The world's largest democracy, India’s parliament
is composed of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The Lok Sabha consists of directly elected incumbents
while the Rajya Sabha consists of indirectly elected
representatives. The term of the Lok Sabha is 5 years
whereas the Rajya Sabha is 6 years.
Lok Sabha
Each district is divided into constituencies based
on the population size. Political parties field candidates
in each constituency. India's universal adult suffrage
is 18 years. The minimum age for holding office is
25 years. There are a total of 545 seats in the Lok
Sabha of which 2 are nominated by the President.
Pre elections
Usually before the elections, like minded political
parties form alliances and have a seat sharing arrangement
in each state. The seat sharing arrangement means
that the alliance fields candidates of one party,
so as not to split the votes. The Election Commission,
a constitutional arm of the India, oversees the elections.
Due to the immense logistics involved, national elections
are held in phases spread out over a month. A few
months before the elections a code of conduct comes
into play during which the central and state governments
cannot announce any major sops to the electorate to
prevent any unfair swings in the voting pattern.
Candidates are required to declare their assets,
age, educational qualifications and criminal history.
Convicted criminals are debarred from standing in
the elections as well as disfranchised. Those under
trials may contest, but can be debarred if found guilty.
Voting Day
Campaigning ends the day before the voting day. Government
schools and colleges are chosen as the polling stations.
The day of the elections is declared a holiday and
all liquor shops and bars are shut down. The collector
of each district is in charge of polling. Government
servants are compulsorily roped in to many the polling
stations. Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are used
instead of ballot boxes to count the number of votes
polled.
Post elections
After the election day is over, the EVM’s are
stored in a strong room under heavy security. The
rooms are sealed completely so that not even a fly
can enter. After all the phases of the elections are
over, a day is set to count the votes. All electronically
done, the votes are tallied and the verdict is known
within a few hours. The candidate who has mustered
the most number of votes is declared the winner of
the constituency.
The party or coalition that has won the most number
of seats is invited by the President to form the new
government. The coalition or party must prove its
majority in the floor of the house (Lok Sabha) in
a vote of confidence by obtaining a simple majority
(minimum 50%) of the votes in the House.
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha consists of members elected by the
electoral college of India. The electoral college
consists of state elected members as well as Lok Sabha
members. The term of the Rajya Sabha is 6 years, but
is staggered with biennial elections to replace 1/3rd
of the candidates.
