Indian general elections, 1951-1971

Elections in the Republic of India include Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, Legislative Assemblies, and numerous other Councils and local bodies.

According to the Constitution of India, elections should take place to the Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies every five years, unless an emergency is under operation. Further, any vacancy caused by death or resignation must be filled through an election within six months of occurrence of such vacancy. The elections to the lower houses (in Parliament and in the states) use first past the post system - the candidate with a plurality of the votes wins the election.

Elections to one-third of the seats of the upper house of the Parliament - the Rajya Sabha are conducted every two years. The members of the upper house are elected indirectly by the state legislative assemblies on the basis of proportional representation. Members to the state legislative councils (in states which have an upper house) are elected indirectly through local bodies.

All the elections at the central and state level are conducted by the Election Commission of India while local body elections are conducted by state election commissions.

The 2014 general election involved an electorate of 863,500,000 people. It was conducted in nine stages. The expenditure for the 2014 election was approximately 3765 crore. The cost per voter was Rs 1375. Votes were cast using over one million electronic voting machines. In the 2014 election, the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power. The BJP secured a majority of 282 seats. Narendra Modi of the BJP became Prime Minister of India.

India's government is based on Federalism. Elected officials are appointed at federal, state and local levels. In India, there is universal suffrage. Results of elections are determined by first-past-the-post system. Elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India.

The Prime Minister of India, is elected by members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. The Constitution of India allows for up to 552 members in the Lok Sabha, with up to 530 members representing the States. Up to 20 members represent the Union Territories. In practice, 543 members of the Lok Sabha are elected every five years. Two members are elected by the President of India to represent the Anglo-Indian community.

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