POLITICS IN INDIA

India is a democracy. Before its independence its future leaders chose the understanding democratic system as the government system of India. On 26/01/1950, India declared itself as Republic. On this day, the Constitution of India came into force. Today, India is a coalition of 28 states and 7 union territories and formally this coalition is known as a Union. At present, India is the largest democracy in the world. It has the biggest number of people with licensed rights and the largest number of political parties, which take part in election campaign. The detailed Indian political system is explained hereby: 

THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

The head of state in India is the President. This is normally a ceremonial role, the main objectives being to "advise, encourage and warn" the elected government on constitutional matters. The President can return a Parliamentary Bill once for reconsideration and, in times of crisis such as a hung Parliament, the role is critical. The President can declare a state of emergency which enables the Lok Sabha to extend its life beyond the normal five-year term.

As members of an electoral college, around 4,500 members of the national parliament and state legislators are eligible to vote in the election of the President. The Indian Presidency has recently attracted special attention because for the first time a woman now occupies the role: Pratibha Patil who was formerly governor of the northern Indian state of Rajasthan.

There is also the post of Vice-President who is elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of both houses of parliament. The Vice-President chairs the upper house called the Rajya Sabha.

The head of the government is the Prime Minister who is appointed by the President on the nomination of the majority party in the lower house or Lok Sabha. Currently the Prime Minister is Manmohan Singh of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

Ministers are then appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and these ministers collectively comprise the Council of Ministers.

THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

The lower house in the Indian political system is the Lok Sabha or House of the People. As set out in the Constitution, the maximum size of the Lok Sabha is 552 members, made up of up to 530 members representing people from the states of India, up to 20 members representing people from the Union Territories, and two members to represent the Anglo-Indian community if it does not have adequate representation in the house according to the President.

Currently the size of the house is 545 – made up of 530 elected from the states, 13 elected from the territories, and two nominated from the Anglo-Indian community. By far the largest state representation is that of Uttar Pradesh with 80 members. At the other end of the scale, three states have only one representative each. There are certain constituencies where only candidates from scheduled casts and scheduled tribes are allowed to stand.

Each member – except the two nominated ones – represents a geographical single-member constituency as in the British model for the House of Commons.

POLITICAL PARTIES

For most of the years since independence, the central government has been guided by the Indian National Congress (INC).The two largest political parties have been the INC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Although the two parties have dominated Indian politics, regional parties also exist…

CURRENT POLITICAL AGENDA

At present, the General Elections going on in the country are the main political agenda. So far, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued the dates for the elections in Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa to take place in the first quarter of the year. The dates for the elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will be announced later in the year.

Palak Hajela