A general election is a political election that generally elects all or most of the members of a particular political party. These are usually held for national, state or territory primaries and are different from by-elections, where only one voter goes to the ballot. 

In most systems, general elections are regularly scheduled elections in which the head of government such as the president or prime minister  and all members of the "hierarchy" or parliament are elected simultaneously. The date of a general election may coincide with the date of elections within different administrative units. With local elections. 

What Is the General Election?

A general election is an election that selects candidates for public office. This is in contrast to primaries, which are used to narrow the range of candidates for a particular election office or to determine candidates for a political party before the general election. Candidates for general elections are usually chosen by primary elections, but this is not always the case.

 For example, in Louisiana, all candidates for legislative and state-level offices vote in the state general election regardless of party affiliation (if no candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes in the general election, the top A run-off vote will be held between them In some cases, elections may take place at irregular times. B. elect replacements for seats vacated by death, resignation, or impeachment 

How the General Election Is Held?

• Electoral Roll

Once the constituencies are determined, the next step is to decide who will and who will not vote. This decision cannot be left to anyone until Judgment Day. In democratic elections, a list of voters is drawn up and handed out to everyone well in advance of the election.

• Nomination of Candidates 

Those wishing to participate in the election must complete an election proposal by the deadline set by the Election Commission. Each candidate must leave some money as a security deposit along with the nomination form.

•  Election Campaigns 

Campaigning will take place during his two-week period from the announcement of the final list of candidates to Election Day. During this time, candidates engage with voters, political leaders speak at election conferences, and political parties mobilise supporters.

• Voting and counting of votes

The final stage of an election is the day when voters vote or vote. This day is commonly called Election Day. Anyone whose name is on the voter list can go to their nearest polling place. As voters enter the booth, polling officers identify them and mark their fingers so they can vote. There is an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) used to record votes. The machine displays the candidate's name and party symbol. All a voter has to do is press the button next to the name of the candidate they want to vote for.

Once the investigation is finished, all her EVMs will be sealed and moved to a safe location. A few days later, all EVMs in the constituency were opened on a set date to tally the votes for each candidate. The candidate with the most votes in the constituency is elected.  

The Requirements Needed To Take Part In General Election 

Not only in other field in politics also you need to be qualified for the elections , whether it is general elections or other elections you need to be that qualified for that post , so here are some points which are neccessary if you are taking part in general election 

• Candidates must be Indian citizens.

• Candidate he/she must be 25 years of age or older.

• He/she should not have been sentenced to prison.

• The person should not be declared bankrupt by the country's banks or courts.  

India First General Election (1951-1952) 

The first general elections for independent India were held from 25 October 1951 to 21 February 1952. It was a huge election in which one-sixth of the world's population voted, making it the world's largest election at the time. There were about 1,874 candidates and 53 political parties, 14 of which were state-owned. These included the Indian National Congress, Communist Party of India, Socialist Party, Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, Akil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha and others. Both parties contested his 489 seats. The Indian National Congress won an overwhelming majority with 364 seats and 45% of the total votes cast. The Communist Party of India, which won a total of 16 seats, was the main opposition party. 

Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru became the first democratically elected prime minister of independent India. Despite becoming independent on 15 August 1947, the first elections were not held until 1951. During that time, India was a constitutional monarchy  under King George VI. Louis Mountbatten as governor. The first of many challenges was India's enormous population of 360 million at the time. In India, universal adult suffrage was introduced with the passage of the constitution, giving 173 million people over the age of 21 the right to vote.

However, 85% of this target population was illiterate. Identifying, nominating and registering voters was a major challenge. A general election had to be completed based on census data, which did not take place until 1951. Then came the design of party symbols, ballots and ballot boxes for the country's uneducated population.

Polling stations also had to be built and properly distributed, and qualified polling officials had to be recruited and trained. All of these challenges took time to overcome. But the time finally came and her 45.7% of voters left home for the first time to exercise their right to vote. India has become the world's largest democracy with a government of and for the people.  

Conclusion 

Most studies ask what determines elections. We have seen how governments try to organise elections to get desired results. We have seen voters react to government records and opposition appeals. In fact, if elections don't make a difference, there's no point in studying them at all. So what do elections decide? What are you doing? We first touched on this issue when we discussed communism and third world elections. I will now elaborate on this further and focus on the functioning of free and competitive elections.