Social Science 2 Marks Each

• (1) Elections reflect the prevailing mood the people; wherein the people decide either to in the ruling party or to vote it out of office.
• (2) Elections provide an opportunity to people to evaluate the performance of their government. Large-scale dissatisfaction leads to people voting against the party in power and eleting the alternative party at the election.
• (3) People endorse the policies and the policies and programmes of political parties by voting for or against it in the election. Thus, election determines The future direction of policy Therefore, elections are described as a barometer of democracy.

• (1) Freedom of thought and expression includes freedom of press.
• (2) The print media reaches the people through newspapers. it provides information and perspective on various subjects.
• (3) The electronic media has reached almost every household. Its news coverage, discussions and live coverage of political events keep people in formulating their opinions. Thus, in a democracy the media plays an important role in the formation of public opinion.

• (1) In parliamentary democracy, unlike he presidential democracy, there is fusion of the legislative and executive organs of the government.
• (2) The ministers are members of parliament they participate and direct the working of parliament.
• (3) They are collectively responsible to the lok Sabha-the elected House.
• (4) it is important as the Council of Ministers remain in office as long as it enjoys the support majority. Lok Sabha can remove a Council of finisters by passing a vote of no-confidence.
• in this sense, parliamentary democracy is unique and important.

Public opinion is formed, gathered and circulated through the following mediums:

• Print Media: Newspapers, periodicals and a journals are a few of the strongest form of print media.
• Electronic Media: Radio, TV, Computer and Laptops, Cinema, Mobile Phones, etc.

The Universal Adult Franchise gives right to vote to every citizen of India above 18 years.
Due to many reasons, people do not cast their votes.
Reasons for this could be laziness for going to polling booths, carelessness or ignorance about the participating candidates, etc.
Some people even have the mindset that they just do not wish to vote.
Hence, all voters do not exercise their voting rights.

The party that wins the election forms the government. Such a party is called ruling party.
The party which loses the election is known as the opposition party.
The opposition party keeps a close eye on the activities of the ruling party. If it feels that the ruling party is working against the welfare of the nation then it objects the works and policies of ruling party.

Sometimes people do not wish to cast their votes.
The government has recently introduced in NOTA option for such voters.
‘NOTA’ stands for ‘None of the Above’.
A voter who does not wish to vote for any of the candidates but still wants to exercise his voting right, can select NOTA option on the EVM machine.

• (1) Elections is an important feature of democracy. It provides an opportunity to the people - voters to elect their government.
• (2) The voters exercise their right to vote and elect their representatives.
• (3) From among the elected representati of the political party that has secured majo of seats form the government.
• (4) When the voters are dissatisfied the working of the government, they elect representatives from the other party. In this sense, the voters are lifeline democracy.

• (1) Freedom of thought and expression includes freedom of press.
• (2) The print media reaches the people through newspapers. it provides information and perspective on various subjects.
• (3) The electronic media has reached almost evry household. Its news coverage, discussions and live coverage of political events keep people in formulating their opinions. Thus, in a democracy the media plays an important role in the formation of public opinion.

• (1) Elections is an important feature of democracy. It provides an opportunity to the people - voters to elect their government.
• (2) The voters exercise their right to vote and elect their representatives.
• (3) From among the elected representati of the political party that has secured majo of seats form the government.
• (4) When the voters are dissatisfied the working of the government, they elect representatives from the other party. In this sense, the voters are lifeline democracy.

• (1) Tamil Nadu : DMK, AIADMK. (2) Andhra Pradesh : Telugu Desam Party (3) Punjab : Akali Dal. (4) Bihar : Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Janata Dal United (JDU) (5) Uttar Pradesh - Samajwadi Party (6) Jammu and Kashmir - National Confere (7) West Bengal -Trinamul Congress (8) Assam - Assam Gana Parishad (9 ) Maharashtra - Shiv Sena

• The following activities are included the election process
• (1) Notification of the programme of el by the Election Commission.
• (2) Filing of the nomination papers, and withdrawal of the nomination papers.
• (3) Notification regarding the final list of candidates.
• (4) Distribution of election symbols to politic parties candidates.
• (5) Election campaign under the supervision of the Election Commission.
• (6) Voting, counting of votes and notification of election results by the Election Commissios.

• (1) The daily newspapers publish news items, editorials, articles and news reports on the current issues. These influence the views of their readers.
• (2) The weekly, the fortnightly and the monthly periodicals publish articles and comments on the current issues.
• (3) The specialised journals, too play important role in the formation of the opinion.

• National Parties : (1) BJP (2) CPI (3) INC (4) CPIM (5) BSP
• Regional Parties : (1) DMK (2) RJD (3) JDU (4) Samajwadi Party (SP) (5) Shiv Sena

• The Election Commission recognises the political parties as ‘National’ parties which sgecured minimum four per cent votes in minim four states in the preceding election.

• (1) The makers of the Indian Constitution wanted to establish democracy in India.
• (2)The success of democracy requires free and fair elections.
• (3) in order to ensure free and fair elections an impartial election machinery is essential. Therefore, there is provision for an autonomous Election Commission in the Constitution of India.

• (1) The regional aspirations of the people find expression in the formation of regional political parties.
• (2) There is imbalance in economic development. The people in less developed states have‘real’or ‘imaginary’ grievances. Their grievances provide political capital to regional parties who aspire to rule in their states.
• (3) These parties espouse regional valour regional language and preferential treatment to the sons of soil.
• (4) The failure of the national parties to fulfill aspirations of people in many states has led to the emergence of regionalparties. As a result, there are a large number of regional parties in India.

• (1) India is a huge country with plurality Of language, caste, religion and culture.
• (2) This diversity finds expression in the emergence of the regional parties in different states.
• (3) Some political parties have a wider mass- base in four or more states.
• (4) Thus, we have national parties, regionalparties, splinter parties and local parties.
• (5) The total uumber of registered political parties till 10th March, 2014 was 1,593
• Thus, there is multi-party system in India.

• (1) The party that secures majority becomes ruling party and takes up the responsibility Of governance.
• (2) The party that fails to secure majority becomes the opposition and exercises control on the government.
• (3) The opposition party ensures that the government functions in a responsible manner and works for the welfare of the people.
• (4) The role of the ruling party and the opposition party are complementary to each other. Today's opposition party may emerge in the next election as the ruling partyn in this sense, the ruling party and the opposition party are the two wheels of chariot of democracy.

• (1) A strong and well-organised public Opinion serves as a check on the working of the government.
• (2) The government is required to frame its policies in response to the public opinion.
• (3) An anti-people policy is strongly resented in the media. This forces the government to modify its policies to pacify people.
• (4) The government cannot mislead an informed and politically-conscious public opinion. Thus a strong and well organised public opinion is necessary for democracy.