NCERT Solutions for Class 9th Social Science Chapter 7 Fig. 7.1 Importance of elections in a democracy — In-text Questions
Book page 162 Updated on2026-09-19
Q1.
Fig. 7.1. Importance of elections in a democracy. (Fill in the two empty boxes to indicate why elections are important for democratic functioning, and discuss how each one of them is ensured through elections.)
Fig. 7.1, page 162 — redrawn. A ring of six sectors around the word Elections. Four are printed with their names; the two pale, dashed sectors are blank in the book and are the boxes you have to fill in.
Answer
The wheel already prints four segments around the word Elections — Accountability, Representation, Equality and Legitimacy — and leaves two segments blank. Two good fillings, both taken from ideas the chapter itself uses, are Participation and Peaceful Change of Government.
Segment
What it means
How the election itself ensures it
Accountability
Representatives must answer for their record
The five-year term ends and they must face the voters again
Representation
Every constituency has a voice in the legislature
Seats are distributed across constituencies and each elects a member
Equality
Every adult citizen counts the same
One person, one vote; RPA 1950 secures the vote to all citizens of 18 and above without discrimination
Legitimacy
The government has the right to govern
Power is claimed only after a public, verifiable mandate
Participation
Citizens take an active part in running the country
Voting, campaigning, standing as a candidate and being a polling agent are all open to citizens; the ECI's inclusion measures widen this further
Peaceful change of government
Power passes without force
The result of the count, not a struggle in the streets, decides who governs; the losing side becomes the Opposition (Fig. 7.11)
Why these two fit: the four printed segments describe what an election produces. The two added ones describe what it replaces — apathy, and the use of force to settle who rules. Together the six explain why the chapter calls elections "the soul of democracy".
Other defensible fillings:Choice, Transparency, Inclusion or Public accountability of parties would also be accepted, as long as you can explain, as the figure asks, exactly how the act of holding an election secures it.