Why elections matter, and how votes become seats

Start with your own class. At the start of the year, everyone votes for a class representative, a CR. In Grade 8 you read about Gurmat, who was elected CR. Now suppose she says, "I'll just stay CR in Grade 9 too. No new vote." Is that fair?

No. You chose her for one year. If she wants to carry on, she has to face a fresh election. The book (p.161) asks the same question about a whole country. Can a government stay on after its term without asking the people again? No. And if only one party is standing, can you really choose? No. That is why regular, periodic elections (chunav) are at the heart of democracy.

"What does 'accountable' mean?" It means answerable (jawabdeh). The people we elect make decisions for us, so they have to answer to us. If they do a poor job, we can choose someone else at the next election. Your vote is the main way you do this.

The book (Fig. 7.1) names four things elections give a democracy:

• Equality: every vote counts the same.
• Representation: someone speaks for you where decisions are made.
• Accountability: that person has to answer to you.
• Legitimacy: the government rules with the people's permission.

Now picture your school. Classes 9A, 9B and 9C each vote for a monitor. You vote for your monitor yourself: that is a direct election. Then the three monitors meet and choose the Head Boy and Head Girl. You did not vote for them; your monitors did, on your behalf. That is an indirect election.

India has both kinds. Direct elections are held every five years.

"Why is the study of elections called psephology?" The word comes from the Greek psēphos, which means pebble. In ancient Greece, people voted with pebbles. So psephology is the scientific study of elections.

Counting votes is the easy part. The real question is: how do votes become seats? The rule a country uses to turn votes into seats is called its electoral system. The book (p.164) explains three systems with three imaginary countries. Read them slowly, and watch how the same kind of result gives a different winner.

1. Haritbhumi: First-Past-The-Post (FPTP). Each voter votes for one candidate in their constituency (nirvachan kshetra). The candidate with the most votes wins, even if that is less than half. Results: Party A 40%, Party B 35%, Party C 25%. Party A has less than half the votes, but more than anyone else, so Party A forms the government. Think of a race: whoever crosses the line first wins, however close the others are.

2. Ratnadweep: the majority system. To win, a candidate needs more than half of the votes (bahumat). Results: Party X 45%, Party Y 40%, Party Z 15%. Nobody crossed 50%, so the top two, X and Y, face each other again in a second round. In round 2, Party Y wins with 55%. Notice: X was ahead in round 1, yet Y won. Under FPTP, X would have won.

3. Swarnalok: Proportional Representation (PR). Voters vote for a party, not a person. Seats are shared out in proportion to the votes. With 100 seats: Party M 40% gets 40 seats, N 35% gets 35, O 15% gets 15 and P 10% gets 10. Here, power is shared.

Which does India use? The makers of our Constitution chose FPTP for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas. The Rajya Sabha, the President and the Vice President are elected by proportional representation. Watch out: a common wrong answer is "India uses FPTP for every election". It does not.

Most states have one house that makes their laws, the Vidhan Sabha. But six states have two houses (bicameral; bi means two): Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. The upper house is the Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council). The lower house is the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly).

Who sits in a Vidhan Parishad? Some members are elected by the members of the Vidhan Sabha, some by local bodies, some by graduates and some by teachers of that state. On top of that, the Governor nominates some members from fields like art, science, literature, social service and co-operatives. The elections to the Vidhan Parishad use proportional representation by a single transferable vote (STV).

How does STV work (Fig. 7.3)? Instead of one tick, each voter ranks the candidates: 1 for the first choice, 2 for the next, and so on.

• First, work out the quota, the votes needed to win: total valid votes ÷ (seats + 1), then add 1.
• Count everyone's first choices. Anyone who reaches the quota is elected.
• If seats are still empty, the candidate with the fewest votes is out. Their ballots move to each voter's next choice.
• Repeat until every seat is filled.

So even if your first choice loses, your vote is not wasted: it moves to the person you ranked next.