CBSE

Class 9 Social Science

Important Questions
Civics Chapter-4
Electoral Politics

1 marks Questions

1. Which political party ruled over Haryana between 1982 to 1987?

Ans. The Congress Party.

2. Who formed the new party named as Lok Dal?

Ans. Choudhary Devi Lal.

3. When did the Lok Dal of Devi Lal and BJP combination form the government in
Haryana?

Ans. In 1987.

4. How many Lok Sabha Constituencies are there in Indian Parliament?

Ans. 543 seats.

5. Area wise which is the largest Lok Sabha constituency in our country?

Ans. Ladakh.

6. What is an Electoral Roll?

Ans. It is the list which contains the particulars of eligible voters.

7. What is Bye Elections?

Ans. Election held to fill a vacancy caused by the death of the sitting member or due to any

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other reason.

8. What is a Mid Term electron?

Ans. Elections held before the expiry of the full term of any house .

9. How many seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes in Lok Sabha?

Ans. 79 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes.

10. How many seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes in Lok Sabha?

Ans. 41 seats are reserved for Scheduled tribes.

11. How many seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes in Lok Sabha?

Ans. One-third seats.

12. What is party ticket?

Ans. Political Parties nominate their candidates who get party symbol and support during
election from a particular constituency.

13. What is Polling Booth?

Ans. A polling booth is a place where voters go inside and election officials identify them and
put a mark on their finger and allow them to caste the vote.

14. What is EVM?

Ans. Electronic Voting Machine.

15. Who appointed the Cheif Election Commissioner in India?

Ans. President of India.

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16. What do you mean by Turn Out?

Ans. Turnout indicates the percent of eligible voters who actually cast their vote.

17. What are elections?

Ans. It is a mechanism by which people can choose their representatives at regular intervals.

18. What is a constituency?

Ans. For election purpose, the entire country is divided into fixed electoral areas with a body
of registered voters.

19. What is Ballot Paper?

Ans. A ballot paper is sheet of paper on which the names of the contesting candidates along
with the party name and symbols are listed.

20. Mention a function of Election Commission.

Ans. It grants recognition to political parties and it allots symbols to candidate and political
parties.

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 CBSE Class 9 Social Science
Important Questions
Civics Chapter-4
Electoral Politics

3 marks Questions

1. Conducting elections is very expensive. Explain.

Ans. A large number of money is spent in conduction elections in India. Some critics say that
elections are burden on the citizens of a country. Citizens cannot afford to hold elections
once every five years. For Instance, the government spent about Rs.1300 Crores in
conducting LokSabha elections in 2004. That works out to about Rs 20 per person on the
voters list. The amount spent by parties and candidates was more than that government
spent. Roughly speaking, the expenditure made by government, parties and candidates was
Rs. 3000 Crore or Rs 50 per voter

2. Who appoints the Chief Election Commissioner of India? What powers are exercised
by Election Commission of India?

Ans. The Chief Election Commissioner of India is appointed by President of India. Following
are the powers of the Election Commission of India.
Election Commission takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and control of elections from
the announcement of elections to the declaration of results.
It implements the Code of Conduct and punishes any candidate or party that violates.
On election duty, government officers work under the control of the Election Commission
and not under government.

3. What are elections? What is their importance?

Ans. In democracy people choose their representatives to govern their country. The process
to choose representatives is called elections.
By elections a popular government is elected to run the country.
Elections are a method to bring about a change in leadership.

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Elections made the representatives responsible towards people.

4. Why do we need elections?

Ans. Democracy is incomplete without elections. Thus, we need elections.

Through elections the legitimate government is established.
Through elections people can choose the party whose policies will guide the government and
Law-Making.

5. How can you prove that elections are democratic?

Ans. Every citizen must have the right to vote and every vote should have one value.
There should be more than two or Multi-party system, so that the voters could choose from
the various candidates.
Elections should be held after regular intervals.
Elections should be conducted in a free and fair manner.

6. What are the drawbacks of elections?

Ans. Able and intelligent persons are afraid of contesting elections.

Elections are a very expensive process which is a heavy burden on the people.
Sometimes the dynastic trends emerged in the elections.
Tickets are distributed to nears and dears of the leaders.

7. What is an election? How it gives an immense power to voters to make many choices?

Ans. Election is a mechanism by which people can choose their representatives at regular
intervals and change them if they wish to do so. This mechanism is called election. In an
election the voters make many choices:
They can choose who will make laws for them.
They can choose who will form the government and take major decisions.
They can choose the party whose policies will guide the government and law making.

8. How would you explain the different forms of political competition?

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Ans. The most obvious form is the competition among political parties. At the constituency
level, it takes the form of competition among several candidates. It there is no competition,
elections will become pointless.
It creates the sense of disunity and factionalism in every locality.
It creates party politics among political parties.

9. Explain the electoral system of India?

Ans. India is heaving representative democracy system. It is direct election system.

Elections are conducted for Lok Sabha and State Legislature. The entire country is divided in
constituencies.
Election dates are announced and conducted by an independent Election Commission.
People are enrolled as voters and they cast their vote to elect their representatives.

10. What is a constituency?

Ans. Voters in a geographical area who elect a representative to the legislative bodies.
The country is divided into different areas for the purpose of elections.
Hence these areas are termed as electoral constituencies.
The voters of a particular constituency elect one representative.
The area or size of constituencies for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies are different.
There are 543 constituencies for Lok Sahba.

11. What are reserve constituencies? Why constituencies are reserved?

Ans. The makers of our constitution thought of a special system of reserved constituencies
for the weaker section.
Some constituencies are reserved for people who belong to the Scheduled Caste and
Scheduled Tribes.
In a SC reserved constituencies only someone who belong to the Scheduled Caste can stand
for the elections.

12. What is an election campaign?

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Ans. The main purpose of elections is to give a chance to choose the representatives, the
government and the policies they prefer.
Therefore it is necessary to have a free and open discussion about who is better
representative, which party will make a better government or what is good policy.
This is what happens during election campaign.

13. Who cannot vote in democracies?

Ans. The final decision is in the hand of judiciary to decide who can vote and who cannot.
Some criminals cannot vote. Persons with unsound mind can be denied the right to vote, but
only in rare situation. It is the responsibility of the government to get the names of all the
eligible voters put on the voters list.
The people whose age is less than 18 years are also cannot vote.

14. What is election Manifesto?

Ans. It is a vision and mission of political parties. All political parties release their agenda for
upcoming election. This agenda is called the election manifesto.
The agenda is the promise made by the political parties with the voters.
If any political party wins the election it is compulsory to implement the agenda of election
manifesto.

15. What do you know about the election Commission?

Ans. In our country elections are conducted by an independent and very powerful election
commission.
It enjoys the same kind of independence that the judiciary enjoys.
The chief election commissioner is appointed by the president of India.
Election commission takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and control of elections from
the announcement of elections to declaration of results.

16. Write about Voters List.

Ans. Once the constituencies are decided the next step is to decide who can and who cannot

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vote. This decision cannot be left to anyone till the last day.
In a democratic election, the list of those who are eligible to vote to prepared much before
the election and give to everyone. This list is officially called Electoral Roll or Voters List.

17. What are direct Elections?

Ans. In direct elections the voters cast their votes directly to elect their representatives.
The elections for Lok Sabha and State Legislature are direct elections.
Representatives are more answerable to the people.
People get political education as parties present their policies and programmes.

18. What are Indirect Elections?

Ans. Under indirect elections the voters first elect the Electoral College and the college elects
the candidate. People do not get political education as voters do not participate directly.
Elections of President and elections of members of Rajya Sabha are indirect Elections.

19. What are General Elections?

Ans. Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections are held regularly after every five years.
After five years the term of all the elected representatives come to an end.
The Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha stands dissolved.
Elections are held in all constituencies at the same time, either on the same day or within a
few days. This is called General Elections.

20. What is Mid-Term and By-Elections?

Ans. Elections held before the fixed tenure is termed as Mid-Term elections.
Sometimes election is held only for one constituency to fill the vacancy caused by death or
resignation of a member. This called a By Election.

21. What are the importances of Universal Adult Franchise?

Ans. It promotes the national unity and integrity. It is according to the law of equality.

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It gives a chance to people to gain political education.

22. What do you know about Polling Day and Counting Day?

Ans. Polling Day: On this day voter are casting votes in a proper manner to elect their
representatives. While casting vote their identity card are being checked properly by the
authorities.
Counting Day: On this day votes are counted and the results are declared.

23. How far it is correct to say that women always vote the way men tell them to?

Ans. This is not completely true. They are aware and self dependent now.
Women should have the right to vote because generally they do vote according to their
choice and it is according to the principle of universal adult franchise.

24. How far it is correct to say that Party politics creates tension in society?

Ans. Yes, it partially true that some time party politics creates tension in the society.
Electoral completion is necessary to provide opportunities to political parties and this
atmosphere forces them to serve the people.
But the elections and political parties are the soul of democracy.
We cannot imagine democracy without political parties.

25. How far it is correct to say that only graduates should be allowed to stand as
candidate for elections?

Ans. No, it is not correct to say that only graduates should be allowed to stand as candidates
for elections.
Elections have nothing to do with the educational qualification of candidates.
After independence maximum leaders of India were under graduates. They are more
intelligent, honest and sincere as comparison to the qualified leaders of today
This criterion will also deprive the major section of society to contest the elections.

26. Write about the slogan Garibi Hatao.

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Ans. The Congress Party led by Indira Gandhi gave the slogan of Garibi Hatao in the Lok
Sabha elections of 1971.
The Party promised to reorient all the policies of the government to remove poverty from the
country.

27. Write about the slogan Save Democracy.

Ans. Save democracy was the slogan given by Janata Party in the Lok Sabha elections held
in 1977. This slogan was given against the Emergency rule imposed by congress Party in
India during 1975-1976.
The party promised to undo the excess committed during Emergency and restore civil
liberties.

28. Write about the slogan Protect the self respect of the Telugus.

Ans. Protect the self respect of the Telugus was the slogan used by N.T. RamaRao.
He was the leader of the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh.
This slogan was raised during Assembly election in 1983.

29. What are Ballot Paper and EVM?

Ans. Ballot Paper: A ballot Paper is a sheet of paper on which the names of the contesting
candidates along with party name and symbol are listed. These papers are used by the voters
to cast their vote.
EVM: This is Electronic Voting Machine. Nowadays these are used to record votes. The
machines show the names of contesting candidates along with party name and symbol.

30. How would you explain the different forms of political competition?

Ans. The most obvious form is the competition among political parties. At the constituency
level, it takes the form of competition among several candidates. It there is no competition,
elections will become pointless. It creates the sense of disunity and factionalism in every
locality.It creates party politics among political parties.

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 CBSE Class 9 Social Science
Important Questions
Civics Chapter-5
Working of Institution

1 marks Questions

1. Which is lower house of Indian Parliament?

Ans. Lok Sabha.

2. Which is the upper house of Indian Parliament?

Ans. Rajya Sabha.

3. How many members can the President nominate in Rajya Sabha?

Ans. 12 Members.

4. How many members can the President nominate in Lok Sabha?

Ans. Two members.

5. What is SEBC?

Ans. SEBC is initially and Economically Backward Classes. SEBC is another name for all those
people who belong to castes that are considered backward by the government.

6. What is the length of the term of a government in India?

Ans. 5 years.

7. Name two houses of Parliament of India.

Ans. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

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8. What is the minimum age required to contest Lok Sabha elections?

Ans. 25 years.

9. What is the maximum number of members of Rajya Sabha?

Ans. 250 members.

10. What is the tenure of the member of Rajya Sabha?

Ans. 6 years.

11. Who is the presiding officer of Rajya Sabha?

Ans. Vice-President.

12. Name the institution that is responsible for implementing the law made by the
Parliament.

Ans. Executive.

13. Who is the supreme commander of the Armed Forces?

Ans. The President.

14. Who is first President of India?

Ans. Dr Rajendra Prasad.

15. Who is the first Prime Minister of India?

Ans. Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru

16. What is the assemblyof elected representatives called in India?

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Ans. India such a national assembly of elected representatives is called Parliament.

17. Who are the Cabinet Ministers?

Ans. Cabinet Ministers are the top level leaders of the ruling party, who are in-charge of the
major ministries.

18. How does Judiciary act as guardian of the Fundamental Rights?

Ans. Judiciary acts as a guardian of the constitution. People have right to approach the courts
to seek remedy in case of any violation of their rights.

19. What is Appellate Jurisdiction?

Ans. It is an appeal can be made in Supreme Court regarding any judgment of a high court, if
it is certified by the court. The Supreme Court may grant a special leave of appeal in case a
high court refuses to give such certificate.

20 .What is the special feature of Money Bill?

Ans. Bill deals with money only. A money bill is introduced only in the Lok Sabha.

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 CBSE Class 9 Social Science
Important Questions
Civics Chapter-5
Working of Institution

3 marks Questions

1. Write down the structure of Lok Sabha?

Ans. Lok Sabha is called the House of the People.

It is the lower house of Parliament.
There can be 545 members.
Lok Sabha is directly elected body.
It is more powerful than Rajya Sabha.

2. Write down the structure of Rajya Sabha?

Ans. Rajya Sabha is called the Council of the States.

It is the Upper house of Parliament.
There can be 250 members.
Rajya Sabha is indirectly elected body.
It is less powerful than Lok Sabha
It is the permanent house of Indian Parliament.

3. How the members of Lok Sabha are elected?

Ans. The members of Lok Sabha are directly elected by the people.
The entire country is divided in to constituencies.
Candidates of different political parties contest elections from these constituencies.
The candidate getting maximum votes is declared a winner from each constituency.
The winner candidate becomes a member of the Lok Sabha.

4. How can you say that the Lok Sabha is more powerful than the Rajya Sabha?

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Ans. Lok Sabha is more powerful than the Rajya Sabha in money matter.
Money bill can only be introduced in Lok Sabha.
Ones the money bill is passed by the Lok Sabha the Rajya Sabha cannot reject it.
The party or group which attains the majority in Lok Sabha forms the Government.
Lok Sabha controls the council of Ministers.

5. How are the members of the Rajya Sabha Elected?

Ans. The members of Rajya Sabha are elected indirectly.

There are 250 members of Rajya Sabha.
238 members are elected by the State Assemblies of all sates.
All sates have been allocated a fix number of seats for Rajya Sabha.
The Assembly members of all sates elect members for Rajya Sabha.
12 Members of Rajya Sabha are nominated by the President of India.

6. What are the qualifications to become a member of Lok Sabha?

Ans. Person must be a citizen of India.

He must be over the age of 25 years.
He must not hold any office of profit under the Union or State government.
He should not be of unsound mind or bankrupt.
He should not have been disqualified under any law of Parliament.

7. How the rise of coalition politics has imposed certain constraints on the power of the
Prime Minister? Explain.

Ans. In recent years rise of coalition politics has imposed certain constraints on the power of
the Prime Minister. The Prime minister of a coalition government cannot take decisions as he
likes. He has to accommodate different groups and factions in his party as well as among
alliance partners. He also has to heed to the views and positions of the coalition partners and
other parties, on whose support the survival of the government depends.

8. How the president of United States of America gets elected and what is his position in
his country?

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Ans. In many countries of the world, the President is both the head of the states and the head
of the government. The President of US is the most well known example of this kind of
President. The US President is directly elected by the people. He personally chooses and
appoints the Ministers. The law making is still done by the legislature but the President can
veto any law. Most importantly the President does not need the support of the majority of
members in the congress and neither he is answerable to them. He has affixed tenure of four
years.

9. Can you explain why parliamentary democracy in most countries is often known as
the cabinet form of government?

Ans. A council of Ministers is the official name for the body that includes all the ministers.
All the major decisions of the government are taken the cabinet Ministers. It is not practical
for all the ministers to meet regularly and discuss everything; the decisions are taken in
Cabinet meetings. The cabinet works as a team. The ministers may have different views and
opinions, but everyone has to own up to every decision of the cabinet. No minister can
openly criticize any decision of the cabinet. So we can say that parliamentary democracy in
most countries is often known as the cabinet form of government.

10. What is government order?

Ans. The order issued by the government is termed as a government order.

It is also known as office memorandum.
By office memorandum decision of the Government is communicated by the competent
authority.
The government issues many orders everyday on various subjects.

11. Write a short note on Mandal Commission?

Ans. The Mandal Commission was appointed by the government of India in 1979.
It was set up as the second backward class commission in 1979.
Mr. B. P. Mandal was the chairman of the commission.
This Mandal Commission was given the task to determine the criteria to find out the socially
and educationally backward section in India.

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This commission recommended the reservation of 27% government jobs for backward
sections of the society.

12. Why do we need a Parliament?

Ans. Parliament makes laws and is the final authority for making laws.
Parliament exercise control over the executive.
Parliament passes the income and expenditure of the government.

13. What are the qualifications to become a member of Rajya Sabha?

Ans. He must be a Citizen of India.

He must above the age of 30 years.
He must not hold any office of profit under the Union or State government.
He should not be of unsound mind or bankrupt.
He should not have been disqualified under any law of Parliament.

14. What is Zero Hour?

Ans. It is very important part of Parliaments schedule.

In Lok Sabha after the question hour and before the beginning of regular proceeding of the
house, the time is called Zero Hour.
During this time, the members can raise any important matter without giving any prior
information.

15. Explain No-Confidence motion.

Ans. It introduced to express non confidence in council of Ministers.

The prior information for the introduction of the motion is given to the Presiding officer and
it must be signed by at least 50 members of the house.
During the discussion on No-Confidence motion the opposition parties tend to highlight and
criticize the government policies.
If the motion is passed in the house, the Council of Ministers has to resign and the
government is dissolved.

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16. How is a bill passed in the Parliament?

Ans. The bill is introduced in either house of Parliament by any member.

There are three readings of the bill and later is put to vote.
After it is passed by one house it is sent to the other house.
The bill, passed by the parliament is sent for the approval of the President.
The bill becomes a law after the signature of the President.

17. What do you know about Speaker?

Ans. The presiding officer of Lok Sabha is called speaker.

Article-93 of Indian constitution gives power for speaker for Lok Sabha to conduct its
proceedings.
The Speaker is chosen by the Lok Sabha Members.
Generally the Speaker is unanimously.
Sometimes elections are also held to select the Lok Sabha Speaker.

18. What are the functions of Parliament?

Ans. The Parliament can make law on any subject of Union List and Concurrent List.
The Parliament has complete control over the finance of the country.
The Parliament has the authority to amend the constitution.

19. How the Prime Minister is appointed?

Ans. The Prime Minister is the real head of the Government.

Article 75 of the Constitution provides that the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the
President.
The President appoints the leader of the majority party as the Prime Minister of India.

20. Write any three powers and functions of Prime Minister?

Ans. The Prime Minister decides the members of the council of Minister.
Prime Minister distributes the portfolios among the ministers according to his choice.
Prime Minister presides over the meetings of Council of Minister.

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Prime Minister is the leader and the head of the Government.

21. Who are Cabinet Ministers?

Ans. Cabinet Ministers are usually top level leaders of the Ruling Party or parties who are in
the charge of the major ministers.
Usually the Cabinet Ministers meet to take decisions in the name of the Council of Ministers.
Cabinet is thus the inner ring of the Council of Ministers.
It comprises about 20 ministers.

22. Who are Minister of sates and Minster of States with independent charge?

Ans. Ministers of States: Ministers of States are attached to and required to assist Cabinet
Ministers.
Ministers of States with Independent Charge: Ministers of States with Independent Charge
are usually in-charge of smaller Ministers. They participate in the Cabinet meetings only
when specially invited.

23. How the President of India is Elected?

Ans. The President of India is indirectly elected. The President is elected by an electoral
college.
The Electoral College consists of elected members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the
assemblies.
The elections of the President shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional
representations.
The elections are conducted by the Election Commission. On the date of election, the M.Ps
and M.L.As cast their votes. The candidate with maximum votes is declared winner.

24. Write any three executive powers of The President?

Ans. The President appoints the leader of the majority party as the Prime Minister of India.
President is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Air Forces.
The President appoints the UPSC members and Election Commissioners.

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25. What are the Legislative powers of President?

Ans. The first session of the parliament is always addressed by the President.
The President can call a joint session of both the houses.
The President can issue the ordinances, when the parliament is not in the session.
The President can dissolve the Lok Sabha.

26. What are the financial powers of President?

Ans. No money bill can be introduced without the recommendations of the President.
The President appoints the members of the Finance Commission.
The President controls the Contingency fund.

27. What are the powers of Prime Minister?

Ans. He is the leader of the nation.

All ministers work under his leadership.
He allocates departments to the ministers.
He has the power to dismiss the ministers.

28. What are the limitations of a coalition Government?

Ans. The Prime Ministers has to accommodate different groups and factions in his party as
well as alliance partners.
He also has to pay heed to the views and positions of coalitions partners and other parties,
on whose support the survival of the government depends.
The agenda and the policies of the government are usually decided as a common minimum
programmes. This includes only those policies which are common to all coalition partners.

29. What is meant by Independence Judiciary?

Ans. Independence of the judiciary means that it is not under the control of the legislative or
the executive.
The judges do not act on the direction of the government or according to the wishes of the
party in the power.

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Once a person is appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court or High Court he/she is assured
security of service and cannot be removed from their office before the expiry of his/her term
except on the grounds of proved misbehavior or incapacity.
The judiciary has the power to prevent the misuse of the governments power to make
decision. It checks malpractices on the part of public officials.

30. What are functions of the Indian Judicial System?

Ans. It resolves the dispute between the citizens of the country.

It looks in to the disputed issues between citizen and government.
It resolves the dispute between two or more state governments.
It looks into the matter of dispute between the governments at the union and state levels.

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