The electoral system of India relates to regulation of elections to both chambers of the Parliament (the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha), the president and the vice president, and various chambers of state, union territory and local level legislatures. Multiple methods are used to elect members of different chambers and there are different constitutional bodies responsible for the conduct of elections.
Article 326 of the Constitution of India gives right to every citizen above the age of 18 years (amended from 21 years via the 61st constitutional amendment) unless ineligible due to being involved in crime or corrupt practice or being mentally unsound shall have the right to vote in Lok Sabha and state/UT legislative assemblies.
Conduct of elections
Election Commission of India Election Commission of India, a constitutional body independent from the government, has the right to conduct elections for the office of the president and the vice president and members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, state legislative assemblies, state legislative councils and legislative assemblies of the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Puducherry.
State Election Commissions Each state in India and four union territories (Chandigarh, Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir) have an autonomous constitutional body independent from ECI responsible for conducting elections to urban local bodies such as municipal corporations and municipalities, and panchayat institutions such as village panchayats, block panchayats, and district councils within the respective state/UT. It is also responsible for the implementation of a model code of conduct during the election process, and updation of electoral rolls for all elections conducted by it. State Election Commissions were created for implementation of Panchayati Raj system introduced by 73rd constitutional amendment.
Election Commission for UTs For all Union Territories without a separate body for conduct of local elections, i.e. the union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Election Commission for UTs acts as a singular body to conduct elections to autonomous hill councils, municipal corporations,municipalities, village panchayats, block panchayats, and district councils within all of these 4 Union Territories.
Voter registration A person is eligible to register to vote by registering or after one of the qualifying dates (1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 October) such that it is the last qualifying date before they turn 18, though their name will be added on the electoral roll on the next qualifying date if they are an ordinary resident of the constituency they wish to enroll in and is not legally barred from voting. Applications for new registration are made using Form 6.
Political parties A person may contest election for any office or house either as an independent candidate or as member of a registered political party.
Out of the registered political parties, a party can be recognized as a state party or a national party by ECI which grants them additional benefits on appointing observers, star campaigners, access to ECI meetings, etc.
Criteria for recognition
National party status A registered party is recognised as a national party only if it fulfills any one of the three conditions listed below:
If its candidates have secured at least 6% of total valid votes in at least four states (in latest Lok Sabha or Assembly elections) and the party has at least four MPs in the last Lok Sabha polls. If it has won at least 2% of the total seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three states. It is 'recognised' in four or more states.
State party status A registered party is recognised as a state party only if it fulfils any one of the five conditions listed below:
A party should secure at least six per cent of valid votes polled in an election to the state/UT legislative assembly and win at least two seats in that assembly. A party should secure at least six per cent of valid votes polled in an election to Lok Sabha and win at least one seat in Lok Sabha. A party should win at least three per cent of the total number of seats or any fraction thereof allotted to that state/UT. At least one MP for every 25 members or any fraction allotted to the state/UT in the Lok Sabha. Under the liberalised criteria, one more clause that it will be eligible for recognition as state party if it secures eight per cent or more of the total valid votes polled in the state.
List of recognized political parties
National parties
+Recognised national partiesPartyAbbr.FlagElection symbolPolitical positionIdeologyFoundedLeaderGovernment in states/UTsNumber of seatsChief ministersRuling coalitionLok SabhaRajya SabhaState assembliesState councilsAAPCentreArvind KejriwalBSPCentre-leftMayawatiBJPRight-wing to far-rightNitin NabinCPI(M)Left-wingM. A. BabyINCCentreMallikarjun KhargeNPPConrad Sangma
State parties +Recognised state partiesPartyFlagElection symbolFoundedLeader(s)Recognised in state(s)/UT(s)Government in states/UTsSeatsChief ministerRuling coalitionLok SabhaRajya SabhaState assembliesState councilsState party in three states1998Mamata BanerjeeMeghalaya Tripura West Bengal1925D. RajaKerala Manipur Tamil Nadu1999H. D. Deve Gowda H. D. KumaraswamyArunachal Pradesh Karnataka Kerala2003Nitish KumarArunachal Pradesh Bihar ManipurState party in two states1972Edappadi K. PalaniswamiPuducherry Tamil Nadu1949M. K. StalinPuducherry Tamil Nadu1963Neiphiu RioManipur Nagaland1999Sunetra PawarMaharashtra Nagaland2024Sharad PawarMaharashtra Nagaland1997Lalu Prasad Yadav Tejashwi YadavBihar Jharkhand1982N. Chandrababu NaiduAndhra Pradesh Telangana2011Y. S. Jagan Mohan ReddyAndhra Pradesh Telangana State party in one state1939Debabrata BiswasWest Bengal1927Asaduddin OwaisiTelangana2011N. RangaswamyPuducherry2005Badruddin AjmalAssam1986Sudesh MahtoJharkhand2016Anupriya PatelUttar Pradesh1985Atul BoraAssam2001K. Chandrashekar RaoTelangana1997Naveen PatnaikOdisha2005Hagrama MohilaryAssam1974Dipankar BhattacharyaBihar 2005Premallatha VijayakantTamil Nadu2016Vijai SardesaiGoa1968KP PangniangMeghalaya1996Abhay Singh ChautalaHaryana1948Sadiq Ali Shihab ThangalKerala2009Prem Kumar ReangTripura1932Farooq Abdullah Omar AbdullahJammu and Kashmir1982Harsh Dev SinghJammu and Kashmir1999Mehbooba MuftiJammu and Kashmir2014Pawan KalyanAndhra Pradesh2018Dushyant ChautalaHaryana2016Renu JogiChhattisgarh1972Hemant SorenJharkhand1964P. J. JosephKerala1979Jose K. ManiKerala2000Bihar2021Chirag PaswanNagaland2006Raj ThackerayMaharashtra1963Deepak DhavalikarGoa1958SeemanTamil Nadu1961ZoramthangaMizoram1977Kamen RinguArunachal Pradesh2018Hanuman BeniwalRajasthan2022Viresh BorkarGoa1940Manoj BhattacharyaKerala1992Akhilesh YadavUttar Pradesh1920Sukhbir Singh BadalPunjab1993Pawan Kumar ChamlingSikkim2013Prem Singh TamangSikkim2022Eknath ShindeMaharashtra2022Uddhav ThackerayMaharashtra2019Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb BarmaTripura1997Metbah LyngdohMeghalaya2015Urkhao Gwra BrahmaAssam2021Ardent Miller BasaiawmoitMeghalaya1997H. LalrinmawiaMizoram2017LalduhomaMizoram
Date of Elections Though states make law for local elections, ECI is responsible for choosing date of election for all elections within its domain as long as the date of election is within the limitations set by the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the Presidential And Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 +House/OfficeCause of VacancyEnd of Term of House/MemberCasual Vacancy (Death/Resignation/Ineligibility/Suspension)PresidentBefore the end of term (Notification of election must be issued no earlier than 60 days of end of term)Within 6 months of end of termVice PresidentNo time limit (As soon as possible)Lok SabhaBetween the day 6 months before end of term and the day before end of termNo later than 6 months (or later if ECI with government consultation find it difficult) [No bye-election takes place if office is vacated less than a year before end of term.State/UT legislative assemblyRajya SabhaBefore the end of term (Notification of election must be issued no earlier than 3 months of end of term)State legislative council
Term of Member/House/Office The table below states maximum term of the office or house or its member. House/OfficeGeneral/Maximum TermNature of office/housePresident5 yearsDissolvableVice President5 yearsLok Sabha5 yearsState/UT legislative5 yearsRajya Sabha6 years (membership)Permanent/UndisolvableState Legislative Council6 years (membership)Dissolvable by a state's respective legislative assembly
Eligibility to vote
Lok Sabha, state/UT legislative assembly and municipal/panchayat elections
Elected members Every person in the electoral roll revised by ECI (or state election commission of their respective state of residence for municipal/panchayat elections) before election is eligible to cast one vote in their respective constituency.
Exception: In Sangha assembly constituency in Sikkim Legislative Assembly, only the members of sangha community can contest and vote.
Nominated members Two legislative assemblies (Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry) have nominated members. Government of India is allowed to nominate at-most three members to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly. In Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, LG can nominate up to two members from Kashmiri migrant families (at least one woman), up to one displaced person from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and up to two additional women if deemed underrepresented.
Rajya Sabha elections
Elected members Every elected member of a state/UT legislative assembly can vote in Rajya Sabha elections in the state of their respective membership. Nominated members are barred from voting in Rajya Sabha elections.
Nominated members President of India may nominate up to 12 individuals with special expertise in literature, science, art, or social service to Rajya Sabha, as per Article 80 of the Constitution of India.
Presidential elections An electoral collage with unequal number of votes is used for presidential elections. All elected members of Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies and legislative assemblies of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir are allowed to vote.
Vice Presidential elections All members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are allowed to vote for Vice Presidential elections. This also includes nominated members of Rajya Sabha.
Eligibility to contest elections Except constituencies reserved for women, for Scheduled Castes or for Scheduled Tribes, where members of the particular community can contest, the following are the only conditions to contest in an election. For constituencies reserved for a particular community, the following conditions are mandatory in addition to being from teh respective community.
Exception: In Sangha assembly constituency in Sikkim Legislative Assembly, only the eligible members of sangha community can contest and vote. +Office/HouseMinimum ageMinimum number of nominations requiredNominatorsElectoral roll requirementCommon requirementsPresident35 years50 electors + 50 distinct secondersMembers of the electoral collageA registered voter in any parliamentary constituency in India A citizen of India Shall not hold an office of profit Mentally sound Must not be bankrupt Must have taken (or to take) oath or affirmation to uphold constitution of India prescribed by a person appointed by ECI Either never convicted for a crime, or convicted but not jailed for 2 years (or more), or convicted and imprisoned but released 6 years before filing nomination.Vice President20 proposers + 20 distinct secondersMembers of Lok Sabha or Rajya SabhaLok Sabha25 years1 (if set up by national/state party)