Merits and Demerits of Direct and Indirect Elections

In direct elections, people directly vote for the candidates and elect their representatives. The following are examples of direct elections in which people over the age of 18 years participate by casting their votes:

• Lok Sabha elections, in which the Members of Parliament (MP) are elected.
• Elections to the state Legislative Assembly, in which the Members of Legislative Assemblies(MLAs) are elected.
• Elections to the local governing bodies, in which members of the local governing bodies like the municipal corporation or the panchayat is elected.

Merits of direct elections in India

• As the voters elect their representatives directly, direct elections are considered to be a more democratic method of election.
• It educates people regarding the government activities and helps in choosing appropriate candidates. Also, it encourages people to play an active role in politics.
• It empowers people and make the rulers accountable for their actions.

Demerits of direct elections

• Direct elections are very expensive. It incurs huge expenditure on the public exchequer. For example in the nine phased 2014 Lok Sabha elections, a whopping 30,000 crore was spent by the government, political parties and candidates. Out of which, the Election Commission alone spent 3,426 crores.
• Illiterate voters sometimes gets misguided by false propaganda and sometimes vote taking in to caste, religious and various other sectarian considerations. This may result in the election of undeserving candidates. There are also instances of Cash for vote
• Since conducting direct elections are a massive exercise, ensuring free and fair elections at all the polling booths may not be possible. There are some instances of booth capturing, violence, intimidation of election officials etc. which undermines the credentials of the election process.
• Role of money power in direct elections cannot be negated. There are instances of some political candidates influencing the voters through payments in the form of cash, goods, or services. Poor voters expect bribes from political candidates during election time. This in turn leads to wide scale corruption and malpractices. It is a well known fact that money power has the potential to swing at least some elections. These practices are a regular feature of elections in South India especially in the states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
• Election campaigns sometimes results in violence, tension, law and order problems and affects the day to day life of people.

Indirect elections

In Indirect elections voters elect their representatives who in turn elect their representatives to the formal offices like the President’s office. Simply put, public do not cast their votes directly. Instead, they put the responsibility on the hands of their representatives, whom they elected through direct elections. In India, election to elect members of both the Rajya Sabha and the state legislative councils and the elections to the offices of President and vice president are held through indirect elections.

Merits of Indirect elections

• Indirect elections are less expensive.
• It is more suited to elections in large countries.

Demerits of Indirect elections

• Since the number of voters are very small. There exists possibility of corruption, bribery, horse trading etc.
• It is less democratic because people do not have direct opportunity to elect, they instead do through their representatives. So, this may not reflect the true will of the people.