Elections in India
(My World And I)
EXERCISES
A. Fill in the blanks.
1. Every Constituency elects its own representative for the government.
2. The Election Commission is an independent organization.
3. In India the voting age is 18(eighteen) years and above.
4. The political party that has the most winning candidates forms the government.
5. The Opposition is made up of those elected members whose party did not win the election.
B. Choose the correct answer.
1. Constituencies for national elections are bigger/smaller that constituencies for state elections.
2. Election symbols are special signs given to each political party/signs we use in maths.
3. The Election Commission/President is responsible for making sure that people can vote freely.
4. In an electronic voting machine people write on paper/press a button to choose their candidate.
5. The ink used to mark the finger of a voter comes off easily/takes many days to fade.
C. Match the following.
=
|
A |
B |
|---|---|
|
1. electoral roll |
a. a part of a country or state which has its own
elected representative. [3] |
|
2. polling booth |
b. a person who stands for election. [5] |
|
3. constituency |
c. issued by the Election Commission to registered
voters. [4] |
|
4. voter ID card |
d. the place where people go to vote. [2] |
|
5. candidate |
e. contains the names of all registered voters. [1] |
D. The election in your class.
Write a paragraph about the election process in your class. Include these points:
1. Did the groups choose good candidates?
2. Did these candidates give good reasons why they should be elected?
3. Whom did you vote for and why?
4. Which is better - the teacher appoints a class captain or the class chooses a captain? Why?
= Our class was divided into three groups or parties - the Red Party, the Green Party and the Orange Party. Each party had to choose a student as their candidate who will stand for election. The candidates and their parties discussed why he or she would make a good captain. The candidates made speeches asking for votes and explained it why. On election day, on a piece of paper, we all had to write the name of the person of our choice and submit it to the class teacher. Then the class teacher counted and announced the name of the student who got the maximum number of votes.
All the groups chose the most deserving candidate who was fond of maximum students of the class. They pitched us with most possible reasons to give vote to the concerned candidates. I voted for the Green Party candidate as the he was studious, punctual and intelligent. He had all qualities of a leader.
It is better that the class chooses a captain by voting. Because the teacher is always attracted by the student he is fond of. He may not be good for all the class.
E. Answer the following questions.
1. What is a political party?
= A political party is a group of people who have the same ideas about how a government should work.
2. Why do candidates make speeches to the people of their constituency?
= The candidates ask the people to vote for them through speeches.
3. Why do you think that voting is done by a secret ballot?
= I think that voting is done by a secret ballot, to keep the privacy of the opinion of the voters.
4. Explain which political party forms the government after an election and what the role of the other parties is.
= The Election Commission organizes the counting of votes and announces the results. The EVMs make it easy to count the votes, so the election result is usually declared quite quickly. The candidate who gets the most votes in a constituency is elected as the representative of the people of the constituency.
After a few days, the new Lok Sabha or the new Legislative Assembly meets. The members are elected for 5 years. The party with the most members in the house chooses a leader who will be the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister. This party forms the government. The members of the other parties form the Opposition. It is their responsibility to ask the government questions about its policies.
5. Who has power in a democracy? Why?
= The people or the public has the power in a democracy. They elects the representatives by voting.
Elected members face another election after 5 years. If they do not carry out the promises they made, they may not get re-elected. It is the responsibility of the public to be aware of how their elected representatives are carrying out their duties and to vote accordingly in the next election. This is what makes the people of a country powerful in a democracy.
6. Why is it the duty of citizens to vote? Explain in a few sentences.
= Many registered voters do not vote. One reason is that they think that their vote will not make a difference among many millions of votes. However, if enough people feel that something is important - for example protection of the environment - and they all vote for candidates who promise to protect it, their vote will definitely make a difference. Therefore, it is the duty of citizens of voting age to make sure that they register their names with the Election commission and to vote in every election. They must make their choice very carefully after thinking about each candidate and the promise made.