A study of electoral systems

Abstract

Elections for both the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha are carried out using a first-past-the-post electoral system. For each constituency, voters can cast their vote for a single candidate (of their choice), and the candidate that gets the highest no. of votes represents that constituency, regardless of whether they’ve gotten over 50% votes. This has led to situations where a candidate might’ve gotten elected even though they’ve only received 19% of the total votes. The None of the above feature in our voting choices also plays a significant role in the electoral system process. In some countries, a hybrid system is used, where there are two phases of elections, the first being conclusive if a candidate gets over half of the votes. Apart from this, the problem with big democracies with sizeable rural population is information percolation, especially in India, as there is less awareness amongst the rural population. A major part of our research on electoral systems explores systemic consequences of electoral rules. It is also interesting to look at their strategic effects, which implies that emphasis is placed on the nature and extent of choice given to voters under different electoral systems across different democracies.