Parliament And Central Government

the first elections held in 1951-52. It took four months to conduct these elections. At that time there were more than 17,30,00,000 people who could vote. Most of them were illiterate and lived in rural areas. Reasons behind it are-

• India is a caste-based society in which many people do not accept the idea that everyone is equal.

• Some people said, “The elections are ‘a leap in the dark’, not suitable for a country like India.

• Many communities practiced purdah system under which women did not appear in public.

• People vote based on other considerations like caste or religion or money or other gifts.

• Influence of higher caste on lower caste people would shift election to their side.

Free’ means that all those entitled to vote have the right to be registered and to vote and must be free to make their choice. An election is considered ‘free’ when you can decide whether or not to vote and vote freely for the candidate or party of your choice without fear or intimidation. A ‘free’ election is also one where you are confident that who you vote for remains your secret.

‘Fair’ means that all registered political parties have an equal right to contest the elections, campaign for voter support and hold meetings and rallies. This gives them a fair chance to convince voters to vote for them. A fair election is also one in which all voters have an equal opportunity to register, where all votes are counted, and where the announced results reflect the actual vote totals.

differences

In May 2009 the UPA won a near majority, with 262 seats, and the Congress Party improved its own tally from 145 in the 2004 election to 206. The president of the Congress Party and chairperson of the UPA, Sonia Gandhi, widow of slain former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, had once again nominated Manmohan Singh as prime minister. Because Singh was elected to the parliament as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house, the party’s senior most leaders, Pranab Mukherjee, continued as leader of the party in the Lok Sabha. While the triumvirate of Sonia Gandhi, her son, Rahul, and Manmohan Singh ran the party, the government was headed by Gandhi. The opposition to the ruling alliance was divided largely between the National Democratic Alliance, a coalition led by the main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won 157 seats, and the so-called Third Front, a shifting alliance of left-wing-, regional-, and caste-based parties led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which captured 80 seats.

The Congress Party named Singh its candidate for prime minister, and the BJP selected Lal Krishna Advani; the Third Front had no candidate. The Congress Party sought support on the basis of its good record of economic management, improvement in relations with major powers, especially the United States (with which India had signed a historic agreement for cooperation in the development of civil nuclear energy), and the promise of a “youthful” leadership under Rahul Gandhi.

Most opinion polls and several exit polls had forecast a “hung” parliament, with no coalition capable of forming a stable government. The results, however, favored the ruling coalition, with the Congress Party performing impressively in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh (in the latter the party held on to power in the state assembly with a thumping majority). While the media credited Prime Minister Singh with securing the victory on the basis of his impressive leadership on the economic and foreign-policy fronts, traditional Congress Party supporters preferred to credit Rahul Gandhi’s leadership.

SOURCE – INTERNET

The legislature is responsible for making laws that are applicable for the entire country. We call it Parliament. It has two houses, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. They make laws for the whole country. Functions: Parliament is the supreme law making body in the country and performs certain vital functions.

yes, in my view parties should be made to put more women candidates for elections. At least the equality of equal male to equal female should be maintained.

no, I don’t feel that there is an adequate no. of female participation in the constituencies.

States needed to promote women’s rights, so they could be “agents of change” for sustained socio-economic development and security around the world, delegates told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as it continued its three-day discussion on the advancement of women.

Throughout the day, representatives noted recent progress in the empowerment of women, highlighting how their rights had been brought to the forefront of national and international agendas through changes in States’ legislation to mainstream gender perspectives and the establishment of UN-Women last year. Many also detailed efforts to ensure greater numbers of women held positions in politics and Government through quotas or affirmative action, thus allowing them to participate more in decision-making processes.

Countries view on this-

• The representative of Bolivia said all political parties in his country were obliged to offer one male and one female candidate in order to undo old patterns of discrimination.

• Malaysia’s delegate told the Committee that significant progress in recent decades in his own country was made possible by greater participation of women. “As Malaysia evolves from a subsistence agricultural economy to a knowledge-based economy, women will continue to be a primary force in influencing the development of future generations of Malaysians, as well as an important economic resource,”.

• The representative of the Republic of Korea said his country had recently taken action in that regard, launching “Multi-Cultural Family Support Centres”, which provided married immigrants with access to basic information, education for social adjustment and vocational training.

Steps to overcome with this problem

Facilitating conditions conductive to the speeding of equality between men and women so that women can participate in political, social and economic life of their country on equal terms with men and ensuring that their right to own property as well as their other human rights are respected and that they are not excluded from the enjoyment of their fruits of their labor or from performing public functions and being decision makers.

Facilitating the necessary conditions whereby rural women can have access to basic social services and to ways and means of lightening their work load.

Eliminating step by step, prejudices as well as customary and other practices that are based on the idea of male supremacy and enabling women to hold public office and to participate in the decision making process at all levels.

Conclusion

Women participation is now a new way of politics, can lead to a fair political scenario.

Source-internet