Electoral Politics - Test Papers

 CBSE TEST PAPER-01

Class – IX Social Science (Electoral Politics)

General Instruction:-

  • All Question are Compulsory.
  • Question No. 1 to 4 Carries one marks each.
  • Question No. 5 to 10 carry three marks each.
  • Question No. 11 to 12 carry five marks each.
  1. Which political party ruled over Haryana between 1982 to 1987?
  2. Who formed the new party named as Lok Dal?
  3. When did the Lok Dal of Devi Lal and BJP combination formed the government in Haryana?
  4. How many Lok Sabha constituencies are there in Indian Parliament?
  5. 'Conducting elections is very expensive'. Explain.
  6. Who appoints the Chief Election Commissioner of India? What powers are exercised by Election Commission of India?
  7. What are elections? What is their importance?
  8. Why do we need elections?
  9. How can you prove that elections are democratic?
  10. What are the drawbacks of elections?
  11. How did political competition help to force political parties and leaders to serve the people?
  12. How has the system of a declaration made the election process more sound and informative?

CBSE TEST PAPER-01
Class – IX Social Science (Electoral Politics)
[ANSWERS]

  1. The Congress Party.
  2. Choudhary Devi Lal.
  3. In 1987.
  4. 543 seats.
  5. A large amount of money is spent in conducting elections in India. Some critics say that elections are a burden on the citizens of a country. Citizens cannot afford to hold elections once every five years. For Instance, the government spent about Rs.1300 Crores in conducting Lok Sabha elections in 2004. That works out to about Rs 20 per person on the voters’ list. The amount spent by parties and candidates was more than that government spending. Roughly speaking, the expenditure made by government, parties, and candidates was Rs. 3000 Crore or Rs 50 per voter. Therefore, conducting elections is very expensive business in a vast and populous country like.
  6. The Chief Election Commissioner of India is appointed by President of India. Following are the powers of the Election Commission (EC) of India.
    1. Election Commission takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and control of elections from the announcement of elections to the declaration of results.
    2. It implements the Code of Conduct and punishes any candidate or party that violates it.
    3. It controls and commands the government officers on election duty. They work under the control of the EC and not under government.
  7. In democracy people, choose their representatives to govern their country. The process to choose representatives is called elections.
    The elections play a significant role in a democracy.
    1. By elections a popular government is elected to run the country. 
    2. Elections are a method to bring about a change in leadership.
    3. Elections make the representatives responsible towards people.
  8. Democracy is incomplete without elections. It can be said that elections are the very essence of a democratic government. Thus, we need elections, as :
    1. Through elections a legitimate government is established.
    2. Through elections people can choose the party whose policies will guide the government and Law-Making.
  9. An election can only be called a democratic election when:
    1. One-vote one-value: Elections should be conducted under the Universal Adult Franchise. Every citizen must have the right to vote and every vote should have one value.
    2. Options to choose from: Elections should give fair choice to the voters to choose from. There should be more than two or multi-party system, so that the voters could choose from the various candidates.
    3. Regularity: Elections should be held after regular intervals. This gives a chance, both to the voters and to the elected representatives, to improve and discard their mistakes. A people's government can be rewarded or punished accordingly only when the elections are held at regular intervals.
    4. Fair elections: Elections should be conducted in a free and fair manner. A real mandate can only be decided when there is no malpractices during elections.
  10. Although elections are necessary, yet there are certain drawbacks of elections. 
    1. Able and intelligent persons are afraid of contesting elections.
    2. Elections are a very expensive process which is a heavy burden on the people.
    3. Sometimes the dynastic trends emerged in the elections.
    4. Tickets are distributed to near and dears of the leaders.
  11. The regular electoral competition provides incentives to political parties and leaders. They know that if they raise issues that people want to be raised, their popularity and chances of victory will increase in the next elections. But if they fail to satisfy the voters with their work they will not be able to win again. So, if a political party is motivated only by desire to be in power, even then it will be forced to serve the people. This is a bit like the way market works. Even if a shopkeeper is interested only in his profit, he is forced to give good service to the customers. If he does not, the customer will go to some other shop. Similarly, political competition may cause division and some ugliness, but it finally helps to force political parties and leaders to serve the people
  12. Recently, a new system of declaration has been introduced on the direction from the Supreme Court. Every candidate has to make a legal declaration, giving full his/her complete details.
    1. It has been made mandatory by the Supreme Court that every candidate who is contesting election, has to file an affidavit.
    2. The affidavit shall bear the details of any serious criminal cases pending against the candidate.
    3. Details of the assets and liabilities of the candidate and his or her family.
    4. Educational qualification of the candidate.
    This information has to be made public. This provides an opportunity to the voters to make their decision on the basis of the information provided by the candidate.