A crucial element in the working of a constitutional democracy like India is the functioning of free and
fair elections. One may say, it not only controls and constraints the government but also alters the
power structure in the society.
An electoral system is a way to translate votes into seats. Thus, is a mechanism to determine the
number and kind of votes to award seats to a candidate and parties in the election.
There exist three types of electoral systems: Majoritarian system, proportional representation system,
and Mixed system. These differ mostly on the basis of district magnitude - the number of
representatives elected from the constituency, ballot structure- the number of voting preferences given
to the voter on a ballot, and finally electoral formula - the method by which votes are turned into seats.
Despite the differences, a democratic electoral system has to incorporate the following characteristics;
Elections have to be regular and fair, votes must be of equal value, two or more political parties have to
be there, a balance should be created between the will of the majority and the interest of the
minorities.

ELECTORAL INSTITUTION IN INDIA
Elections in India is an enormous exercise, in fact that in 2009 lok sabha elections there were 8070
candidates with 368 parties. To manage these elections 5 million election personnel is mobilized.
Conducting elections is the responsibility of the Election Commission of India. It enjoys power and
autonomy to perform the mammoth task of completing the entire electoral process. Article 324,
therefore, provides for setting up of an election Commission As an independent constitutional authority.
Sukumar sen became the first election Commission in 1950. As article 324 explains, the election
Commission consists of chief election commissioner and such other election commissioners as decided by the president. This independence of the election Commission is necessary to be free from all political interferences , proper functioning , maintain credibility and provide fair elections. The removal or dismissal of the chief election commissioner is the same as that of a Supreme Court judge also they may be removed by the president on his recommendations. The election Commission carries out the huge responsibility of elections for the parliament and state legislations and for the post of the president and vice president.

For this the election Commission carries out a number of functions :
1. assist the delimitation commission
2. Prepare and update electoral Roll
3. Nomination of candidates
4. Monitors the election campaign
5. Facilitates the coverage of the election by media
6. Looks after the counting and result
Thousands of people are appointed for this job at the district and constituency level.
Apart from the election Commission an important Commission for this mammoth task is the
delimitation Commission. Article 82 of the Indian constitution gives the responsibility to the
delimitation Commission to create constituencies which have roughly the same population And
boundaries of the states and administrative areas.
The method of voting in India has also evolved. In The first and second general election In 1951 India adopted the balloting system of voting. From this whole general election Commission switched over to the marking system. for the first time in 1982 in Kerela EVM or electronic voting machine was installed on an experimental basis later it's official you started in 1998.
With successfuly conducting free and fair elections since 1951 India stands as the largest democracy in the world