Universal Adult Suffrage in India

The right of the people to vote and elect their representatives is called franchise. Adult franchise means that the right to vote should be given to all adult citizens without the discrimination of caste, class, colour, religion or sex. It ..

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 ..

Restriction on Number of Seats to Contest in Elections in India

Section 33(7) of the RPA permits a candidate to contest any election (parliamentary, assembly, biennial council, or bye-elections) from up to two constituencies, presumably to accord greater flexibility to candidates and increase their chances of winning a seat. Sub-section (7) ..

Compulsory Voting In India: Issues and Analysis

The idea of making voting compulsory in response to declining voter turnout in elections have been debated for many years. This section attempts to cover the issue of compulsory voting and its implementation in detail. Attempts in the past to ..

Opinion Polls in India and ECI Guidelines

Pre-election opinion polls and exit polls have become a regular feature in the last one and half decades within the Indian electoral landscape. Opinion polls are conducted by polling agencies and disseminated widely by the electronic and print media ECI ..

Determinants of Voting Behavior in India

Voting behavior reflect the ways in which people tend to vote in public elections and why they vote in that particular way. It also reflects the voter’s choices, preferences, ideologies, concerns, alternatives etc. Article 326 of the Indian Constitution grants ..

Issue of Bringing Political Parties under RTI

In June 2013, CIC via an order had declared the political parties as public authorities and brought them under the RTI Act. It also asked them to appoint appellate bodies to answer RTI queries.  Under Section 2(h) of the RTI ..

Whip In India

Whip is an official appointed to maintain discipline among, secure attendance of, and give necessary information to, members of his party. The other functions are as follows: Serve as channel of communication between party and its members Gauge the opinion ..

Anti-defection Law & 10th Schedule Explained

Anti-Defection Law is contained in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which was introduced by the 52nd Amendment in 1985 during tenure of Rajiv Gandhi. Earlier, 10th schedule was related to association of Sikkim with India. Once, Sikkim became full fledged ..

First Past the Post (FPTP) and Proportional Representation (PR) Debate

Under First Past the Post (FPTP) system, a candidate who gets one vote more than other candidate (who comes second) is declared as winner. In proportional representation, number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate ..