Election, Political Parties And Pressure Groups Online Test 9th Social Science Lesson 6 Questions in English

An Election is a formal decision making process by which the people chooses an Individual to hold public office by voting.

The electoral system in India has been adapted from the system followed in the United Kingdom.

India is a Democratic and Republic country. It is the largest Democracy in the world.

The Articles 324 to 329 in part XV of the Indian Constitution makes the provisions for the Electoral System in the Country.

Article 324 of the Indian constitution provides for an Independent Election Commission which is a Constitutional Body of India. This ensures the people for free and fair elections in the country.

The Election Commission was formally constituted on January 25th 1950, a day before India became as Sovereign, Democratic, Republic country.

The First chief Election Commissioner of India was Shri Sukumar Sen was appointed on March 21st, 1950.

The Election Commission functioned as a Single Member body from 1950 to 1989. On October 16th 1989 it was converted into a three member body.

At present, the commission consists of a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. They are given the same salary and allowances as of a Judge of a Supreme Court. All the three commissioners have equal powers in decision making.

The Term of office for both the Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners are 6 years or till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

To provide the framework for the conduct of elections, Parliament passed the first Act on May 12th 1950 based on the Representation of people's Act 1950 providing the preparation of Electoral rolls for the conduct of elections to both Houses of parliament and Vidhan Sabaha’s for the State.

In order to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process, Government of India has decided to celebrate January 25 every year as National Voters day. It has been started from January 26, 2011 to mark Commission's foundation day.

At the national level, the Head of the Government, the Prime Minister is elected by the members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India.

Voters verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is the way forward to enhance credibility and Transparency of the Election process.

NOTA was first Introduced in General Elections of India, 2014.

NOTA were first introduced in the General Elections held in 2014. India is the 14th country in the world to introduce NOTA.

For the first and second general Elections in 1951-51 and 1957 the Election Commission adopted the Balloting System of voting. Every candidate was allotted a separate ballot box at each polling station.

At that time of first general Elections in 1951-52, the Commission had recognised 14 political parties as multi state parties and 39 parties as the State Parties.

The rule 49-O was a rule in the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 of India. It describes the procedure to be followed when a valid voter decides not to cast his vote and decides to record this fact.

In India the Elections are classified into two types: Direct and Indirect Elections.

The Direct elections in which people over the age of 18 participate in the electoral process by casting their votes in the Lok sabha elections, Elections to the State Legislative Assemblies and in the Local Governing body elections like Municipal Corporation or the panchayat elections.

Indirect Elections the voters elect their representatives, who in turn elect their representatives to formal offices. These types of elections are less expensive and it is more suited for election process in large countries.

If the number of voters is very small in an Indirect election system there exists a possibility of corruption, bribery, horse trading and other unfair activities.

The Article 54 of Part V of the Indian constitution states that The President shall be elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both Houses of parliament and the State Legislative members. Article 55 discusses about the Manner of election of the President.

Political parties are an essential part of Democracy. Parties are the link between Government and the people.

A political party is an n organisation formed by a group of people with a certain ideology and agenda to contest in the elections and hold the power in the government. A political party has three important components.

Any political party must have a Leader to preside over the party and Active members to reach the people with their Ideas and Ideologies. Followers are also important to a political system.

Single party system has only one ruling party and no opposition party is permitted. China, Cuba and the former USSR are the examples for the Single party system.

A State party is recognised as a national party if it is recognised in at least four states. Every party in the country has to register with the Election Commission. It offers some special facilities to state and national parties.

There are three types of party system in the world Single party system China, Cuba and the former USSR Two-party system USA UK Multi party system India Srilanka France Italy

As per the recent publications from the Election Commission of India, the total number of parties registered was 2599 with 8 national parties and 53 State parties and 2538 unrecognised parties. This listing is according to the 2019 Indian general Elections and legislative assembly Elections.

A party will be eligible for recognition as State party if it secures 8% or more than the total valid vote’s pollen in the State.

For getting recognition as national party, a party has to fulfil any one of the following criteria At least 6% votes in at least four states and members to the Lok sabha. In the Elections of Lok sabha, at least 2% members from at least three states are elected to Lok sabha.

There are various functionalities for a political party. Some of them are, Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. They form and run the governments. Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of Opposition to the party or group of coalition parties in power. They shape the public opinion by raising and highlighting the important issues of the public.

The 52nd Amendment Act of the year 1985 which is also called as Anti Defection law added the 10th Schedule of the Indian constitution. This amendment made changes in the Articles 101,102,190,191. It laid down the process by which Legislators may be disqualified on the grounds of defection.

The leader of the opposition party occupies a prominent place in all democratic forms of the government. He enjoys the rank of a Cabinet Minister. He opposes the wrong policies of the ruling party which affects the general public.

The Opposition party Leader enjoys the rank of a Cabinet Minister and he plays an important role in the selection of the Chairman and the members of the Central Vigilance Commission, Chairperson and members of the Information Commission. The opposition parties reflect genuine demands and concern of the people to play a constructive role in a democracy.

The Pressure Groups is a group of people who are organised actively for promoting and defending their common interests. It is so called as it attempts to bring a change in the public policy by exerting pressure on the government. They are different from the Political parties’ in that they neither contest elections nor try to capture political power.

The Pressure groups are also called as Interest Groups or Vested Groups.

The Pressure groups are well developed in the USA or the Western countries like Britain, France, and Germany and so on.

The Pressure groups in India can be broadly classified into the following ten categories.

Pressure groups carry out a range of functions, including representation, political participation, education, Policy formation and policy implementation.

Pressure Groups are Interest groups that work to secure certain interest by influencing the public policy. They are non-aligned with any political party and work as an Indirect yet powerful group to influence the policy decisions.

Pressure groups can be called the Informal face of politics. The political participation of pressure groups have been particularly attracts the young people.

Pressure Groups exert influence precisely by mobilising popular support through activities such as petitions, marches, demonstrations and other forms of political protest.

Though the Pressure groups themselves are not policy makers, yet it does not prevent many of them from participating in the policy making process.

Many of the pressure Groups provide significant resources by carrying out researches, maintaining websites and commenting on Government policy and using High profile Academics, scientists to cultivate expert authority. They are also plays vital sources of Information and render advice to the government and regularly consulted in the process of policy formulation.

Mobilising people towards socially productive activities that lead to the overall betterment of people’s lives is essential. Sometimes earthquakes, Tsunamis and floods on a massive scale occur and people’s immediate mobilisation for emergency relief becomes most essential.

Democratic Participation of local groups and even every citizen can take action in supporting tax and revenue collecting systems, observance of national norms in cleanliness and hygiene. There is no better form of government than a Democratic government.