Delimitation of Constituencies

Q.How many constituencies are there in India?

Ans: There are 543 constituencies in India.

Q.Is there any reservation of seats for any special category in Lok Sabha ? On what basis are these reservations made?

Ans: Yes. There are reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes(SC) and Scheduled Tribes(ST) in Lok Sabha. These reservations are made on the basis of proportion of SCs and STs in the state concerned to that of the total population.

Q.How many seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes(SC) and Scheduled Tribes(ST)in Lok Sabha?

Ans: Total of 79 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes(SC) and 41 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes(ST) in Lok Sabha.

Q.Which are the States having the minimum number of seats in Lok Sabha?

Ans: Below is the list of States/Union Territories which have only one seat each in the Lok Sabha Pondicherry, Chandigarh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Q.How many States are there in India?

Ans: There are 28 states in India. Here is the list. Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and West Bengal.

And there are Seven Union Territories in India. Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry.

Contesting in Elections

Q.Can a person who is not a citizen of India eligible be a candidate to contest the elections?

Ans: No. A person who is not a citizen of India cannot be a candidate to contest in elections.

Q.What is the min age to become a candidate either for Lok Sabha or Assembly election?

Ans: The minimum age for contesting for Lok Sabha is 25 years.

Q.I am not registered as a voter in any Constituency. Can I contest in the election?

Ans: No. A candidate contesting for election MUST be registered as a voter.

Q.If i am registered as a voter in Hyderabad, can I contest election to Lok Sabha from Karnataka or Gujarat?

Ans: Yes. If you are a registered voter in Hyderabad, you are eligible to contest in election to Lok Sabha from any constituency from India except Assam,Sikkim and Lakshadweep according to Section 4(c), 4(cc) and 4(ccc) of the R.P.Act, 1951.

Q.If a person is convicted of some offence and he/she is sentenced to jail for a period of 3 years. Can this person contest in the elections?

Ans: No. According to Section 8(3) of R.P.Act,1951, a person convicted of any offence and sentenced to an imprisonment of 2 years or more will be disqualification to contest the elections. Even if he/she is on bail, he/she is not supposed to contest.

Q.How much is the security deposit for Lok Sabha election?

Ans: Rs.10,000.00. A candidate is required to make this amount as security deposit. For SC/ST candidates the amount required as security deposit is Rs.5,000.00.

Q.How much is the security deposit for an Assembly election?

Ans: Rs.5,000.00. A candidate is required to make this amount as security deposit. For SC/ST candidates the amount required as security deposit is Rs.2,500.00.

Q.What does the term "Loosing Deposit" means?

Ans: A defeated candidate who fails to secure more than one sixth of the valid votes polled in the constituency will not get back his security deposit.

Q.At the time of nomination, how many proposers are needed by a candidate?

Ans: For a recognized national party or a state party, the requirement is only ONE. But, for an independent candidate, the requirement is TEN. Candidates generally don’t face these issues these days. Now-a-days politicians have so much following that they have at least few hundreds or even thousands following them at the time of nomination. These days it has become some sort of a fashion for our local politicians to go in big processions for such occasions. Election commission even has some code regarding the number of vehicles to be used for such public show off.

Q.Can a person contest elections for Lok Sabha from more than one(1) constituency?

Ans: YES. As per Section 33 (7) of R. P. Act, 1951, a person can contest for a max of two(2) constituencies for Lok Sabha election. Most of the politicians these days do contest from two constituencies to be on the safer side. Generally party presidents and party big wigs contest in more than one in order to make sure they don’t loose from the single seat they contest. And if they win in both the places, they need to resign in one of the places.

Q.How many voters are assigned to a polling station? How far can a polling station be from voter’s house?

Ans: Normally it will be around 800 to 1000 electors. In some exceptional cases, it may exceed 1000. When it exceeds 1200, auxiliary polling stations should be set up. The polling station should not be more than 2 kilometers from the voters home.

Q.Can you take a lift from and to polling station? Can you except money/liquor from a candidate or his followers?

Ans: Offering/excepting lift from and to polling station or offering/excepting money/liquor is offence and is punishable with imprisonment which may extend up to 3 months and/or with fine. Most of the politicians get elected these days only by distributing money and liquor during election times. It’s a known fact that without these two important commodities, it has become almost impossible to become an MLA or an MP.

Q.Can someone tell another person that he should/should not vote for a particular person, based on a particular religion or caste?

Ans: No. This is not a legal practice. But in reality most of the votes casted these days are only based on the basis of either religion or caste. Even seats in the center and assembly are distributed taking the same criteria. And also, the ministries are also given taking into consideration the caste and the religion. And even in assemblies and parliament, our great politicians only debate regarding their community, weather it is the caste or the religion.

Q.How much is the expenditure limit for an MP constituency in bigger states like AP, UP, MP and Bihar?

Ans: In bigger states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the limit of expenditure for MP constituency is Rs.25 lakhs.

Q.What is the max expenditure limit for MLA constituency in these bigger States?

Ans: For MLA constituencies for bigger states, the limit of expenditure is Rs.10 lakhs.

Q.Regarding expenditure, are there uniform limits for all the States?

Ans: No. These limits vary from State to State. Anyway, who cares. These limits are only for election commission to set norms. No one bothers about any of the norms or the limits. Every loop hole is utilized to break these rules.

Q.Regarding expenditure, are there uniform limits for all the States?

Ans: No. These limits vary from State to State. Anyway, who cares. These limits are only for election commission to set norms. No one bothers about any of the norms or the limits. Every loop hole is utilized to break these rules.

Q.What is the deadline after which no public meetings and processions can be taken out?

Ans: No public meetings or processions should be held during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the conclusion of poll.

Q.Can I cast my Dad’s vote with his consent?

Ans: No. This is an offence and is punishable with imprisonment. C’mon man. Why do you want to poll for someone else. Be early to the polling booth or else you may not be in a position to exercise your own vote.

Q.If by mistake, if your name is included in more than one place Can you vote more than once?

Ans: No. No one is allowed to vote for more than once. If they do, they can be punished.

Electoral Rolls

Q.What is the minimum age limitation to cast a vote? Are there any relaxations under special circumstances?

Ans: Minimum age for registration of a voter is 18 years. There are no relaxations in this regard. Previously, the minimum age was 21, but effective from 1989, this has been relaxed to 18 years of age.

Q.Can a person who is not a citizen of India vote?

Ans: NO. A person who is not a citizen of India should not/cannot vote.

Q.Can anyone enroll from more than one place?

Ans: NO. A person cannot be enrolled as a voter in more than one place in the same constituency or in more than one constituency.

Election Machinery

Q.Who conducts elections for Parliament (MP)?

Ans: Election Commission of India(ECI).

Q.Who is responsible for conducting elections for State Legislative Assemblies(MLA) and Legislative Councils(MLC)?

Ans: Election Commission of India(ECI).

Q.Who is responsible for conducting elections to Corporations and Municipalities?

Ans: State Election Commissions(SEC).

Q.How many members are there in the Election Commission?

Ans: Three members. It’s a three member team with one Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.

Q.What is the status of Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners in terms of salaries?

Q.Who appoints Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners?

Ans: President of India.

Q.Who responsibility is it to supervises the elections work in a State?

Ans: Chief Electoral Officer(CEO).

Q.Who appoints Chief Electoral Officer?

Ans: Election Commission of India(ECI).

Q.Who responsibility is it to supervises the election work at District level?

Ans: District Election Officer(DEO).

Q.Who appoints the District Election Officer?

Ans: Election Commission of India(ECI).

Q.Who appoints the Returning Officer?

Ans: Election Commission of India(ECI).

Q.Who conducts the poll at a polling station?

Ans: A Presiding Officer with the assistance of polling officers conducts the poll at a polling station.

Q.Who appoints Presiding Officers and Polling Officers?

Ans: District Election Officer(DEO).

Q.Who appoints Observers?

Ans: Election Commission of India(ECI).

Electronic Voting Machine(EVM)

Q.What is an Electronic Voting machine? In what way its functioning is different from the conventional system of voting?

Ans: EVM or Electronic Voting Machine enables votes to cast their vote by pressing the blue button on a symbol of his/her choice.

Q.When did India first started using Electronic Voting machine (EVM)?

Ans: They were first used it in MLA elections held in Nov, 1998 for 16 Assembly Constituencies in the States of MP, Delhi and Rajasthan.

Q.How can EVM be used in areas where there is no electricity?

Ans: This EVM runs on an ordinary 6 volts alkaline battery. Hence, they can be used in the areas where there is no supply of power.

Q.What is the max number of candidates which EVM can cater to? What if the limits is exceeded?

Q.What is the situation if the EVM in a polling booth malfunctions? Do we need to start over the entire polling process again?

Ans: Definitely the entire polling can be done again. A polling officer will be on duty to cover about 10 polling stations on the polling day. Polling officer will be equipped with an extra EVM and the problematic EVM will be replaced with new one and the votes recorded until the stage will be safe in the memory of the Control Unit. Our desperate politicians are finding it hard to get some people to the polling booths and vote in favor of them. They use every means to bring those responsible citizens to the locations on the important day. They give them money, they pour liquor and what else, anything this “ed dhin ka maharaj” wants. Afterall, “voter is god” to them till the polling day. And if EVM start a trouble and if this voter maharaj needs to come again to the polling booth, it will cost once again for our poor candidate dearly. So, guys who are supposed to take care of the EVMs, be careful and don’t let those machine break down.

Q.Who is behind the design and the manufacturing of these Electronic Voting Machines(EVM) in India? Are they fool proof?

Ans: The EVM have been designed by Election Commission of India in India with help from Bharat Electronics Ltd,Bangalore and ECIL,Hyderabad. Thorough testing has been conducted in various test conditions. To cater to our Indian use, these EVMs are manufactured by these two Public Sector undertakings.

Q.India has majority of the population without even basic education. Don’t you think these Electronic gadgets will confuse these illiterates and the village folks?

Ans: Keeping this fact into consideration, voting on Electronic voting machines have been designed simpler compared to the conventional ballot box manual voting system. In Electronic voting machines (EVM), all that the voter has to do is to simply press the blue button for the symbol of his/her choice and the vote casted.

Q.Booth capturing is still a common thing in many parts of India. Are these Electronic Voting Machines(EVM) designed and manufactured to handle this?

Ans: Electronic Voting Machine(EVM) is designed in such a way that only five(5) votes can be casted in a time span of one minute. And as conventional ballot boxes, data is not lost when these anti social element burn or damage these Electronic Voting Machine(EVM).

Q.Can we use these Electronic Voting Machines(EVM) for both Parliament(MP) elections and State Legislative(MLA) Assembly at the same time?

Ans: Yes. We can use Electronic Voting Machines(EVM) for elections for Parliament(MP) and State Legislative Assembly(MLA) at the same time. Infact, this 2009 general election, this Electronic Voting Machines(EVM) are used for such purpose in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim.

Q.Advantages of Electronic Voting Machines(EVM)?

Ans: Announcement of result is quick. The entire result can be declared in 2 to 3 hours time as compared to 1 or 2 days in the manual ballot box process. Printing cost is reduced and lots of paper is saved in this process. There won’t be any invalid votes in this process. So, keeping all this points into consideration, the Electronic Voting Machines(EVM) are definitely far better compared to the ordinary ballot box voting.

Q.There is some misunderstanding in the general public that by using EVMs, the polling will be slow?

Ans: Definitely not. Actually, it’s the reverse. This way we can speed up the process. While using Electronic Voting Machines(EVM), we just need to press one green button, while in the manual ballot box method, one needs to stamp, fold and put it in a box.

Q.From the old ballot boxes, counting is done only after mixing the ballot papers. Do they do the same thing while using EVMs?

Ans: Mixing system of counting is done only in those constituencies specially notified by the Election Commission. Even in such cases, the result from each EVM can be fed into a Master Counting Machine in which case, only the total result of an Assembly Constituency will be known and not the result in each individual polling station.

Q.How long can the result be stored in the Control Unit’s memory?

Ans: The result of the poll can be stored in the control unit for more than ten years.

Q.Can a voter cast his vote more than once by pressing the green button again and again?

Ans: No. When the voter presses the button of his choice once, it will be recorded as one vote and the system gets locked and further vote will be recorded there after. Its only “One vote per person”.

Q.How can voter make sure that his vote has be cast using the Electronic Voting machine(EVM)?

Ans: After the voter presses blue button of his/her choice of symbol, a small lamp on the left side of the that symbol will glow red along with a long beep sound. Both these audio and visual indications will assure the voter that his vote is cast.

Q.There is a rumor going around that because of some short circuit or because of some other malfunctioning, few of the voters got electric shock while pressing the vote button?

Ans: Practically it is not possible. These Electronic Voting Machines(EVM) use a 6 volts battery and these batteries can never produce shock.

Q.How difficult is it to transport these Electronic Voting machines(EVM) to and from the polling station?

Ans: It is much easier to transport these machines compared to the conventional ballot boxes.

Q.How do we make sure that there are no hidden votes in the EVM before the polling starts? We know that this method is followed in the ballot box system?

Ans: Before the poll starts, the officer in charge will show the polling agents that there are no hidden votes by pressing a reset button. And also a mock poll will be done by asking the polling agents to cast their votes and the result will be shown to them. Once the polling agents are satisfied, the officer will clear the votes before the actual voting takes place.

Q.How do we make sure that no further vote are recorded after the close of the poll?

Ans: Soon after the last vote is cast, the Polling Officer will press the 'Close' Button in the Control Unit. After that the EVM will not accept any votes. And also, soon after the close of polls, the Balloting Unit is disconnected from the Control Unit and separated. At the close of the poll, Polling Officer will hand over to each polling agent an account of votes recorded. At the time of counting of votes, the total will be compared with this account and if there is any discrepancy, this will be pointed out by the Counting Agents.

Counting and declaration of result

Q. Who responsibility is it to count the number of votes and to declare the result of an election?

Ans: It is the duty of the “Returning Officer” to count and declare the result. The votes are counted under his supervision and once the counting is done, he declares the result.

Q. After all the results are declared whose responsibility is it to constitute the new Lok Sabha?

Ans: It is the responsibility of the “Election Commission of India”.