Description of Electoral System

(courtesy of IFES election guide)

The President is elected by electoral college to serve a 5-year term. In the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), 250 members are to serve 6-year terms. In the People's Assembly (Lok Sabha), 543 members are elected by popular vote to serve 5-year terms and 2 members are appointed by the president. Up to 12 seats are appointed by the president and the remaining members are chosen by elected members of the state and territorial assemblies.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for definitions

WANT MORE ELECTION RELATED STATS FOR INDIA? Go to "election databases" on the left-hand menu of this page OR comparative data on the right-hand menu and choose your area of interest.

Politics in India

(courtesy of wikipedia)

Politics of India takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of India is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Parliament of India. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

According to its constitution, India is a "sovereign social secular democratic republic;" the largest state with a democratically-elected government. Like the United States, India has a federal form of government, however, the central government in India has greater power in relation to its states, and its central government is patterned after the British parliamentary system. Regarding the former, the national government, can and has dismissed state governments if no majority party or coalition is able to form a government or under specific Constitutional clauses, and can impose direct federal rule known as President's rule.

Most Recent Elections

(courtesy of wikipedia)

General elections to the 15th Lok Sabha (directly elected House of the People) took place in five phases between April 16, 2009 - May 13, 2009. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by the Indian National Congress formed a government; being able to form a majority with support from 322 members out of the 543 members of the House. Manmohan Singh have thus become the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to be re-elected after having completed a full five year term. He was sworn back into office on May 22, 2009.

Past Elections

Source: "RECENT ELECTIONS." INDIA. Statesman’s Yearbook Online. Ed. Barry Turner. Palgrave 2008. International IDEA. <http://www.statesmansyearbook.com/welcome/entry?entry=countries_in.RECENT_ELECTIONS>

Presidential elections were held on 21 July 2007. Pratibha Patil (backed by the ruling United Progressive Alliance) was elected by federal and state legislators, with 638,116 votes (65·8%), against 331,306 (34·2%) for incumbent vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

Parliamentary elections were held in four phases between 20 April and 10 May 2004. Turnout was 57·9%. The Indian National Congress (INC) and its allies gained 217 seats and received 34·6% of votes cast (112 seats in 1999), with the INC winning 145 seats; the National Democratic Alliance gained 185 seats and received 35·3% of the vote (182 seats in 1999), with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning 138 seats; the Left Front (LF) won 59 seats; Samajwadi Party (SP) 36; Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 19; Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) 4; ind. 4; Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) 3. A total of ten other parties won either one or two seats and two members were nominated by the president.