Indian Genral Election 2014

Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi (left to right)

“Voting is not a right. It is a method used to determine which politician was most able to brainwash you.”  ― Dennis E. Adonis The Parliament of India, the highest legislative body in the country, is a representative of the diverse sections of the country. The members who are elected to the Parliament, represent the concerns of specific geographic constituencies, as well as the different sections of the population such as the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and other communities such as the Anglo-Indian community. The Anglo-Indian community being a minority population, the community is not adequately represented in the Parliament. Since India follows a bicameral legislature where members of the Lok Sabha are directly elected by the people of the country, members from the Anglo-Indian community, are mostly not elected. In such cases, the President of India nominates two members from this community as MPs in the Lok Sabha. Therefore, in the upcoming elections to the sixteenth Lok Sabha tenure, elections will be held to 543 constituencies of India, while two seats will be reserved for nominations from the Anglo-Indian community.  According to the Election Commission of India, the electoral population in 2014 is 81.45 crores, the largest in the world. There is an increase of 20 crores newly eligible voters. This also will be the longest and the most expensive general election in the history of the country with the Election Commission of India estimating that the election will cost the exchequer 35 billion, excluding the expenses incurred for security and individual political parties. Parties are expected to spend  3.05 thousand crores (about US$500 million) in the election, according to the Centre for Media Studies. This is three times the amount spent in the previous election and is the world's second highest after the US$7 billion spent on the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Though unelected, incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has ruled himself out as a prime ministerial candidate.

Know about Candidates 

• Rahul Gandhi

Born       :- 19 June 1970, New Delhi
Political party   :- Indian National Congress
Alma mater   :-  University of Delhi,Harvard University
In office    :-  Vice President of the INC Till 20 jan 2013

                     Chairperson of the Indian Youth  till 25 sep 2007

Wikipedia      :-  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahul_Gandhi

• Narendra Modi
  

Born       :-  17 September 1950 , Vadnagar
Political party   :- Bharatiya Janata Party

In office    :-   CM of Gujrat till 7oct 2001
Spouse(s)          :-  Jashoda

Alma mater  :-  Gujarat University

Website     :-  http://www.narendramodi.in/

Political History of India

 
Ever since India adopted its constitution after its independence in 1947, it has been a sovereign democratic republic. India has a federal form of government where its central government has far greater powers than that of the states. Since India has a multi-party system, several national and regional parties operate on central and regional fronts. If a political party operates in more than 4 states, it becomes a national party. 

For most of the democratic history, the central government in India has been led by the Indian National Congress. The Bharatiya Janata Party is another major political party in the country. The INC has in power for 54 out of 67 years of independence of India. Except for two short spells by the BJP, the INC led the nation from 1950 to 1990. The BJP ruled from 1977 to 1980. Then, in 1989, a National Front Coalition that had Janata Dal as the leading party and the Left Front as ally, ruled for only two years. Both these times, it was public discontent over political issues that threw the INC out of power. 

The 1990s saw times of political unrest in India as no single party managed to get clear majority and coalitions were the order of the day. As a result of the 1991 general elections, the INC came to power to form a minority government. 

From 1996 to 1998, the central government was ruled sixteenth by the BJP and then by a left-supporting United Front coalition. And then in 1998, the BJP led National Democratic Alliance, that included a few regional parties, to became the sixteenth non-INC government that went on to complete a full-term of 5 years. During this decade, several new regional players emerged, like Lok Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal. 

However, the 2004 general elections again brought the INC at the helm of political affairs as the party gained the maximum number of seats and formed the United Progressive Alliance with Left parties and many other regional parties. In the 2009 parliamentary elections, the INC won the largest number of seats and formed a government by leading a coalition with smaller parties, with the BJP in opposition. 

Now, in 2014, we will be part of yet another general election that will decide which party or coalition will form the government.