Washington: With the Presidential Elections are being held be held in the US today, the focus is on who among Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Kamala Harris will move to the White House next and succeed Joe Biden. Most of the polls show a neck-and-neck fight between the two. It may be noted that there is a huge difference in the electoral process between India and the US.
First and foremost, while the Election Commission of India (ECI) is the main body in Indi that takes care of all the election processes in India, there are no such premier bodies in the US. While it is an election body known as the Federal Election Commission (FEC), its main task is to check campaign finances. Another body. The Election Assistance Commission helps in providing voluntary support to election administrators.
Elections are held every four years in US
Also while in India, elections are held every five years, the elections in the US are held every four years. While in India it is the ECI that announces the the dates of elections and counting days, in the US elections are held on the First Tuesday after the first Monday since 1835. While elections in India are held under the People’s Acts of 1950 and 1951, the decentralised method is followed in the US. This means that each state has its own set of rules, even for Congress and Presidential elections.
Different set of rules in India and the US
Even for countries, there is a different set of rules between India and the US. While in India, the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system. The system is varied across the states in the US. While FPTP is also the norm during the presidential elections in the US, some states have also adopted Ranked-Choice Voting. In this case, if no candidates receive 5 0 percent of first choice voting, then the candidate getting the lowest number of votes is eliminated and his votes are distributed along getting more votes than him. The process is continued till one of the candidates gets a majority.
The US also follows an Electoral College system. The system has been introduced to reduce the fear that states with large populations will dominate the polls. The college consists of 538 lectors from states in portion to their congressional representation.
