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Challenges To The Indian Political System – Enhancing Representation, For a Just Electoral System

Challenges To The Indian Political System – Enhancing Representation, For a Just Electoral System

Context:

Relevancy for Prelims: Indian representation system

Relevancy for Mains: Challenges and solution to  Indian representation system.

What challenges does the Indian Political System face in terms of its representation system?

  • Lack of adequate legislators: An Indian Member of Parliament (MP) is said to represent 2.5 million citizens, on average.
    • This year so far, India has around 4,126 Members of the Legislative Assembly, 543 Lok Sabha MPs, and 245 Rajya Sabha MPs.
    • United States: The U.S. House of Representatives members represent approximately 7,00,000 citizens. 
  • Lack of adequate grassroots-level representation: There is a clear deficit in terms of adequate representation in order to raise critical issues and enable law-making.
  • Unequal representation in Rajya Sabha/UnIssue of Malapportionment: It is currently elected by State legislatures, giving disproportionately more representation to larger/more populous States. 
    • Malapportionment: It refers to a discrepancy between the share of legislative seats and the share of the population.
    • Case in US: Unlike India, the United States has a political system where each State is given two senators in the U.S. Senate. Thus, giving equal powers to all states.
    • Constitutional reforms: These can be pursued to give each state the same number of Rajya Sabha MPs.

The Possible Solutions:

  • Need for Proportional representation: India’s first-past-the-post system ensures quicker election results but in this system, a legislator represents a constituency without a majority of votes.
    • Thus, Proportional representation can be considered, especially for the Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections. 
    • Direct elections for Rajya Sabha MPs: These should be promoted while ensuring that a domicile requirement is added and stringently adhered to.
  • Need for more states: India needs to have more States from 28 to around 50/75. For example, Uttar Pradesh is too big to be governed well as a single unit. 
    • Case in the US:  its largest state California, has a population of just 39 million. In contrast, around 22 Indian States/Union Territories have a population higher than that. 
    • New State Reorganisation Commission:  It may be set up to evaluate the socio-economic and administrative viability of select to-be States.
  • Having a fixed tenure mayor:  India has 8,000-plus urban settlements, but very few number mayors are selected in cities.
    • Every Census town may have a fixed-tenure mayor elected in direct elections. 
    • Empowering Mayors: Such mayors must be provided with decision-making powers of over 18 critical functions. 
  • Increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats:  The 84th Amendment Act of the Constitution froze the number of Lok Sabha seats until the first Census after 2026 (i.e., 2031).
    • Conducting delimitation: The 2021 Census is currently expected to take place in 2024 with findings anticipated to be published by 2026. Thus, delimitation may be carried out sooner.
    • Delimitation not based on population: Geographical determinism, economic productivity, linguistic history, and a sense of fairness should be considered.

Also Read: Decoding Political Funding in India: Electoral Bonds, Challenges, and Reform Perspectives

Conclusion:

  • Enhancing local democratic representation:  This will help strengthen India’s democracy. 
  • Promoting democracy: This might help alleviate the concerns of citizens and enhance democracy.

 

Mains Question: Critically analyze the representation deficit in Indian democracy highlighted by the inadequate number of elected representatives vis-a-vis the large population. Suggest suitable measures to enhance democratic representation across all levels of governance in the country. (250 words, 15 Marks)

 

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AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD SOON
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Comprehensive coverage with a concise format
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Quick Revise Now !
UDAAN PRELIMS WALLAH
Comprehensive coverage with a concise format
Integration of PYQ within the booklet
Designed as per recent trends of Prelims questions
हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध

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