PART 2
Socrates considered democracy as the worst form of government. For Aristotle, it is not the best, but the second best form of government only after ‘Polity’. Plato, the student of Socrates but a teacher of Aristotle, disliked democracy, and so he advocated for a ‘Philosopher King’ with absolute powers, to create an ideal society. Plato’s ‘Philosopher King’ (pk) is much more powerful and capable of creating an ideal, functioning, and harmonious society. But in implementation, as believed by many scholars, this institute of ‘pk’ and many of his theories remain impractical.
In fact, Karl Popper (a 20th Century Philosopher), considered Plato an enemy of open society, whose theories, according to him, gave way to the creation of authoritarian regimes
But I think Plato laid an amazing foundation of theories for many future political thinkers and philosophers. It created a strong base for many scholars so that they could create their political theories and governance models for future generations to come.
But do you think Plato’s condemnation of democracy makes it unworthy? And if it does, is there any government model better than democracy?
According to Winston Churchill, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other forms that have been tried from time to time.…”
Thanks to the ideas of scholars like John Locke, Rousseau, and John Stuart Mill, that a democratic society that gave ‘rights’ to individuals thereby also promoting the idea of equality could be established.
For the 16th president of America, Abraham Lincoln, democracy was all about governing as per the will of the people.
Due to democracy’s amusing ideals that promised the creation of a just, equal, open and free society, soon grew their roots in various western and eastern countries and today more and more countries are adopting democratic models of governance.
In India, which is also the fastest growing democracy, it is interesting to note that 642 million voters participated in the 18th Lok Sabha election this year in India. Out of the total voters 312 million voters were women (highest ever women participation in the elections in the country).
The election results of the 18th Lok Sabha in India once again give us insights regarding the peculiarities of the ‘Plurality voting system’ in a democratic system.
The Lok Sabha elections are one where people elect their representatives directly. And so the, First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system is followed for voting.
It’s a voting system where the ‘winner-gets-all’. As per this, candidates need not get any majority votes or quota of votes. If a candidate gets more votes than the fellow candidates from the same constituency then that candidate is considered a winner.
For Example: There is a Constituency C, where let’s say Candidates W, X, Y, Z are contesting Lok Sabha or Assembly elections. And let’s consider total votes polled are 100 (100 voters).
Results: Candidates -
W (Party p)- 40 votes
X (Party q)- 20 votes
Y (Party r)- 30 votes
Z (Party s)- 10 votes
As per the proportional representation (PR) voting method, any winning candidate should get the majority votes/quota of votes.
But as per the FPTP, the candidate need not get the majority votes or a quota of votes and so ‘Candidate W’ becomes the winner from ‘Constituency C’.
If we look into the pros of such a system, it is believed to create a stable government and a voting system that is easy to understand by voters. To understand the complexities of the same, let me present some data here.
In the 2024 general elections, Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) received 23.49 crore votes. It is the addition of 68.97 lakh votes, if we compare it to 22.9 crore votes received in 2019. This is due to the ‘FPTP’ system that even though the voter share increased, the seat share in Lok Sabha dropped from 303 seats to 240 seats.
Let’s understand FPTP with the help of a few examples and scenarios.
Suppose there are only four parliamentary constituencies (Lok Sabha seats) in a country, Constituency C, D, E, & F,
And results of
Constituency C (100 voters) is
Candidate W- 40 (Party p),
Candidate X- 20 (Party q),
Candidate Y- 30 (Party r),
Candidate Z- 10 (Party s),
Here, Candidate W from Party p wins.
Constituency D (100 voters) is
Candidate W° (Party p) — 50
Candidate X° (Party q) — 10
Candidate Y° (Party r) — 20
Candidate Z° (Party s) — 20
Here, Candidate W° from Party p wins.
Constituency E (100 voters) is
Candidate W`(Party p)- 20
Candidate X`(Party q)- 20
Candidate Y`(Party r)- 20
Candidate Z`(Party s )- 40
Here, Candidate Z` from Party s wins.
Constituency F (100 voters) is
Candidate W ∆ (Party p)- 60
Candidate X ∆ (Party q)- 10
Candidate Y ∆ (Party r)- 10
Candidate Z ∆ (Party s)- 20
Here, Candidate W ∆ from Party p wins.
As per the above example, it should be noted that in order to form a majority government in a Lok Sabha with four constituencies or parliamentary seats in total (for the sake of an easy example), party needs to reach the mark of 50% plus one seats (4 seats — ( 4/2 + 1 = 3 seats).
Taken Scenario 1, Candidates of ‘Party p’ win in three out of four constituencies as in three seats.
‘Party p’ being the strongest with majority seats (as per the given example: 3/4 getting 170/400 votes ( 40 + 50 + 20 + 60).
Total seats won — 3
But total votes polled in all Constituencies: 170/400
But if we consider the votes polled by the remaining voters, 230 remaining votes went to different opposition parties.
As per this example, 42.5% of the total votes went to a single party winning 75% seats.
The government of ‘Party p’ is going to form a majority government, giving a ‘stable’ political rule and where the majority of people of the country have chosen the party.
Scenario 2
Let’s say there are 4 constituencies or parliamentary seats in Lok Sabha (LS). So to become the majority government 4/2 +1 = 3 seats are to be won. If no party gets enough seats, for example:
Party p — 1 seats
Party q — 1 seats
Party r — 1 seats
Party s — 1 seat
In this case, no party reached 50% plus 1 seats and so the government cannot be formed.
There can be different ways to form a government but it would be called a ‘Coalition government’.
(Suppose — Party p + q + r = 3 seats OR Party q + r + s = 3), etc,
In a multiparty system, plurality voting method, both have its pros and cons.
A majority government can take decisions strongly and a stable government is preferred for ‘policy continuation’.
A strong opposition and regional parties coming to power is important to check the totalitarian tendencies, and minority aspirations respectively. But a coalition government can also bring a lot of instability leading to policy paralysis every now and then.
India is a diverse country and so far India has become stronger as a democracy where people from time to time used their voting rights to choose the government that can take the country forward. Post 1984, BJP remains the only party to have received 282(2014), 303(2019), 240(2024) seats in the Lok Sabha single handedly under an alliance. And this time, BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) remains the strongest (292/543 majority seats) coalition or alliance government formed so far across LS elections in the country. The development-led governance of NDA for the past 10 years is now once again all set for making India the third largest economy by 2027.
Happy Reading!!
(…. to be continued)
