Answer:

The State Election Commission conducts the elections of local bodies

of Panchayet raj and urban local bodies. The Governor appoints the State

Election Commissioner under article 243 K and ZA. In Karnataka, the

State Election Commission has been formed under the article 308 of

Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayet act of 1993. This conducts the

elections of local bodies.

Election procedure

Constituencies: The state is divided into small electoral divisions for

the purpose of elections. These electoral divisions are called constituencies.

Constituencies are formed on the basis of population. Constituencies are

of two types. One is Lok Sabha Constituency and the other is Assembly

Constituency. The members elected from Lok Sabha constituencies become

the members of Lok Sabha. They are called Members of Parliament or MPs.

Similarly the members elected from Assembly Constituencies become the

Members of State Legislative Assemblies and they are called Members of

Legislative Assembly or MLAs. In both these constituencies reservation

is provided to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. These are called

reserved constituencies.

Voters list: The voters list is the list which contains the names and

certain other details of the voters. It is also called the Electoral Roll. The

Electoral Roll is prepared by the Election Commission much before the

elections.Electoral Roll is revised every year. At the time of revision the

names of those who have attained the age of 18 are included and the

names of the dead are deleted. The

The electoral photo identity cards (EPIC)

Electoral Roll helps the polling

officials to identify the voters.

The Electoral Photo Identity

Cards (EPIC) are issued to all

the eligible voters by the

Election Commission to prevent

impersonation. EPIC is also used

as a proof for general identification.

The voter must produce EPIC or any

of the other identity proof such as

PAN (Permanent Account Number)

card of the Income Tax department,

driving license, Passport or any other proof of identification specified by

the government at the time of voting.

The government of India has made arrangements to issue Bio-Metric based

unique ID numbers to all citizens. This is called ‘Aadhaar’ number. Notification: The election process begins with the notification. The

Election Commission issues the notification about the elections to be

held. The detailed schedule or time table of the election is published or

notified in the government gazette and also in other media like radio, TV

and news papers.

Nomination of the Candidates: As ours is a representative

democracy people have the right to elect and right to contest. The

candidates who wish to contest the election must fulfil certain

conditions and file their nomination papers before the authority

appointed for the purpose. Candidates must deposit certain amount of

money as ‘Security Deposit’ along with their nomination papers.

The political PARTIES choose the candidates to represent the party. The

authorization given by the political party to contest the election is termed as

party ticket. The contestants getting the party tickets have the advantages

of using the party symbol and the party support in the campaign. Many a

time the party ticket proves BENEFICIAL to secure GOOD number of votes from

voters who owe allegiance to a political party. The contestants who are not

identified with any political party are called ‘independent candidates’. Such

independent candidates are allotted symbols by the election commission.

Scrutiny of Nomination: The nomination papers filed by the

candidates are scrutinised by the appointed authority. After scrutiny the

names of the eligible and also the rejected candidates are announced.

Withdrawal of Nomination papers: After the announcement of the list,

the eligible candidates are given time limit to withdraw their nomination

if they desire so.

Election Campaign: The election campaign starts after the

announcement of the final list of the candidates. The campaign must end

forty eight hours before the closure of election. During the campaign the

political parties announce several policies and programmes and promise

the people to fulfil those if voted to power. Such kind of promises are

given in the ‘Election Manifesto’. Public meetings, door to door campaigns,

banners, cut-outs, posters, pamphlets, flags and CATCHY slogans are

common during propaganda. All the contesting candidates have to follow

the ‘model code of conduct’ announced by the Election Commission.