First-past-the-post system

Also called: FPTP, Plurality system, simple plurality system · Topic: Elections and the Electoral System · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 5 "Universal Franchise and India's Electoral System"; Class 9, Ch 7 "Elections"; Class 11, Ch 1 "Constitution: Why and How?"; Class 11, Ch 3 "Election and Representation"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Era of One-Party Dominance"

Meaning

First-past-the-post (FPTP) is an electoral system (the rule that turns votes into seats) in which each constituency elects one member, and the candidate with the most votes wins, even with less than 50% of the votes. It is also called the plurality system or simple plurality system. India uses FPTP for the Lok Sabha and the state Legislative Assemblies. It shapes who wins power in India: a party can get a clear majority of seats without a majority of votes.

Explanation

How FPTP works

• One constituency, one member. A constituency is an area whose voters elect a representative.
• The Lok Sabha has 543 constituencies. Each elects one member, so they are single-member constituencies.

• FPTP used in single-member districts is also called single-member plurality (SMP). India's Lok Sabha and Canada's House of Commons both use it [6].

• The voter votes for a candidate, not a party.

• The person with the most votes wins. The winner only has to be "first past the post". A majority (more than 50%) is not needed.

• Class 8 example: in a class election, Gurmat wins with 12 of 33 votes. That is about 36%, and the other 21 voters chose someone else.

• "Wasted" votes: votes cast for the losing candidates elect nobody.

Why the seat share does not match the vote share

• FPTP tends to magnify the lead of the largest party [6].
• 1984 Lok Sabha election (NCERT Class 11):

Party	Votes (%)	Seats	What it shows
Congress	48.0	415 (over 80%)	Less than half the votes, but over 80% of seats
BJP	7.4	2	Votes spread thinly, so almost no seats
CPI(M)	5.7	22	Votes concentrated in a few states
Lok Dal	5.7	3	Same vote share, but votes scattered
TDP	4.1	30	Votes packed into one state (Andhra Pradesh)

• Lesson 1: geography matters more than the national total.
• CPI(M) and Lok Dal had the same vote share.

• CPI(M) won about 7 times as many seats, because its votes were concentrated in a few states.

• Lesson 2: a small vote share can win almost every seat.

• Suppose many candidates split the vote in every constituency.
• Then a party with about 25% of the vote everywhere can come first in every seat.
• It could win all seats, even though 75% of voters chose someone else.

Why India chose FPTP (NCERT Class 11)

• 1. It is simple.
• In 1951-52, India had a huge electorate, and many voters could not read.

• The voter only has to recognise one candidate or symbol.

• 2. Every area has its own representative.

• Each area has one MP who can be held accountable. NCERT asks: "How do I know who is my MP?"

• Under list PR (where voters choose a party list), there is no single local MP to approach.

• 3. It gives stable government.

• The largest party gets a "bonus" of extra seats.

• This gives the stable majorities that a parliamentary system needs. In such a system, the government survives only while it keeps the confidence of the Lok Sabha.

• 4. It pushes groups to join together.

• To come first, a candidate must win votes from several castes and communities in the area.
• PR might instead encourage each community to form its own party.

Limits and weaknesses

• Large gaps between votes and seats. Small changes in votes can cause big changes in seats.
• Spread-out minorities are under-represented. A group spread thinly across many constituencies is rarely the largest group in any one of them. NCERT's Hilal, Arif and Saba exercise discusses this.
• Many votes elect nobody. Votes for losing candidates are "wasted".

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitutional base:
• Lok Sabha members are chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies (Article 81). The same applies to state Legislative Assemblies (Article 170).
• Voting is by universal adult franchise (every adult citizen can vote) under Article 326.

• The Constitution does not use the word "FPTP". The plurality rule is applied through election law, such as the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

• Where India does not use FPTP: India uses the single transferable vote (STV) for indirect elections, such as those for the President and the Rajya Sabha. In STV, voters rank candidates in order of preference.

• Used in every general election since 1951-52.
• 1952 to the late 1960s: one-party dominance. Congress won big seat majorities with well under 50% of the votes. In 1984 it won 415 seats with 48% of the votes.
• After 1989: the coalition era.
• A coalition is an alliance of parties that forms a government when no single party has a majority.

• Even under FPTP, small and regional parties gained national power this way.

• Duverger's law (beyond NCERT): plurality systems tend to produce two-party contests.

• India shows this only partly. Many states have two-party contests, but the national picture is multi-party.

• Parties with regionally concentrated votes survive, as TDP's 30 seats in 1984 show.

• 2019 and 2024: how FPTP magnifies swings

• 2019: BJP won 37.4% of the votes and 303 seats, a clear majority of 543.
• 2024: BJP won 36.6% of the votes and 240 seats, short of the majority mark of 272. INC won 99 seats and SP won 37 [4].

• A fall of less than 1 point in vote share cost BJP 63 seats.

• 18th Lok Sabha (2024):

• Results were declared on 4 June 2024 [4].
• Members came from 41 parties, plus 7 independents [4].
• National parties won 346 seats (64%), and state parties won 179 seats (33%) [4].

• The 6 national parties together got 63.35% of total valid votes [5].

• State example: Tamil Nadu 2016 (NCERT exercise). AIADMK won 40.77% of the votes and 135 of 232 seats, about 58%.

• Effect on representation:
• Muslims are about 14.2% of India's population but usually less than 6% of MPs. 24 Muslim MPs were elected in 2024, about 4.4% of 543.

• Only 74 women MPs (14%) were elected in 2024, down from 78 in 2019 [4].

• Reform proposal: Law Commission, 170th Report, "Reform of the Electoral Laws" (May 1999) [2]

• It examined in detail whether India should bring in a list system, and made recommendations on it [2].
• It suggested a partial list system, with some extra Lok Sabha seats filled from party lists alongside FPTP seats.
• In a later report on electoral reforms, the Law Commission asked the Government to examine whether the 170th Report's proposals on the proportional system can be made workable in India at present [3].

Don't confuse with

• Majority (two-round or run-off) system: the winner needs more than 50% (50% + 1). If nobody crosses 50% in round 1, the top candidates (usually the top two) face a second round. France's presidential election uses this. FPTP has only one round and needs only the most votes.
• Proportional representation (PR), list system: voters choose a party, and each party gets seats in proportion to its votes. Constituencies are large and have more than one member; in Israel and the Netherlands, the whole country is one constituency. FPTP has small, single-member constituencies, and the vote is for a candidate.
• Single transferable vote (STV): voters rank candidates in multi-member districts [7]. It is used in Ireland and Malta [7], and in India for indirect elections. FPTP is a single cross for a single candidate in a single-member seat.
• Mixed-member proportional (MMP): some members are elected by FPTP and the rest by PR [8]. Germany gives each voter two votes: the Erststimme for a local candidate and the Zweitstimme for a party list [8]. New Zealand moved from FPTP to MMP in 1996 [9].

Prelims Hooks

• FPTP = plurality. The winner needs only the most votes, not 50%. The majority/two-round system needs 50% + 1 and uses a run-off (France's presidential election).
• The Lok Sabha has 543 single-member constituencies. India's Lok Sabha and Canada's House of Commons are standard SMP/FPTP examples [6]. In NCERT's comparison table, the UK and India are the FPTP examples.
• 1984 trap: CPI(M) and Lok Dal both got 5.7% of the votes but won 22 and 3 seats. Concentrated votes win more seats. TDP won 30 seats with 4.1%.
• Class 9 imaginary countries: Haritbhumi is FPTP, Ratnadweep is majority (run-off), and Swarnalok is PR.
• 2024: BJP won 36.6% of the votes and 240 seats. In 2019 it won 37.4% and 303 seats. 41 parties won seats in the 18th Lok Sabha [4].
• Law Commission 170th Report (May 1999): proposed a list system alongside FPTP. It also covered amending the Tenth Schedule (the anti-defection law) and one election to the Lok Sabha and all Assemblies every five years [2].

Mains Points

• Stability vs fairness.
• FPTP gave India simplicity, local accountability and working majorities. In 1984, Congress won over 80% of seats with 48% of the votes.
• It also creates large vote–seat gaps. In 2019, BJP won 303 seats with 37.4%; in 2024, it won 240 seats with 36.6% [4]. In Tamil Nadu in 2016, AIADMK won 135 of 232 seats with 40.77%.

• A good answer weighs governability (a stable government) against representativeness (a parliament that mirrors the votes).

• Who loses out.

• Groups spread thinly across many areas rarely come first anywhere. Muslims are about 14.2% of the population but won only 24 seats in 2024. Women won only 14% of seats [4].

• Counter-argument: PR may create community-wise parties and weaken FPTP's push for communities to cooperate. It also hands power over candidate lists to party bosses.

• Middle path: a mixed system.

• The Law Commission's 170th Report (1999) proposed a partial list system [2]. The German and New Zealand MMP models [8][9] keep a local MP and fix overall proportionality.
• Risks:
  • more coalition instability;
  • party leaders controlling the lists;
  • the need for an electoral threshold (a minimum vote share to win any seat, such as Germany's 5%) to stop parliament breaking up into many small parties [8].

Related concepts

• Constituency
• Majority system
• Proportional representation
• List system
• Electoral threshold

Read more

• Electoral systems: FPTP, majority and proportional representation