotted in proportion to votes polled |
| Relation of votes to seats | A party may win many seats with a modest vote share | Seats closely match vote share |
| Government formed | Usually stable, often single-party | Often coalition, since few parties get a majority |
| Used in India for | Lok Sabha and state assemblies | Rajya Sabha, legislative councils, President and Vice-President |
- The framers chose first past the post because it is simple to understand and operate in a country with low literacy at the time, and because it produces a clear winner and a stable government.
- Its weakness is that a party can win a large share of seats with a much smaller share of votes, and smaller parties with dispersed support get little representation.
Reservation and the electoral process
- Article 330 reserves seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the Lok Sabha, and Article 332 in state assemblies, in proportion to their share of the population.
- A reserved constituency is open to all voters, but only candidates from the reserved group may contest it.
- The Delimitation Commission redraws constituency boundaries and decides which seats are reserved.
- The process runs through notification, nomination, scrutiny, withdrawal, campaign, polling, counting and declaration of result.
- Every candidate files a nomination paper with a security deposit and an affidavit declaring assets, liabilities, educational qualifications and criminal cases, following a Supreme Court ruling.
- Campaigning must stop 48 hours before polling closes.
Electoral reforms and challenges
- Reforms already in place - the voting age of 18, electronic voting machines with voter verifiable paper audit trail, the affidavit requirement, a ceiling on candidates' election expenditure, the Model Code of Conduct, and the NOTA option following a Supreme Court judgment.
- Committees that examined reform include the Dinesh Goswami Committee and the Indrajit Gupta Committee, the latter recommending state funding of elections.
- Continuing challenges - the influence of money power, the criminalisation of politics, misuse of official machinery, appeals to caste and community, paid news, and the weakness of internal democracy in parties.
- Proposals under discussion include stricter disqualification for candidates facing serious charges, transparency in political funding, and a statutory basis for the Model Code.
- The system's real achievement is that despite these problems, power has changed hands peacefully at the centre and in the states many times since 1952.
हिंदी संकेत: लोकसभा और विधानसभा में सर्वाधिक मत वाली प्रणाली चलती है, जबकि राज्यसभा, विधान परिषद, राष्ट्रपति और उपराष्ट्रपति के चुनाव में आनुपातिक प्रतिनिधित्व। यही भेद सबसे अधिक पूछा जाता है।
Exam me kaise aata hai
Statement-based questions test which body uses which electoral system. Factual questions ask which articles reserve seats and how long before polling campaigning must stop. Application questions give vote shares and seat shares and ask which system produced them.
UPSC / State PSC ke liye
For a descriptive answer, weigh representativeness against stability - proportional representation reflects votes more accurately but usually produces coalitions, while first past the post distorts the vote-seat relationship but produces workable majorities. Note also that reserved constituencies were designed to ensure presence, not to create separate electorates, which is the key difference from the pre-independence system.
Yahan confuse hote hain
✗ Only scheduled caste voters can vote in a reserved constituency | ✓ All voters vote; only candidates are from the reserved group
✗ The Rajya Sabha is elected by first past the post | ✓ It uses proportional representation by single transferable vote
✗ NOTA rejects the election if it gets the most votes | ✓ NOTA records disapproval but does not cancel the result
Ek nazar me
- Lok Sabha and assemblies use first past the post in single-member constituencies.
- Rajya Sabha, councils and the presidential election use proportional representation.
- Article 330 reserves Lok Sabha seats and Article 332 assembly seats for SC and ST.
- Reserved constituencies are open to all voters but only reserved-group candidates.
- Candidates must file an affidavit on assets, liabilities and criminal cases.
- Campaigning stops 48 hours before polling closes.
- Reforms include EVMs with VVPAT, NOTA, expenditure ceiling and the Model Code of Conduct.