Question

What are the merits and demerits of election system in India?

Answer 1

Explanation:

The merits of electoral competition are given below:

(i) Regular electoral competition provides incentives to political parties and leaders. They know that if they raise issues that people want to be raised, their popularity and chances of victory will increase in the next elections. But if they fail to satisfy the voters with their work they will not be able to win again. So, if a political party is motivated only by desire to be in power, even then it will be forced to serve the people.

(ii) Political competition may cause divisions and some ugliness, but it finally helps to force political parties and leaders to serve the people.

Merits and Demerits of Direct and Indirect Ele

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.

Answer 2

Some merits and demerits of the election system in India are as follows.

Merits.

1. Largest known democracy- India is the largest known democracy in the world. the advantages of this can be seen during the voting times.
2. No voice suppression- nobody's voice is suppressed in India. You have the right to vote and vote freely according to your will.

Demerits.

1. Majorities- In a lot of places in India we face the problem of majorities and minorities.
2. Dictatorship in villages- there are some Villages out of touch from actual India. these face serious dictatorship at times.