Chapter 3 – Election and Representation | CBSE Political Science Notes

Class XI · Political Science

CHAPTER – 3

Election and Representation

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1. Chapter Overview

Just as a game needs agreed rules and an impartial umpire, elections need agreed rules and an impartial machinery to conduct them — which is why both are written into the Constitution. This chapter studies the methods of election, the system India adopted, provisions for free and fair elections, and the debate on electoral reforms.

Understand different methods of election

Know the characteristics of India’s election system

Appreciate provisions for free and fair elections

Understand the debate on electoral reforms

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2. Elections and Democracy

🤔 Two Key Questions

Can we have democracy without elections? — Reminds us that in a large democracy, citizens cannot directly take every decision, so representatives are elected.
Can we hold elections without democracy? — Reminds us that many non-democratic countries also hold elections, often designed so the ruler’s position is never threatened.

🏛️ Direct vs Indirect Democracy

Direct democracy: citizens directly participate in day-to-day decision-making — e.g., ancient Greek city-states, and (closest modern example) Gram Sabhas.
Indirect (representative) democracy: citizens elect representatives who govern on their behalf — necessary when decisions involve lakhs and crores of people.
Since citizens are involved only indirectly, the method of electing representatives becomes very important.

📜 Basic Rules a Constitution Lays Down About Elections

• Who is eligible to vote?

• Who is eligible to contest?

• Who supervises elections?

• How do voters choose their representatives?

• How are votes counted and representatives elected?

The first three questions are about ensuring elections are free and fair (democratic); the last two are about ensuring fair representation.

🖼️ Read a Cartoon — “Election in the Air” (17 Feb 1957)

Carnival or Chaos?

Elections are often called a “carnival of democracy,” but this cartoon shows chaos and confusion instead — raising the question of whether such disorder is inevitable in elections, and whether it helps or harms democracy.

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3. Election System in India

Different rules for counting votes can produce very different winners from the same votes — some rules favour bigger parties, some help smaller players, some favour the majority community, others protect minorities.

🏁 First Past the Post (FPTP) System

📊 Lok Sabha Election 1984 — A Dramatic Example

Congress won 415 of 543 seats (more than 80%) with only 48% of the votes. BJP got 7.4% votes but only 2 seats. This shows how FPTP can convert a vote share into a very different seat share.

Under FPTP: the country is divided into 543 constituencies; each elects one representative; the candidate with the highest votes (not necessarily a majority) wins.
Also called the Plurality System — whoever crosses the “winning post” first, wins.
Votes for losing candidates “go waste” — a party could even win all seats with around 25% votes if everyone else gets less.
This is the method prescribed by the Indian Constitution for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

⚖️ Proportional Representation (PR) System

Each party gets seats in proportion to its share of votes — used in countries like Israel and the Netherlands.
Voters vote for a party (not a candidate); parties fill seats from a pre-declared preference list.
Two PR variations: (1) the whole country as one constituency (Israel, Netherlands); (2) the country divided into multi-member constituencies with party lists (Argentina, Portugal).

🇮🇱 Box — Proportional Representation in Israel

Elections to the Knesset are held every 4 years; voters vote for parties, which get seats in proportion to votes polled. A party needs a minimum of 3.25% votes to get any seats — this often produces a multi-party coalition government (e.g., in the 2015 Knesset election, Likud got 23.40% votes and 30 seats, Zionist Camp 18.67% and 24 seats, and several smaller parties shared the remaining seats).

📊 FPTP vs PR — Comparison

FPTP	PR
Country divided into small constituencies/districts	Large areas as constituencies; entire country may be one constituency
Every constituency elects one representative	More than one representative may be elected from one constituency
Voter votes for a candidate	Voter votes for the party
A party may get more seats than its vote share	Every party gets seats in proportion to its votes
Winning candidate may not get majority (50%+1) votes	Winning candidate gets majority of votes
Examples: UK, India	Examples: Israel, Netherlands

🏛️ How PR Works in Rajya Sabha Elections (STV)

India uses a third variant — the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system — for Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Parishad, President and Vice-President elections.
Voters are MLAs of the State; each ranks candidates by preference.
Winning quota formula: (Total votes polled ÷ (seats to be elected + 1)) + 1.
Example: 4 Rajya Sabha seats, 200 MLAs → quota = (200/4 + 1) = 41 votes.
Counting starts with first-preference votes; if quotas aren’t met, the lowest-scoring candidate is eliminated and their votes transferred via second preferences — repeated until all seats are filled.

🤔 Why Did India Adopt FPTP?

Simplicity — easy to understand even for voters with no specialised political knowledge.
Gives a clear choice between specific candidates, not just party lists — voters know who their representative is and can hold them accountable.
Better suited to a parliamentary system, which needs a stable majority government — PR often produces fragmented legislatures without clear majorities; FPTP tends to give the largest party “bonus seats“.
Encourages voters from different social groups to unite behind one candidate in a locality, rather than each community forming its own nationwide party (a concern in a diverse country like India).

🏛️ India’s Party System Under FPTP

FPTP usually produces a two-party system — but India’s experience differs.
Post-independence: one-party dominance (Congress) alongside many smaller parties.
After 1989: era of multi-party coalitions; gradually, two-party competition has emerged in many States.
India’s distinguishing feature: coalitions have allowed smaller/new parties to enter competition despite FPTP.

🖼️ Read a Cartoon — “Tiny Opposition” (29 May 1949)

Listening to the Minority Voice

Ruling party members are shown straining to listen to a tiny opposition figure — raising the question of whether such a small opposition was an effect of the electoral system chosen.

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4. Reservation of Constituencies

In FPTP, the highest-vote candidate wins — which can disadvantage smaller social groups, especially given India’s history of caste-based discrimination: dominant groups could win everywhere, leaving oppressed groups unrepresented.
The British had introduced “separate electorates” — only voters of a community could vote for that community’s representative. The Constituent Assembly rejected this.
Instead, India adopted reserved constituencies: all voters in a constituency vote, but candidates must belong to the community for which the seat is reserved.

📜 Tajamul Husain — CAD, Vol. VIII, 26 May 1949

Against Separate Electorates

Husain argued that separate electorates had been a curse to India, causing incalculable harm and barring national progress, and that Muslims wanted to merge into the nation rather than have separate electorates — urging that reservation for the Muslim community on those lines be avoided.

The Constitution reserves seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), originally for 10 years, now extended up to 2030 through amendments.
Reserved seats are proportional to population share: of 543 Lok Sabha seats, 84 reserved for SC and 47 for ST (as on 26 January 2019).

📜 Jaipal Singh — CAD, Vol. V, 27 August 1947

Adivasi Demand for Reservation, Not Separate Electorates

Jaipal Singh said Adivasis had historically been isolated and kept “as it were, in a zoo,” and that they wanted to mix with others — which is why they insisted on reservation of seats in legislatures rather than separate electorates. He pointed out that under the 1935 Act, there were only 24 Adivasi MLAs out of 1585 across India, and not a single representative at the Centre.

📐 Role of the Delimitation Commission

An independent body appointed by the President, working with the Election Commission, to draw constituency boundaries.
A quota of reserved constituencies per State is fixed based on its SC/ST population share.
For ST: constituencies with the highest ST population share are reserved.
For SC: constituencies with higher SC population share are chosen, but also spread across different regions of the State (since SC population tends to be spread evenly).
Reserved constituencies can be rotated at each delimitation exercise.

👩 Reservation for Women

The Constitution does not reserve seats for other disadvantaged groups like women in the same way as SC/ST in Parliament/Assemblies traditionally.
Reservation for women already exists in rural and urban local bodies (Panchayats/Municipalities).
A similar provision for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas has been provided through the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women’s Reservation Act, 2023).

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5. Free and Fair Elections

🗳️ Universal Adult Franchise

All adult citizens are eligible to vote — known as universal adult franchise, guaranteed by the Constitution from the start (unlike many countries where this required long struggles, especially for women).
Voting age was originally 21; reduced to 18 by a 1989 constitutional amendment.
Adult franchise reflects the principle of equality and non-discrimination — the framers trusted all adult citizens as equals in deciding what is good for society, regardless of educational qualification.

🙋 Right to Contest

All citizens have the right to contest elections, subject to a minimum age of 25 years for Lok Sabha/Assembly elections.
A person imprisoned for two or more years for an offence is disqualified from contesting.
No restrictions based on income, education, class, or gender — the system is open to all citizens.

🖼️ Read a Cartoon — “Adult Vote” Elephant (21 Oct 1951)

Universal Adult Franchise

Universal adult franchise is depicted as a giant elephant — raising the question of whether it is “unmanageable,” like the parable where people describe an elephant only by touching its different parts without seeing the whole.

🏛️ Independent Election Commission

📜 Article 324(1)

The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of all elections to Parliament, State Legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President is vested in the Election Commission.

A Chief Electoral Officer assists the EC in every State; the EC does not conduct local body elections (separate State Election Commissioners handle those).
The EC can be a single-member or multi-member body. Till 1989 it was single-member; multi-member briefly in 1989; became multi-member again from 1993 and has remained so since.
A dispute over powers between the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Commissioners was settled by the Supreme Court — now CEC and Commissioners have equal powers as a collective body.
CEC and Commissioners are appointed by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers — raising concerns that the ruling party could appoint a partisan person; many suggest consulting the Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India instead.
Tenure security: appointed for 6 years or till age 65, whichever is earlier. The CEC can be removed only via a special majority recommendation of both Houses of Parliament to the President (similar to judges) — protecting the CEC from removal by a ruling party.

📐 Special Majority

Special majority = two-thirds majority of those present and voting AND a simple majority of the total membership of the House. Used, for example, in the impeachment of the President (Chapter 4) and removal of the CEC.

🛠️ Functions of the Election Commission

Supervises preparation of an accurate voters’ list.
Determines the election schedule — notification, nomination dates, scrutiny, withdrawal, polling, and counting/declaration of results.
Can postpone or cancel elections in part or all of the country if conditions aren’t conducive to a free and fair poll; enforces the Model Code of Conduct; can order a re-poll or recount.
Grants recognition to political parties and allots symbols.
During elections, has full control over administrative officers on election duty — can transfer them or act against partisan conduct, despite having a small permanent staff of its own.

The EC’s growing assertiveness shows that institutional improvement doesn’t always need legal change — it has simply used powers it already had more effectively.
Notable challenges: elections in militancy-affected areas (Assam, Punjab, J&K); postponing the 1991 election process after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination; and postponing the 2002 Gujarat Assembly elections due to violence — a decision upheld by the Supreme Court.

🖼️ Read a Cartoon — R K Laxman, The Times of India

“Winning the elections is going to be tough”

A leader is shown warning his colleagues that elections will be tough due to the “code of conduct, fair and free polling, strict…” — illustrating why political leaders are wary of the Election Commission, and asking whether such wariness is good for democracy.

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6. Electoral Reforms

No election system is perfect — the Election Commission, parties, scholars, and civil society have proposed many reforms.

⚖️ System-Level Reforms

Shift (at least partly) from FPTP to a variant of PR, so seats reflect vote share more closely
Special provision for at least one-third women representation

💰 Money & Crime in Politics

Stricter control on role of money; government funding of election expenses
Bar candidates with pending criminal cases, even on appeal

🚫 Campaign Conduct

Complete ban on caste/religious appeals in campaigning
Law to regulate political parties for transparent, democratic functioning

🖼️ Read a Cartoon — R K Laxman, The Times of India

“Remember you are standing for election now!”

A candidate caught in an old (questionable) habit by the press is reminded to “face the camera” now that they’re nominated — prompting the question of whether a person accused of a serious crime should be barred from contesting elections.

There is no consensus on these proposals; and even with laws, free and fair elections ultimately depend on candidates, parties, and participants agreeing to abide by the spirit of democratic competition.
Beyond legal reform, two further safeguards matter: vigilant, politically active citizens, and active political institutions/voluntary organisations acting as watchdogs — since ordinary people have limits on how much they can engage regularly.

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7. Conclusion — Success of India’s Election System

Peaceful Change of GovernmentVoters have freely chosen representatives and peacefully changed governments at both State and national levels.

Rising ParticipationVoters have consistently shown keen interest; the number of candidates and parties contesting is rising.

Accommodative & InclusiveSocial composition of representatives has gradually diversified — though women’s representation has not improved satisfactorily.

Low Impact of MalpracticeDespite some rigging attempts, violence, or list manipulation, such instances rarely directly change election outcomes.

🇮🇳 Elections as Part of Democratic Life

No one can imagine a government disrespecting an election verdict, or a government being formed without elections. The regularity and periodicity of Indian elections has earned the country fame as a great democratic experiment, vindicating the choices made by the Constitution’s framers.

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8. Mind Map — Chapter 3 at a Glance

🗺️ Mind Map — Election and Representation

Chapter 3 — Election and Representation

🏁 FPTP System543 constituencies
Highest votes wins

⚖️ PR SystemIsrael, Netherlands
Seats ∝ votes

🔁 STV (Rajya Sabha)Preference ranking
Quota formula

🪑 Reserved ConstituenciesSC: 84, ST: 47
Delimitation Commission

🗳️ Universal FranchiseAge 18+
Equal right to contest

🏛️ Election CommissionArticle 324
CEC + 2 Commissioners

🔧 Electoral ReformsMoney & muscle power
Women’s reservation

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9. Summary — Quick Revision

Elections need agreed rules and an impartial conducting body — both fixed in the Constitution.

India follows FPTP — highest-vote candidate wins per constituency, even without a majority — chosen for simplicity, accountability, and stable government.

PR (e.g., Israel) allocates seats proportional to votes but suits smaller countries better and can produce coalition governments.

India uses STV (a PR variant) for Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Parishad, President, and Vice-President elections.

Reserved constituencies (not separate electorates) ensure SC/ST representation — 84 SC and 47 ST seats in the Lok Sabha.

Universal adult franchise (age 18+) and the right to contest (age 25+, with limited restrictions) underpin India’s democratic elections.

The Election Commission (Article 324) is an independent, multi-member body controlling all aspects of elections, with strong tenure protections for the CEC.

Electoral reform debates include PR vs FPTP, women’s reservation, money/muscle power, and criminal candidates — but ultimately depend on the spirit of democratic competition.

India’s election system has enabled peaceful transfers of power, rising participation, and growing inclusiveness — a major democratic success.

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10. Important Terms to Remember

Direct Democracy: A system where citizens directly participate in decision-making (e.g., ancient Greek city-states, Gram Sabhas).
Indirect/Representative Democracy: Citizens elect representatives who make decisions on their behalf.
First Past the Post (FPTP): The candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins, even without a majority; also called the Plurality System.
Proportional Representation (PR): Parties get seats in proportion to their share of votes; used in Israel, Netherlands.
Single Transferable Vote (STV): A PR variant used for Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Parishad, President, and Vice-President elections in India, based on preference rankings and a quota formula.
Separate Electorates: A system (used by the British) where only voters of a specific community could vote for that community’s representative; rejected by the Constituent Assembly.
Reserved Constituencies: All voters in a constituency vote, but candidates must belong to the community (SC/ST) for which the seat is reserved.
Delimitation Commission: An independent body appointed by the President, working with the Election Commission, to draw constituency boundaries and decide reserved seats.
Universal Adult Franchise: The right of all adult citizens (18+) to vote, regardless of education, income, gender, or class.
Article 324: Vests the Election Commission with superintendence, direction, and control of elections to Parliament, State Legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President.
Special Majority: Two-thirds of those present and voting, plus a simple majority of total membership — required for actions like removing the CEC or impeaching the President.
Model Code of Conduct: Guidelines implemented by the Election Commission for parties and candidates during elections.
Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (2023): The Women’s Reservation Act providing for reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas.