Things You Should Know About Elections

The world’s largest democratic election exercise, the Lok Sabha Election 2019 has begun already. The members of 17th Lok Sabha will be chosen through the General Elections 2019. That the 2019 election will make a major part of current affairs this year, Adda247 will be providing you with quizzes based on it. Here is all you need to know about elections conducted in India:

2019 Indian General Election

The 2019 Indian general election is scheduled to be held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. The counting of votes will be conducted on 23 May, and on the same day, the results will be declared.

Election Commission of India

The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes in India. The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Council in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country.  The commission has the powers under the Constitution, to act in an appropriate manner when the enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with a given situation in the conduct of an election. Being a constitutional authority, Election Commission is amongst the few institutions which function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country’s higher judiciary, the Union Public Service Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

Electoral System

All 543 elected MPs will be elected from single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post voting. The President of India nominates additional two members from the Anglo-Indian community if he believes the community is under-represented.

First-past-the-post voting

A first-past-the-post (FPTP and sometimes abbreviated to FPP) electoral system is one in which voters indicate on a ballot the candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes wins.

Electronic Voting Machines

Electronic Voting Machines (“EVM”) are being used in Indian General and State Elections to implement electronic voting in part from 1999 elections and recently in 2018 state elections held in five states across India. EVMs have replaced paper ballots in local, state and general (parliamentary) elections in India. There were earlier claims regarding EVMs’ tamparability and security which have not been proved.[1][2][3][4] After rulings of Delhi High Court, Supreme Court[5] and demands from various political parties,[6] Election Commission decided to introduce EVMs with voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) system.

VVPAT

Voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verifiable paper record (VPR) is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results. 

Model Code of Conduct

Election Commission of India’s Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for the conduct of political parties and candidates during elections mainly with respect to speeches, polling day, polling booths, portfolios, election manifestos, processions and general conduct. These set of norms has been evolved with the consensus of political parties who have consented to abide by the principles embodied in the said code in its letter and spirit.

17th Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house of India’s bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies, and they hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the council of ministers. Members of the 17th Lok Sabha will be elected following the 2019 Indian general election.