9th Class (CBSE) Social Science: Electoral Politics

Question: Which Movement was launched by Chaudhary Devilal?

Answer: Chaudhary Devilal led a movement called ‘Nyaya dhish’ (struggle for justice).

Question: How many seats were won by lok dal in Assembly elections of 1987?

Answer: Lok Dal and its partners won 76 out of 90 seat inn the state Assembly. Lok dal alone won 60 seats and thus had a clear majority in the Assembly elections.

Question: Why do most democrats rule through representatives?

Answer: It is not possible for everyone to have the time and knowledge to take decisions on all matters. Therefore in most democracies people rule through their representation.

Question: What are elections?

Answer: It is a mechanism by which people can choose their representatives at regular intervals, and change them if they wish to do so.

Question: “Elections are considered essential for any representative democracy”. Why?

Answer:

1. In a representative democracy, people rule through their representatives.
2. It gives an opportunity to the people to decide, who will make laws for them.

Question: What is a constituency?

Answer: For elections, the entire country is divided into fixed electoral areas with a body of registered voters. These areas are called constituencies.

Question: Mention any two disadvantages of having political competition.

Answer:

1. It creates a sense of disunity and factionalism.
2. Parties and candidates often use dirty tricks to win elections.

Question: What is the importance of electoral competition ?

Answer:

1. 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.
2. If a political party is motivated only by desire to be in power, even then, it will be forced to serve the people.

Question: What is an Electoral Roll or Voter’s List? What is its importance?

Answer: It is a list which carries the names of the persons who are eligible to vote.
It is important because a voter can caste his/her vote if his/her name is in the voter’s list.

Question: What is Universal Adult Franchise?

Answer: Every citizen of India who is 18 years of age or above has the right to vote without any discrimination of caste, creed, color, sex, religion etc.

Question: What kind of people can he denied to vote in India?

Answer: Some criminals and persons with unsound mind.

Question: Mention any two points relating to the Model Code of Conduct for election campaigns.

Answer:

1. No candidate can use any place of worship for election propaganda.
2. No party can use government vehicle for elections.

Question: What is the difference between a voter and a candidate?

Answer:

1. Voter: A person who elects the candidates is a voter. All the citizens, who attain the age of 18 years become voters.
2. Candidate: A person who contests the election is known as a candidate. In order to be a candidate, the minimum age is 25 years.

Question: What is an EVM?

Answer: It is an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) which is used to record votes. The machine shows the names of the candidates and the symbols.

Question: What is the importance of elections in a democracy?

Answer:

1. Elections are the axis of democracy.
2. If the government is not working according to the wishes of the people, the voters can change it through elections.

Question: Define Election Commission.

Answer: The entire process of elections in our country is conducted, controlled and supervised by an independent body called the Election Commission.

Question: Mention two functions of the Election Commission.

Answer:

1. It grants recognition to political parties.
2. It allots symbols to candidates and political parties.

Question: Who appoints the Chief Election Commissioner?

Answer: The President of India.

Question: Mention any two provisions which ensure the independence of the Election Commission.

Answer:

1. The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is appointed by the President of India. But once appointed, he/she is not answerable to the President or the Government.
2. It has a fixed tenure of five years.

Question: What is ballot paper? Name the machine by which these papers have been replaced.

Answer: A ballot paper is a sheet of paper on which the names of the contesting candidates along with the party name and symbols are sifted. These are being replaced by the electronic voting machines.

Question: Why are the candidates required to give a detailed statement of their property and other details?

Answer:

1. This provides an opportunity to the voters to make their decisions and to choose the right candidate.
2. The candidates also provide details of the assets and liabilities. Through this, the voters can judge how much the candidate has earned from one election to another.

Question: When government officers work in election duty, are they under the control of the Election Commission or the Government ? Give reason.

Answer: They work under the control of Election Commission. This is done to conduct free and fair elections, so that the party in power is not in a position to misuse the government machinery.