1- The outcome of the election depends on the rules we have adopted.
2- The fundamental decisions about elections are written down in the constitution of a democratic country so that no political party can use its process to win the elections.
3- A constitutional provision is a specifically designated rule/law within a nation or state's constitution. Conditions cannot be changed through court or common law.
4- Elections - It is a process by which people elect their representatives.
5- Democracy - It means rule by the people. It is a system in which the people elect the government of a country.
6- Representatives are elected because all citizens cannot take a direct part in making every decision.
7- Elections are the most visible symbol of the democratic process because the people elect representatives.
8- There are two types of democracy = a- DIRECT DEMOCRACY
b- INDIRECT DEMOCRACY
9 -Direct democracy - It is one where the citizens directly participate in the day-to-day decision-making and the running of the government.
ex-The ancient city-states in Greece.
present example(closest example) - local government ( gram sabha )
10- This kind of democracy cannot be practiced when a decision has to be taken by lakhs and crores of people.
That is why rule by the people usually means rule by people's representatives.
11- People's representatives mean an arrangement where citizens choose their representatives who, in turn, are actively involved in governing and administering the country.
12- Nondemocratic countries present themselves as democratic countries so that no one can threaten their rule.
13- Indirect democracy = This type of democracy where people choose their representatives through the election and make decisions on their behalf.
14- To ensure a democratic election, we have a constitution.
15- There are two types of election system --
1- first past the post system
2- proportional representation
a) FIRST PAST THE POST SYSTEM - It is also called plurality system. This is the method of election prescribed by the constitution.
In this type of method :
1 - the entire country is divided into 543 constituencies.
2 - each constituency elects one representative
3 - the candidate who secures the highest no of votes in that constituency is declared elected.
16- CONSTITUENCY = It refers to an area where one representative elects the election from that area.
17- In the Lok Sabha elections of 1984, the congress party came to power, winning 415 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, more than 80% of the seats. The congress party won four-fifths of the seats. This party won a greater share of seats than its share of votes
18- In this method, the winning candidate is not required to secure a majority of vote, he /she is required to secure more votes than all other candidates
B) PROMOTIONAL REPRESENTATION- Proportional Representation is a type of voting system used for elections in which parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them.
In this method, there are two variants -
A) the entire country is treated as one constituency like Israel and Netherlands. Each party fills its quota of seats by its candidates in proportion to the votes received.
B) the country is divided into several multi members constituencies like Argentina and Portugal. Each party prepares a list of constituencies for each constituency.
19- Israel uses this method. In Israel, once the votes are counted, each party is allotted the share of seats in parliament in proportion to its share of votes.
20- In both these variations, votes exercise their preferences for a party and not for the candidates
21- The seats in a constituency are distributed based on votes polled by a party.
You must be logged in to post a comment.