Every political process comes with a set of questions. On the 7th of April, the country went on for what is being labeled as the biggest general elections in Indian history. While on one hand, experienced players such as Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC) are battling at the forefront, a newly formed Aam Aadmi Party is also claiming to bring in notions of change. In the previous general elections, the total voter turn out was 57 percent and only 12 percent of the youth made it to the polling booths.

In this context, we went around the campus for MTV India’s Rock the Vote campaign to understand how much Delhi University students know about this political process everyone is talking about – the Lok Sabha elections. Before the the city goes for polling on 10th April, we felt there were few questions that should be answered, few concerns that should be resolved. In order to make sure you use your vote to the best of your ability, this post is all you need.

How many seats are there in the Lok Sabha?

The maximum strength of the Lok Sabha as envisaged by the Constitution is 552 – upto 530 members to represent the States, up to 20 members to represent the Union Territories and not more than two members of the Anglo-Indian Community to be nominated by the President, if,  in his opinion, that community is not adequately represented in the House. However, the present composition of the Lok Sabha has 545 seats, with 543 open to elections and two seats up for nominations by the President.

How many constituencies are there in Delhi?

Delhi has a total of 70 constituencies in the Vidhan Sabha and 7 constituencies in the Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha elections taking place on 10th April, 2014 will witness elections taking place for the seven Lok Sabha seats in question.

Who is standing for elections in your constituency?

With NCT Delhi being divided in seven constituencies, it is important for a voter to know who is standing in their constituency before you vote. Here is a list of all the candidates standing in different constituencies. In order to know more about a candidate (including their financial assets), just click on their name.

Note: All data regarding the contesting candidates is sourced from Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR)’s portal – myneta.info.

[tabgroup][tab title=”East Delhi”]

[/tab] [tab title=”West Delhi”]

[/tab][tab title=”Chandni Chowk”]

[/tab] [tab title=”New Delhi”]

[/tab] [tab title=”North East Delhi”]

[/tab] [tab title=”North West Delhi”]

[/tab] [tab title=”South Delhi”]

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What is NOTA?

Let us assure you, this word being thrown in political debates has nothing to do with terrorism (please watch the video below to understand further).

None of the above (NOTA) is an option on the EVM for people who are not satisfied with any of the candidates running in their constituency.  You should know it is not akin to ‘Right To Reject’ where if a certain percentage of the voters choose the latter option, the elections are cancelled and all the candidates have to be changed by the parties. In India, even if a majority of the voters choose NOTA, the candidate getting the most number of votes will win the contest. (No, a hung parliament or President’s rule do not follow a scenario with majority of votes casted for NOTA)

There is something called a manifesto (and you should read it)

An election manifesto is a document released by a party or candidate with the agenda of what all would one seek to fulfill if brought to power. Irrespective of whether these promises are actually converted to actions, in order to make an informed choice, it is only sensible to go through what each party is promising. After all, you don’t want to support a party or candidate that have something against your beliefs in their agenda, right?

To make things easier, here are the links to the manifestos of the three major political parties: Indian National Congress (INC) | Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) | Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) 

To see more videos of how Delhi University answered our questions visit DU Beat’s Instagram account. Share your opinions with @du_beat and @mtvindia using #RockTheVote.