Challenges to free and fair elections
- Money power: Candidates and parties with a lot of money may not be sure of their victory but they do enjoy a big and unfair advantage over smaller parties and independents.
- Criminal background: In some parts of the country, candidates with criminal connections have been able to push others out of the electoral race and to secure a ‘ticket’ from major parties.
- Family politics: Some families tend to dominate political parties and tickets are distributed to relatives from these families.
- Lack of choice: Very often elections offer little choice to ordinary citizens as the major parties are quite similar to each other in terms of policies and practice.
- Smaller parties and independent candidates suffer a huge disadvantage compared to bigger parties.
Free and Fair Election| Class 11 Polity Notes
Election is a mechanism in which people can choose their representatives at regular intervals and change them if they wish to do so. Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of a strong democracy. Free and Fair Election is a true challenge of any election system. It ensures an impartial and transparent Election system and allows the voter’s aspirations to find legitimate expression through the electoral results.
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