Elections in India

Elections in India include elections for the Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, the Legislative Assemblies and numerous other Councils and local bodies.

According to the Constitution of India, elections for the Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies should take place every five years, unless a state of emergency has been declared. Any vacancy caused by death or resignation must be filled through an election within six months of occurrence of such a vacancy. The elections to the lower houses (in Parliament and in the states) use the first past the post system (i.e., the candidate with the majority of the votes wins the election).

Elections to one-third of the seats of the upper house of the Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, are conducted every two years. The members of the upper house are elected indirectly by the state legislative assemblies on the basis of proportional representation. Members of the state legislative councils (in states having an upper house) are elected indirectly through local bodies.

All the elections at the central and state level are conducted by the Election Commission of India while local body elections are conducted by state election commissions. The recommendation is made by the Government and the notification for election is issued by the Election Commission.

The 2014 general election involved an electorate of 863,500,000 people. It was conducted in nine stages. The expenditure for the 2014 election was approximately 3765 crore. The cost per voter was Rs 1375. Votes were cast using over one million electronic voting machines.