Democracy assistance & elections news from the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS)
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Country Profile:

Upcoming Elections

  • Parliamentary
    May 2014
  • Parliamentary
    May 2014

India

Description of government structure:

  • Chief of State: President Pranab MUKHERJEE
  • Head of Government: Prime Minister Manmohan SINGH
  • Assembly: India has a bicameral Parliament (Sansad) consisting of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) with 250 seats and the People's Assembly (Lok Sabha) with 545 seats.

Description of electoral system:

  • The President is indirectly elected by an electoral college to serve a 5-year term.*
  • The Prime Minister is elected by parliament.
  • In the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), 233 members are indirectly elected by the state legislatures to serve 6-year terms and 12 members are appointed by the president to serve 6-year terms*. In the People's Assembly (Lok Sabha), 543 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms and 2 members are appointed by the president.

* The electoral college consists of elected members of both houses of Parliament and the legislatures of the states.

* Up to 12 seats are appointed by the president and the remaining members are chosen by elected members of the state and territorial assemblies

Population:

  • Population: 1,173,108,018 (July 2010 est.)

Future elections

  • Parliamentary - May 2014
  • Parliamentary - May 2014

Past elections

Last Updated on 07/25/2012

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