Current Affairs 7th Class

Category : 7th Class

 

Institutional Representation of Democracy

 

Representation and participation are cornerstones of representative democracy. At the heart of the system is a commitment to hold regular, free and fair elections. People participate through elections and select representatives to govern them. The representation comes from political parties who, with their various ideologies fight the election. The elected party forms the government while the next in majority forms the opposition which checks every step of the government. Universal Adult Franchise, elections, political parties and coalition governments-are some terms you are already familiar with. These are the institutions that represent democracy. Now let us delve into the whole process.

 

Maya, the domestic help at Rohini's house has taken the day off to go to vote. Rohini's parents are also going to the voting booth to cast their votes. The next day, Rohini overhears her mother talk to Maya. "Maya/1 saw you and your husband at the booth, yesterday. You both were standing right in front of us." Rohini sees pride on Maya's face. She has got an opportunity to cast her vote as an equal to her sahib and memsahib by standing in the same queue at the polling booth. Maya wants to tell the name of the candidate for whom she has cast her vote but Rohini stops her. "You are not supposed to reveal the name of the person for whom you have voted and the political party he belongs to" says Rohini.

?      Why do you think Maya feels proud?

?      Why does Rohini ask Maya not to reveal the name of the person for whom she has voted?

 

Q. In the school elections, the girls opt to vote for the Girl candidate and the boys opt to vote for the Boy candidate. How will this affect the election? What must the teacher advise?

 

ELECTIONS

 

Elections in India take place every five years by Universal Adult Franchise. These elections are held to choose and elect representatives who will form the government. Representatives that form the government are elected at the centre, state and local levels.

 

LEVELS OF ELECTIONS

 

General Elections

At the central level, members of Parliament (MPs) are elected directly by the people, through a General Election. The party with majority votes becomes the ruling party and forms the government and its leader becomes the Prime Minister. To secure majority in the parliament, a party needs to win over half the seats in the parliament. All the other MPs form the opposition. Our country is divided into parliamentary constituencies. A constituency is the area from which a representative fights the election. People elect one representative from each constituency who then becomes an MP. The number of parliamentary constituencies in a state depends upon the size and population of the state.

 

There are currently 543 constituencies. The maximum size of the Lok Sabha is 552 members made up of up to 530 members representing people of the states and up to 20 members representing people from the Union Territories and 2 are nominated by President. First general elections were held from October 1951 to February 1952. The latest in the series were 2014 general elections, which constituted the 16th Lok Sabha, electing members of parliament for all 543 parliamentary constituencies.

 

Reservation in Constituencies

Category	Reservation Percentage (asper Government of India)
Scheduled Castes (SC)	15%
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	7.5%
Other Backward Classes(OBC)	27%
Total constitutional  reservation percentage	49.5%
General (Open)	50.5%

      

Assembly Elections

At the state level. Assembly Elections are held. Here Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are elected.

 

Elections to Local Bodies

At the local level, elections involve elections of local bodies such as the Panchayat, Municipal Committees and Municipal Corporations.

 

ELECTION COMMISSION

The Election Commission is the apex body that conducts elections. Its head is called the Chief Election Commissioner. Both the general and the assembly elections in India are held in accordance with the rules laid down by the

Know a Little More

Delhi Legislative Assembly elections were held on 7 February 2015 to elect 70 members to the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi. Aam Aadmi Party secured absolute majority in the assembly.

 

Election Commission of India. The work of the Election Commission includes preparing voters' list, candidates' list, announcing the dates for voter registration, filing of nominations or withdrawal by candidates, counting of votes and finally declaring the results. The Election Commission also lays down the common code of conduct for the political parties. The political parties select their candidates after which the candidates file the nomination papers.

 

The Election Commission verifies the information provided by the candidates in the nomination papers and gives a go-ahead or asks the candidate to withdraw his or her name. Thereafter, the campaigning starts. A political campaign is an organised effort which seeks to influence the voters to vote for the political party. During the campaign, candidate shares their ideas, goals and vision for the country with the voters. These promises and ideals form the manifesto.

 

An election manifesto is a written statement issued by a political party that lists the party's policies and programmes for the country. These are later 'the winning candidates' political agenda. Political agenda is a set of policies laid out by a government.

A political campaign in India

 

Q. During a campaign, the candidate visits each house in his constituency and makes a note of the grievances. What would you say about such a candidate?

 

List of Constituencies by States/Union Territories

 

State/Union Territory	Number of Parliamentary Seats
Andhra Pradesh	25
Arunachal Pradesh	2
Assam	14
Bihar	40
Chhattisgarh	11
Goa	2
Gujarat	26
Haryana	10
Himachal Pradesh	4
Jammu and Kashmir	6
Jharkhand	14
Kamataka	28
Kerala	20
Madhya Pradesh	29
Maharashtra	48
Manipur	2
Meghalaya	2
Mizoram	1
Nagaland	1
Odisha	21
Punjab	13
Rajasthan	25
Sikkim	1
Tamil Nadu	39
Telangana	17
Tripura	2
Uttar Pradesh	80
Uttarakhand	5
West Bengal	42
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	1
Chandigarh	1
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	1
Daman and Diu	1
Lakshadweep	1
NCT of Delhi	7
Puducherry	10

 

Discuss

The Election Commission of India administers election process. Originally in 1950, the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. The Election Commissioner Amendment Act, 1993 made the Election Commission a 3-member Commission.

 

Why do you think a 3-member Commission is better option than a single Election Commissioner? Also discuss in class; the term, appointment, procedure, and the role of Election Commissioner in conducting fair elections.                                  

 

Q. Find out which Chief Election Commissioner of India introduced the voter ID card, and tried his best for free and fair elections.

 

Know a Little More

The NOTA option introduced in 2013, upholds the right of voters to reject all candidates contesting the elections. The word stands for 'None of The Above' (NOTA) on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and ballot papers. It is at the end of the candidates' list in the Electronic Voting Machine.

 

The specific symbol for NOTA, a ballot paper with a black cross across it, was introduced in September 2015.

 

POLITICAL PARTY SYSTEM

 

A political party is an organisation registered with the Election Commission. The members of the party share similar views on national issues. The party aims to gain political power to govern the country. The political party does this by nominating its own candidates and trying to seat them in political office by conducting political campaigns. In these campaigns, it defines its ideology and sets out the agenda they would pursue should they gain power. Each political party has its own emblem and colour for identification and voter recognition.

 

Symbols of Political Parties

TYPES OF PARTY SYSTEM

 

There are kinds of party systems in democracies around the world?single-party system, two-party system and multi-party system.

 

Single-Party System

In the single-party system, only one political party is legally allowed to hold effective power.

China and Syria have a single party system.

 

Two-Party System

Two-party system where only two parties dominate, as in the United States-Republican Party and Democratic Party-is widely known to form a stable government.

 

Multi-Party system

Multi-party system has more than two political tparties that are represented and elected to public office. Australia, Canada, UK, Israel and Pakistan are examples of countries with multi-party system. India also has a multi-party system. Elections are fought between different political parties on the basis of their differing manifestos. The Indian political parties are categorised into two main types: national-level parties and state level parties.

 

National Parties

National parties are political parties which participate in different elections all over India and are recognised in four or more states. For example, Indian National Congress, Bhartiya, Janata Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi

Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) among many more. State parties or regional parties are political parties which are recognised in less than four states. For example, Telegu Desam in Andhra

Pradesh, Akali Dal in Punjab, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu are examples of state parties.

 

The National Parties

NIC	Indian National Congress
BJP	Bharatiya Janata Party
BSP	Bahujan Samaj Party
CPIM	Communist Party of India, Marxist
CPI	Communist Party of India
SP	Socialist Party
KMPP	Kisan Majdoor Praja Party
AISCF	All India Scheduled Caste Federation
FBL(MG)	F.B (Marxist Group)
RSP	Revolutionary Socialist Party
RRP	Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad
HMS	Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha

     

COALITION

 

A coalition government is a governing body formed by multiple parties that must compromise on principles. A coalition government comes into power when there are many political parties fighting an election and no one party is able to achieve a majority or gain more than 50 per cent of the seats in the Parliament or Assembly. In such a situation, several parties come together to form a government, generally under the Prime Ministership of the leader of the largest party. In India, the first ever coalition government was formed at the national level under the Prime Ministership of Late Shri Morarji Desai in the sixth general election. It existed from March 1977 to July 1979 and was headed by the Janata Party. Since 1996, Indian politics has been dominated with several coalition governments both at the Centre as well as in the states. Governments in

Kerala and West Bengal are successful coalitions at the state level.

 

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), a coalition of 15 political parties was formed after the 2004 General Elections; as no party won majority. Led by the Indian National Congress (INC), under the Prime Ministership of Dr Manmohan Singh, the coalition came to power for the second time in 2009. Coalition government is also formed in states. BJP and PDP have a coalition government in Jammu and   Kashmir.   The   Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition is the Government of the United Kingdom, formed after the 2010 General Election. In many democratic countries such as Germany, Belgium, India, Israel and Italy, a government by coalition of political parties is common today.

Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in UK