Election and Representation

Chapter 1 said the constitution decides who decides; in a representative democracy that means deciding how representatives are chosen. This chapter studies India's choice of electoral method, the reservation of seats, the right to vote and to stand, the Election Commission, and proposals for reform.

• Builds on Chapter 1 (allocation of power; Constituent Assembly debates) and Chapter 2 (equality; Article 16(4) logic of special measures).
• Leads to Chapter 4 (why parliamentary government needs a stable majority; election of the President), Chapter 5 (Parliament; Rajya Sabha) and Chapter 8 (State Election Commissions and reserved seats in local bodies).
• Pairs with Political Theory chapters on Equality, Rights and Citizenship (one person, one vote).
• UPSC: GS2 ‘salient features of the Representation of People's Act’ and ‘appointment to various constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various constitutional bodies’ — and a large stock of Prelims questions on electoral systems, the Election Commission, parties and reservation.

• The constitution fixes the rules of the electoral ‘game’: who votes, who contests, who supervises, how votes are cast and counted.
• FPTP (plurality): one member per constituency; most votes wins — no majority needed. 1984: 48% votes, 415 of 543 seats.
• PR: seats in proportion to votes (Israel: party lists, 3.25% threshold). India uses PR by single transferable vote for Rajya Sabha, President, Vice-President and Legislative Councils.
• Separate electorates rejected; seats reserved for SC and ST (extended up to 2030) — chosen by the Delimitation Commission; women's reservation by the 2023 Act.
• Universal adult franchise: voting age 21 → 18 (amendment, 1989); Lok Sabha and Assembly candidates at least 25.
• Election Commission (Article 324): CEC + ECs with equal powers, 6 years or age 65; CEC removed only like a Supreme Court judge (special majority).

Two questions open the chapter. Can we have democracy without elections? Not in a large country: all citizens cannot take part in every decision, so they elect representatives. Direct democracy existed in ancient Greek city-states, and gram sabhas come closest today, but rule by the people usually means rule by people's representatives, with citizens involved indirectly. Can we have elections without democracy? Yes: many non-democratic rulers hold elections arranged so that they cannot lose.

So a democratic constitution lays down basic rules, leaving details to laws: who is eligible to vote; who may contest; who supervises elections; how voters choose; how votes are counted. The first three ensure elections are free and fair; the last two ensure fair representation.

NCERT's dramatic example: in the 1984 Lok Sabha election the Congress won 415 of 543 seats with 48% of the votes — a seat haul never achieved before. The BJP got 7.4% of the votes but only 2 seats; the Telugu Desam got 4.1% but 30 seats. Why? Under India's system the country is divided into 543 constituencies, each elects one representative, and the candidate with the highest number of votes wins — no majority needed. This is First Past the Post, or the plurality system, prescribed by the Constitution.

The winner's party gets extra seats because in many constituencies it won with less than 50%. Votes cast for all losing candidates are ‘wasted’ — they win nothing. In theory, a party with 25% everywhere could win every seat if each rival got less.

In Israel, after counting, each party gets a share of seats in the parliament equal to its share of votes and fills them from a list declared before the election. This is proportional representation. Two variants: the whole country as one constituency (Israel, Netherlands), or several multi-member constituencies with a party list for each (Argentina, Portugal). Either way, voters choose a party, not a candidate, and one constituency may have representatives of several parties.

India uses PR only on a limited scale, for indirect elections: a third, complex variant — proportional representation by single transferable vote — for the President, Vice-President, Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishads.

• Simplicity: easy for ordinary voters with no special knowledge; STV may suit a small country but is hard to run in a sub-continent.
• A clear choice between candidates as well as parties — voters may weigh the person, the party or both.
• Local accountability: each locality knows its representative and can hold him or her responsible; party-list PR has no one representative for a place.
• Stable government: parliamentary government needs the executive to command a majority; FPTP usually gives the largest party or coalition ‘bonus’ seats; PR may produce no majority.
• Cross-community coalitions: to win a constituency, candidates must draw voters from many groups; PR might encourage each community to form its own nationwide party.

Experience has largely confirmed this: the system is simple and familiar, has helped big parties win clear majorities at the Centre and in States, and has discouraged parties that draw votes from only one caste or community. FPTP usually produces a two-party system; India was different — one-party dominance with many small parties after independence, multi-party coalitions after 1989, and two-party contests emerging in many States. Coalitions let new and small parties compete despite FPTP.

FPTP disadvantages small social groups. Given India's history of caste discrimination, dominant castes could win everywhere. The British had introduced separate electorates, where only voters of a community elected its representative. Many Constituent Assembly members feared this would divide the nation, so the Assembly adopted reserved constituencies: all voters vote, but candidates must belong to the community for which the seat is reserved.

Some groups are spread across the country, too few in any constituency to win, yet sizeable nationally. So the Constitution reserves seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population — first for 10 years, extended by successive amendments up to 2030. Of 543 elected Lok Sabha seats, 84 are reserved for SCs and 47 for STs (NCERT, as on 26 January 2019).

Who decides which seats are reserved? The Delimitation Commission, appointed by the President and working with the Election Commission, draws constituency boundaries. A State's quota of reserved seats follows its SC/ST share. Seats with the highest ST proportion are reserved for STs. For SCs the Commission picks seats with a higher SC share and spreads them across regions, because SCs are spread fairly evenly. Reserved seats can rotate at each delimitation.

No similar reservation was made for other disadvantaged groups. Women have long demanded one-third of seats; this already exists in rural and urban local bodies (Chapter 8), and for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas has been provided through the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women's Reservation Act, 2023).

Free and fair elections are the true test of an electoral system. The Constitution answers two more questions: who votes and who may contest. Democracies require that all adult citizens can vote — universal adult franchise; in many countries citizens, and especially women, won it only after long struggles. India's framers guaranteed it from the start. An ‘adult’ was a citizen over 21 until 1989, when an amendment lowered the age to 18. Many thought, and some still think, that voters should need education; the framers trusted every adult as an equal judge of what is good for society.

Every citizen may also stand for election, subject to minimum ages — at least 25 for the Lok Sabha or an Assembly — and some legal bars: a person imprisoned for two or more years for an offence is disqualified. There are no restrictions of income, education, class or gender.

Many countries lack an independent body to run elections. Article 324 gives India's Election Commission the ‘superintendence, direction and control’ of the electoral rolls and the conduct of elections to Parliament, State legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President — words the Supreme Court has read as giving it a decisive role in virtually everything to do with elections. A Chief Electoral Officer assists it in every State. It does not conduct local body elections; State Election Commissions do.

The Commission can have one or more members. It was single-member until 1989; two Election Commissioners were added just before the 1989 general election, removed soon after, and appointed again in 1993; it has been multi-member since. A dispute between the then CEC and the other Commissioners over powers had to be settled by the Supreme Court; now a multi-member body is widely accepted as sharing power and increasing accountability. The CEC presides but has no more powers than the other two; they decide together. All are appointed by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers — so a ruling party could appoint a partisan person, which is why many suggested consulting the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India.

Security of tenure: a six-year term or until age 65, whichever is earlier. The CEC can be removed before that only by the President on a recommendation of both Houses of Parliament by special majority — so a ruling party cannot sack a CEC who refuses to help it. The Election Commissioners can be removed by the President.

• Voters' list: supervises up-to-date, error-free electoral rolls.
• Schedule: timing of elections — notification, nominations, scrutiny, withdrawal, polling, counting and results.
• Free and fair poll: can postpone or cancel an election in the whole country, a State or a constituency if the atmosphere is vitiated; enforces the model code of conduct; orders re-polls and recounts.
• Parties: recognises political parties and allots symbols.
• Control of officials: with little staff of its own, it uses government officers; during elections it has full control over them — can transfer them, stop transfers, act against partisanship.

The Commission has become more independent and assertive than it was about 25 years earlier — not because its powers grew but because it began using the powers it always had. Since 1951–52 it has run seventeen Lok Sabha elections (NCERT's count) and many Assembly and by-elections, in militancy-hit areas such as Assam, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir; it postponed polling mid-way in 1991 after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, and in 2002 deferred the Gujarat Assembly election by a few months because violence made a free poll impossible — a decision the Supreme Court upheld.

No electoral system is perfect. After more than seven decades of experience, the Commission, parties, independent groups and scholars have proposed reforms, some needing constitutional change:

• Change from FPTP to some variant of PR, so seats follow votes.
• A special provision for at least one-third women in Parliament and Assemblies (since provided by the 2023 Act).
• Stricter control of money; election expenses paid by the government from a special fund (state funding).
• Bar candidates with any criminal case, even if an appeal is pending.
• A complete ban on caste and religious appeals in campaigns.
• A law to regulate political parties so they work transparently and democratically.

There is no consensus, and laws have limits: free and fair elections need candidates, parties and officials to accept the spirit of democratic competition. Two other safeguards: vigilant, active citizens, and watchdog institutions and voluntary organisations.

Conclusion (NCERT): India's election system has let voters choose freely and change governments peacefully; voters take keen interest and more candidates and parties contest; representation has become more socially inclusive (though women remain few); malpractice rarely changes outcomes; and elections are now part of democratic life — no one imagines a government defying a verdict or ruling without one. The voter's confidence and the Commission's legitimacy have grown, vindicating the framers.

Try each question yourself first, then open the outline to compare. MCQs 1, 3 and 4 are in the self-check below; MCQ 2 has two correct answers, so it is answered here.

Numbers

One-liners

• FPTP = plurality; no majority needed; one member per constituency.
• PR by STV: President, Vice-President, Rajya Sabha, Legislative Councils.
• Reserved constituency: all vote, only the group stands; separate electorate: only the group votes.
• Delimitation Commission: ST seats by highest share; SC seats by share and spread.
• Article 324: superintendence, direction and control of elections.
• CEC and ECs have equal powers; the CEC presides.
• CEC is removed like a Supreme Court judge (special majority of both Houses).
• State Election Commissions, not the ECI, run local body polls.

Traps to avoid

• A winning candidate under FPTP need not get 50% of votes (UPSC 2017).
• India uses PR-STV, not the list system or cumulative vote (UPSC 1994).
• The ECI does not conduct panchayat/municipal elections or decide election disputes (UPSC 1994, 2004).
• The ECI is a three-member body today, not five (UPSC 2017); the number is not fixed by the Constitution.
• Election Commissioners are removable only on the CEC's recommendation — NCERT omits this.
• Since the 2023 Act the CEC selection committee has no Chief Justice.
• The right to vote is not a Fundamental Right; UPSC 2017 keys it as a legal right.
• Voting age became 18 by the 61st Amendment (1988), in force 1989.
• 415 of 543 seats is about 76%, not ‘more than 80%’ as NCERT says.
• Delimitation orders cannot be challenged in courts or modified by legislatures (UPSC 2012).

Prelims — what UPSC asks

• Electoral systems: FPTP vs PR distortion (1994 A–R, 1995 Karnataka table), system names (1989), systems used in India (1994), STV for the President (1991), when PR is unnecessary (1997), mixed systems (Italy 1997), no 50% rule (2017), a winner losing the deposit (1995).
• Election Commission: responsibilities (1980, 2004, 1994), constitutional status (2006), CEC age and tenure (1986), CEC vs EC protection (2002), size, schedule and party splits (2017), notification (1995), Gujarat 2002 reference (2003); party recognition (1988, 1991, 2001).
• Franchise and candidates: right to vote not a Fundamental Right (1979) and a legal right (2017); Lok Sabha age 25 (1979); nominations (2017); disqualification after release (2020); contesting several seats (2021); municipal candidacy (2000); women's suffrage history (2003).
• Reservation and delimitation: 45th Amendment (1980, 1982), women's reservation by amendment (1997) and the 2023 Act (2024), Delimitation Commission orders (2012) and count (2024). Reforms: Dinesh Goswami (1995, 1997), state funding (1997), booth capturing and corrupt practices (1990), the 1996 amendment (1999), deposits (2002), electoral reform vs routine acts (1989), absolute majority (1989).

Mains — where it appears and how to answer

• GS2 — Election Commission: the 2016 reform proposals (2017), EVM trust (2018), the model code of conduct (2022), and the right to vote with electoral-roll revision and citizenship checks (2026).
• GS2 — Representation of the People Act: disqualification and remedies (2019), simplifying disqualification for corrupt practices (2020), election disputes (2022), corrupt practices and disproportionate assets (2025).
• GS2 — reform debates: simultaneous elections (2017) and ‘one nation – one election’ (2024); women's representation through civil society (2023) and women's reservation from local bodies to Parliament (2026).
• Answer frame: constitutional basis (Arts 324–329) → statute (RPA 1950/1951) → institutions (ECI, Delimitation Commission, courts) → problems (money, muscle, distortion, women's under-representation) → reforms done and pending → conclusion on trust in elections.

Tap an option. NCERT's own exercise questions come first; the rest test the figures and common confusions.

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