2019 - Indian General Elections - The World's Biggest Elections!

2019 - Indian General Elections

The World's Biggest Elections!

By - Lt Col D Purushothaman Pillay (Retd)

The 2019 Indian General Elections is scheduled to be held in 7 phases starting from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 in order to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. The counting of votes will be however be undertaken only on 23 May 2019 and on the same day, the results will be also be declared. In all 543 Members of Parliament (MPs) will be elected from single-member constituencies using the first-past-the-post voting process.

India is a Federal, Parliamentary, Democratic, Republic, which is governed under the Constitution of India, that clearly defines the distribution of power, between the union government and the various states governments that constitute the federation. The President of India is the Head of State, and the Prime Minister of India is the Head of Government.

Brief History

The Union Central Government of India is formed after nation-wide general elections are held every five years, by a party or coalition of parties that secure a majority of members in the Lok Sabha (House of the People). India had its first general election in 1951-52, which was won by the Indian National Congress, a political party that dominated subsequent elections until 1977 when in the 6th Lok Sabha, a non-Congress government led by the Janata Party was formed for the first time in independent India. Thereafter the 1990s saw the end of single-party domination and the advent of coalition governments. A slow churn in electoral politics witnessed the unprecedented emergence of a number of powerful, well-organized regional parties that were ably led by charismatic local leaders. Thus was born this new era of coalition politics which continues to this day.

Just for the record, the Lok Sabha was duly constituted for the first time on 2nd April 1952 after the 1st general election that was held from 25th October 1951 to 21st February 1952, it had taken a total of around 4 months to complete. The last 16th Lok Sabha was constituted on 4th June 2014.

Allocation of Constituencies

The Union of India is divided into 29 States and & 7 Union Territories, which are further sub-divided into Parliamentary Constituencies. The number, population, size, and shape of the Parliamentary Constituencies are determined, according to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, by an independent Delimitation Commission.

The maximum strength of the Lok Sabha allotted currently is 545 seats which are made up by 543 elected members and a maximum of 2 nominated members of the Anglo-Indian Community by the President of India. Out of this number 131 seats, which accounts for almost a quarter of the total 543 seats are Reserved seats, which can be further broken down to 84 representatives of Scheduled Castes (SC) and 47 from Scheduled Tribes (ST). That leaves 412 seats in the general unreserved category.

Election Process, Government Formation, and Selection of Prime Minister

Members of Lok Sabha or the lower house of India's Parliament are elected directly by citizens voting from a set of candidates from different parties, who stand for elections in their respective constituencies. To become a member of the Lok Sabha, a person should be a citizen of India, not less than 25 years of age and possess such other qualifications as may be prescribed by the applicable laws and amendments made by Parliament. India follows the system of universal adult franchise whereby every adult citizen of India is entitled to vote, but only from his designated constituency where he is officially registered as a voter. Candidates who win the Lok Sabha elections are called 'Member of Parliament' and hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers. The house meets in the hallowed chambers of the Lok Sabha at the Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi. Their primary task is legislative in nature. They transact all matters relating to the periodic creation of new legislation, that affects the lives of all the citizens of India. They also repeal redundant laws, revise and improve the existing laws to adapt to the changing times.

This uninterrupted governance process is initiated by general elections once in 5 years to elect 543 members for the Lok Sabha. A party needs 272 MPs to stake claim to form the Central Government. If a party doesn't have 272 MPs on its own, it can ally with other like-minded parties and form the government. The chosen leader of the successful party/alliance then takes oath as the Prime Minister of India.

Who Ensures The Proper Planning & Conduct Of Elections in India?

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a permanent, autonomous constitutional authority that is solely responsible for administering all the election processes in the polls to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, all the State Legislative Assemblies, and the offices of the President and Vice President, in India. The Election Commission operates under the authority of Article 324 of the Constitution of India, and provisions of the Representation of the People Act which was enacted in July 1951. The commission has been endowed with special powers, to act in an appropriate manner when the enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with unprecedented electoral situations. ECI is currently headed by a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) who is assisted by two Election Commissioners and 300 other permanent staff members who operate out of a Secretariat in New Delhi.

How is The Voting Conducted In a Polling Booth?

In India currently voting for all elections are done through Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). They have completely replaced the paper ballots in all local, state and general elections in India since 2018. To counter tampering possibility and enhance the transparency, and security of the electoral process the Election Commission decided to introduce EVMs with a Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system, in which the voter gets a confirmation of the registration of his choice and an auditable paper trail is also created, which can be verified later in case of a dispute.

Who can vote? The Count Of Eligible Voters for the 2019 General Elections?

The Constitution of India stipulates a system of 'universal suffrage', which entitles every adult citizen who has attained the age of 18 years, without any discrimination whatsoever on the basis of age, caste, color, creed, sex, religion, region, income, race, or ethnicity, the right to vote.

According to the Election Commission of India, out of our current population of 1.3 billion 900 million people are eligible to vote this year. This is 3 times the total population of the USA. This is an increase of 84.3 million voters since the last general election in 2014, making this the largest-ever election in the world.

15 million voters in the age group of 18-19 years are eligible to exercise their right to vote for the first time. In addition, 71,735 overseas voters have been enrolled in the electoral rolls for the 2019 General Elections.

A Few Fascinating Electoral Statistics

The Indian general elections have always been a goldmine for the statistically inclined, as it is the best example of the exercise of the democratic right, that is known to mankind. The sheer magnitude of this task that is scattered over wide geography for an extended period of time, throws up some staggering numbers. Here is my small selection of a few such fascinating figures.

Total Seats, States & Union Territories

Total seats 543

29 States with 530 seats

7 Union Territories with 13 seats

Total Polling Stations

In 2014, the Election Commission of India had set up a total of 927,553 polling stations across the length and breadth of India. They had ensured that, on an average, there was a polling station that served approximately 1000 voters each. By doing this they saw to it that no voter is more than 2 km away from a polling station.

This time around the total number of booths required is likely to cross 1 million mark, for the first time in the history of elections anywhere on this planet.

Deployment of Officials for Election Duty

Around a total of 7 million government officials and security forces are deployed, to ensure the free, fair and smooth conduct of this colossal electoral exercise. For establishing polling booths in remote locations these officials have been known to have traveled through forests, deserts and mountains by boats, helicopters, special trains, kuchcha roads and sometimes by bullock carts, camels and elephants as well.

Around 80,000 stations surveyed in the last elections in 2014 did not have any mobile connectivity, because nearly 20,000 of such booths were located in perilous forested or mountainous areas. An interesting anecdote worth recounting is the setting up of a polling station in the Gir Forest of Gujarat, which is home to Asiatic lions, just for one voter in the 2009 general elections.

Cost Of Conduct of General Elections

The Election Commission of India estimated that the cost of the entire process of conducting the general elections in 2014 was around Rs 38.7 billion or approximately $552 million in Dollar terms.

Total Duration From Polling to Results

Total 7 Phases of Polling starting from 11 Apr 2019 ending on 19 May 2019 = 39 days for 7 phases.

Counting on 23 May 2019. Polling to result duration is 39+4 = 43 days.

The reason for the above extended stagger from polling to results is a logistical one. Elections are necessitated to be executed in multiple phases, which generally take more than a month, because of the week-long gaps between the phases, in order to allow for the polling officials and a large number of Central security forces to re-deploy to different parts of the country, often by rail, for security purposes. However, the counting for all the 543 constituencies is done in a single day.

The Totals Seats, Days, Dates, Intervals, States & UTs involved in the 7 Phases of Polling

1st Phase = Seats 91 - Thursday, 11-04-2019  in 18 States & 2 UTs

7 Days Interval

2nd Phase =  Seats 97 - Thursday, 18-04-2019  in 12 States & 1 UT

5 Days Interval

3rd Phase =  Seats 115 - Tuesday,  23-04-2019  in 12 States & 2 UTs

6 Days Interval

4th Phase =   Seats 71 - Monday,  29-04-2019    in 9 States only

7 Days Interval

5th Phase =   Seats 51 - Monday,  06-05-2019    in 7 States only

6 Days Interval

6th Phase =   Seats 59 - Sunday,  12-05-2019    in 6 States & 1 UT

7 Days Interval

7th Phase =   Seats 59 - Sunday,  19-05-2019    in 7 States & 1 UT

Top 6 Battleground States

1. UP = 80 Seats

2. Maharashtra = 48 Seats

3. West Bengal = 42 Seats

4. Bihar = 40 Seats

5. Tamil Nadu = 39 Seats

6. Madhya Pradesh = 29 Seats

Interestingly the total electable seats in the Top 6 States designated as the battleground states are 278 (Average-46/State), which is 51% of the 543 seats, therefore maximum effort is dedicated for a good performance in these states. It makes the task of climbing over the magic mark of 272 to form a government, that much easier.

The remaining 265 seats are distributed as under:

UTs x 7 territories = 13 Seats (1. NCT Delhi = 7 + 2. Chandigarh, 3. Puducherry, 4. Lakshadweep, 5. Daman & Diu, 6. Dadra & Nagar Haveli & 7. A & N Islands = 1 each)

North East States x 8 states = 25 Seats (1. Assam = 14, + 2. Arunachal Pradesh, 3. Manipur, 4. Meghalaya, 5. Tripura = 2 each, + 6. Nagaland, 7. Mizoram & 8. Sikkim = 1 each)

Rest of the 15 States = 227 Seats (Average-17/State). One will also notice that 11 out of the remaining 23 states only have single digit seat allocations ranging between 1 to 6 seats.

The gap in the average seat per state between the battleground states and the rest, if rounded-off, is a whopping 30 seats.

Comparison of The Numbers of The Largest & Smallest Electorates

The country's largest electorate is in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which is the Hindi heartland, that has the fourth largest land area of 243,290 Sq Km which is administratively divided into 75 districts. However, with over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state in India. It, therefore, is privileged to send the largest share of MPs to the Lok Sabha that is 80. The associated statistics regarding the elections are given below:

No. of Polling Stations: 1,40,259

No. of Polling Station locations: 89399

Total Electors: 13,43,51,302

The country's smallest electorate is in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, that is located off the southwestern coast of India. This archipelago has a total of 36 islands out of which 10 are uninhabited, the sum total of the areas of all the islands is 32.69 Sq Km. Administratively this island enjoys the unique distinction of having only 1 District. Therefore, from these islands, only 1 MP is elected. The associated statistics regarding the elections are given below:

No. of Polling Stations: 43

No. of Polling Station locations: 27

Total Electors: 54,266

Statistics Regarding Parties & Candidates Of Last General Election in 2014

A total of 464 political parties big and small had participated in the 2014 elections.

These parties had fielded a total of 8251 candidates for the 543 seats.

The contest in the current elections is between the NDA led by BJP and the UPA led by INC.

Conclusion

You can see from the mind-boggling numbers of the various aspects of the electoral process that we have discussed above that the 2019 Indian General Elections is the biggest electoral battle on earth. The vibrancy of the Indian democracy will be on full view for everyone in the coming month and a half. I am proud of the wisdom and foresight shown by our founding fathers to create such an exemplary, perfect, time-tested, fail-safe and valuable electoral system, which ensures a free and fair election, with the active participation of one and all, without any discrimination of age, caste, color, creed, sex, religion, region, income, race, or ethnicity, to vote and elect their own representatives to the Central Government of India.

Indian elections are an example of participative democracy at its best. The country is also proud to have an autonomous commission with the logistical machinery in place to oversee the fairness of the process and timely results. Elections in India, are a true celebration of individual liberty, freedom of personal choice and validation of the unalienable democratic rights of a citizen. To sum up, the upcoming Lok Sabha elections can be seen as a "Festival of Democracy"!

Proud to be an Indian! Bharat Mata Ki Jai!

Jai Hind!