Electoral systems: FPTP, majority and proportional representation

Detail

1. Basic terms

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

• All 543 were filled in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Results were declared on 4 June 2024 [4].

• Electoral system: the rule that turns votes into seats. The same votes can produce very different parliaments under different rules.

• There are three main families:
• plurality, i.e. first-past-the-post;
• majority, i.e. the two-round system;
• proportional representation (PR), with its list and single transferable vote (STV) variants.

2. First-past-the-post (FPTP), the plurality system

• Definition: the candidate with the most votes wins, even with less than 50%. The winner only needs to be "first past the post".
• Votes cast for the losing candidates elect nobody. They are called "wasted" votes.

• 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].

• 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.

• In India, FPTP is used for:
• the Lok Sabha;
• the state Legislative Assemblies;

• every general election since 1951-52.

• Main weakness: FPTP tends to magnify the lead of the largest party. Its seat share does not match its vote share [6].

1984 Lok Sabha election (NCERT Class 11)

Party	Votes (%)	Seats	What it shows
Congress	48.0	415 (over 80%)	Under half the votes gave 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 as CPI(M), 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 (5.7%), but CPI(M) won about 7 times as many seats.
• Lesson 2, a small vote share can sweep everything.
• Suppose many candidates split the vote in every constituency.
• Then a party with about 25% of the vote everywhere can top the poll in every seat.
• It could win all seats while 75% of voters chose someone else.

3. Majority system (two-round or run-off system)

• Definition: the winner needs more than 50% of votes (50% + 1).
• How it works:
• Round 1: everyone votes. If any candidate gets more than 50%, that candidate wins.

• Round 2 (run-off): if no one crosses 50%, only the top candidates (usually the top two) stand again. The winner of this round has a majority.

• Examples: France's presidential election, and Class 9's imaginary country "Ratnadweep".

• Difference from FPTP: the winner always has majority backing, but the election may need a second round. That costs more time and money.

4. Proportional representation (PR)

• Definition: each party gets a share of seats equal to its share of votes. PR also gives minority groups representation in line with their electoral support [7].
• Variant 1, the list system:
• Before the election, each party declares a ranked list of candidates.
• Voters choose a party, not a person.

• If a party wins 30 seats, the first 30 names on its list become members.

• Two ways to draw constituencies under the list system:

• the whole country is one constituency, as in Israel and the Netherlands;

• large multi-member districts, as in Argentina and Portugal.

• Israel's Knesset (2015 election):

• The Knesset has 120 seats.

• Likud won 23.4% of votes and 30 seats, which is 25% of the seats. Its seat share closely matched its vote share.

• Electoral threshold: the minimum vote share a party needs to win any seat at all.

• Israel's threshold is 3.25%. A party below it gets no seats.
• The threshold limits the number of tiny parties in parliament.
• Other examples: Sweden 4%, Germany 5% and Turkey 10% [8].

• Germany set its 5% threshold because many small parties had helped weaken democracy in the Weimar Republic [8].

• Variant 2, the single transferable vote (STV): voters rank candidates in order of preference, in multi-member districts [7].

• STV is used in Ireland, Malta, Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of Australia [7].
• In India, STV is used for indirect elections (see Section 3).

5. Mixed systems (beyond NCERT)

• Mixed-member proportional (MMP): some members are elected by FPTP and the rest by PR [8].
• Germany (Bundestag): each voter has two votes [8].
• The first vote (Erststimme) is for a constituency candidate. It keeps the local link between voters and their member.
• The second vote (Zweitstimme) is for a party list. It decides the overall party balance of the Bundestag.

• A party gets list seats only if it wins at least 5% of the national vote or at least 3 constituencies [8].

• New Zealand: switched from FPTP to MMP in 1996. Each voter has one vote for a district candidate and one for a party [9].

• Why this matters for India: MMP is the usual model for any "partial list" reform. It keeps the local MP of FPTP and adds the fairness of PR.

6. FPTP vs PR (NCERT Class 11 comparison)

Feature	FPTP	PR
Size of constituency	Country divided into small areas	Large areas; the whole country may be one constituency
Members per constituency	One	More than one
Voter votes for	A candidate	A party
Seats vs votes	A party may get more (or fewer) seats than its vote share	Seats are in proportion to votes
Winner's support	May win without a majority	Elected through a party's proportional share
Examples	UK, India	Israel, Netherlands

• Class 9 "imaginary countries" exercise:
• Haritbhumi is an FPTP-type country.
• Ratnadweep is a majority (run-off) country.
• Swarnalok is a PR-type country.
• Students compare who wins under each rule using the same votes.

7. Why India chose FPTP (NCERT Class 11)

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

• Under FPTP, the voter only has to recognise one candidate or symbol.

• 2. Every area has its own representative.

• Voters choose a candidate, not just a party. So every area has one MP who can be held accountable. NCERT's question: "How do I know who is my MP?"

• Under list PR, there is no single local MP to approach.

• 3. It gives stable government.

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

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

• 4. It encourages groups to join together.

• To top the poll, a candidate must win votes from several castes and communities in the area. So FPTP pushes groups to combine.
• PR might encourage each community to form its own party.

8. What happened in practice (1952–present)

• 1952 to the late 1960s: one-party dominance. Congress won large seat majorities with well under 50% of votes, as in 1984 (48% of votes, 415 seats).
• After 1989: the coalition era.
• A coalition is an alliance of parties that forms a government when no single party has a majority (NCERT Class 8).

• Coalitions let small and regional parties gain national power even under FPTP.

• Two-party contests in many states, while the national picture stays multi-party.

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

• India shows this only partly. Parties with regionally concentrated votes survive, as TDP's 30 seats in 1984 show.

• 18th Lok Sabha (2024):

• Members came from 41 parties, plus 7 independents [4].
• National parties won 346 seats (64%). State parties won 179 seats (33%) [4].

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

• Data source: the ECI released 42 statistical reports on the 2024 Lok Sabha election, including party-wise vote share [5].

9. Critiques of FPTP

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

• A loss of under 1 point of vote share cost BJP 63 seats. FPTP magnifies small swings in votes.

• Tamil Nadu 2016 assembly election (NCERT exercise): AIADMK won 40.77% of votes and 135 of 232 seats (about 58%).

• Minorities spread across many areas are under-represented:
• Muslims are about 14.2% of India's population. They are usually less than 6% of MPs.
• 24 Muslim MPs were elected in 2024, about 4.4% of 543.
• The reason: 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.

• The same logic applies to women: 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 depth whether India should introduce a list system, and made recommendations on it [2].
• It suggested a partial list system: some extra Lok Sabha seats filled from party lists, alongside FPTP seats.
• The same report also covered:
  • amending the Tenth Schedule (the anti-defection law);
  • cutting election spending;
  • amending Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (disqualification on conviction);
  • quicker disposal of election petitions;
  • one election to the Lok Sabha and all Assemblies every five years [2].

• 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].

• Class 11 exercises 8 and 10 ask whether India should move from FPTP to PR. Use sections 7–9 for both sides. The full reform debate is in the electoral-reforms note.

Prelims Hooks

• FPTP = plurality. The winner needs only the most votes, not 50%. The majority/two-round system needs 50% + 1, with a run-off (France's presidency).
• The Lok Sabha has 543 single-member constituencies. India's Lok Sabha and Canada's House of Commons are standard SMP/FPTP examples [6].
• 1984 trap: CPI(M) and Lok Dal had the same 5.7% of votes but won 22 vs 3 seats. Concentrated votes win more seats.
• Israel: the whole country is one constituency, the Knesset has 120 seats, and the threshold is 3.25%. In 2015, Likud won 23.4% of votes and 30 seats.
• Thresholds: Germany 5% (or 3 constituency wins), Sweden 4%, Turkey 10% [8].
• MMP: Germany uses two votes (Erststimme for the candidate, Zweitstimme for the party list). New Zealand moved from FPTP to MMP in 1996 [8][9].
• STV (ranked votes, multi-member seats) is used in Ireland and Malta [7]. List PR (party vote) is used in Israel and the Netherlands. Do not confuse the two.
• Law Commission 170th Report (May 1999): introduce a list system; amend the Tenth Schedule; hold simultaneous elections [2].
• 18th Lok Sabha (2024): 41 parties won seats. BJP won 240, INC 99, SP 37 [4].

Mains Points

• Stability vs fairness. FPTP gave India simplicity, local accountability and working majorities (1984: 48% of votes, over 80% of seats).
• It also creates large vote-seat gaps: BJP won 303 seats with 37.4% in 2019 and 240 seats with 36.6% in 2024. AIADMK won 135 of 232 seats with 40.77% in Tamil Nadu in 2016.

• The right answer must weigh governability against representativeness.

• Who is under-represented. Groups spread thinly across many areas, such as Muslims (about 14.2% of the population but usually under 6% of MPs; 24 MPs in 2024) and women (14% in 2024 [4]), rarely top the poll anywhere.

• Under PR, parties must field such candidates high on their lists.

• Counter-argument: PR may create community-wise parties and weaken FPTP's push for groups to work together.

• Middle path: a mixed system. The Law Commission's 170th Report (1999) on a list system [2] and the German and New Zealand MMP models [8][9] keep a local MP and fix overall proportionality.

• Risks:

  • more coalition instability;
  • party bosses controlling the lists;
  • the need for thresholds (about 5%) to stop the parliament breaking into many small parties.

• Political-history angle (GS-I). FPTP produced Congress dominance (1952 to the 1960s) and then a coalition era after 1989.

• Regional parties with concentrated votes survived, as TDP did in 1984.
• So Duverger's two-party tendency held only within states, not across India as a whole.