Assertion (A) : In India, the political parties which formed the governments represented the majority of seats secured in the elections to the House of the People at the Centre and the Legislative Assemblies in the States but not the majority of votes. Reason (R) : The elections based on the majority -vote system decide the result on the basis of relative majority of votes secured. In the context of the above statements, which one of the following is correct?

Both A and R are true, and R correctly explains A. India uses the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) or plurality system: the candidate with more votes than any other is elected, and need not secure an absolute (50%+) majority. This produces situations where a party can win a majority of seats while its aggregate vote share is below 50% because many constituency wins occur with pluralities rather than majorities [1]. Empirical examples show large vote–seat distortions (small vote shares yielding few seats for some parties and larger seat bonuses for others). A proportional representation system would produce different seat distributions, underscoring that the FPTP plurality rule is the causal mechanism for the seat–vote mismatch described in A [3].

Sources

1. [1] Indian Constitution at Work, Political Science Class XI (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: ELECTION AND REPRESENTATION > Chapter 3: Election and Representation > p. 57
2. [2] Indian Constitution at Work, Political Science Class XI (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: ELECTION AND REPRESENTATION > First Past the Post System > p. 56
3. [3] Indian Constitution at Work, Political Science Class XI (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: ELECTION AND REPRESENTATION > Check your progress > p. 62