Electoral Systems - Is FPTP still useful in India?

I happen to listen to a speech by Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, in which he termed 'first-pass-the-post-system" (which India follows) as unnatural and is increasingly discouraged by many countries which are switching to other systems like proportional systems and multi member parliament systems.



Because of my total ignorance of electoral systems, I have always thought that FPTP is the only kind of electoral system available. After listening to the speech, I started to do some research on these electoral systems. Surprisingly, there are many other alternatives for this FPTP. Here is the list of the electoral systems used in the world

	Africa	Americas	Asia	CIS & Post-Communist	Western Europe	Middle East	Oceania	Total
FPTP	19 (35%)	19 (40%)	10 (45%)	1 (4%)	4 (14%)	3 (30%)	14 (64%)	70
BV	1 (2%)	2 (4%)	5 (23%)	0	0	2 (20%)	0	10
AV	0	0	0	0	0	0	2 (9%)	2
TRS	10 (18%)	6 (12%)	1 (5%)	8 (30%)	2 (7%)	2 (20%)	2 (9%)	31
SNTV	0	0	0	0	0	1 (10%)	1 (4%)	2
Parallel	7 (13%)	2 (4%)	3 (15%)	7 (26%)	1 (3%)	0	0	20
List PR	17 (31%)	16 (33%)	3 (15%)	10 (37%)	17 (61%)	2 (20%)	2 (9%)	67
MMP	0	3 (6%)	0	1 (4%)	2 (7%)	0	1 (4%)	7
STV	0	0	0	0	2 (7%)	0	0	2
Total	54	48	22	27	28	10	22	211

(Source)

For starters, First-past-the-post (abbreviated FPTP or FPP) voting is a generic term referring to an election won by the highest polling candidate(s). Simply put, if you get more votes you are the winner.
(Source)

So, the question now is: Is FPTP still relevant and useful in India?
First of all let us look at some of the disadvantages of FPTP:
- Excluding Minority Parties from Fair Representation
- Excluding Minorities from Fair Representation
- This problem is solved in India by using reservations
- Excluding Women from Parliament
- This problem might be solved when the women's reservation bill becomes effective.
-Encouraging the Development of Ethnic Parties
- We are already facing this problem where parties are trying to get votes in the name of caste/religion rather than development
- Exaggerating 'Regional Fiefdoms'
- Even though the elected party doesn't really get the major percentage of the votes they get more number of seats than the other parties. (Refer)
- Leaving a Large Number of 'Wasted Votes'
- This is a major concern in my opinion. I know a lot of people who voted for LokSatta in Andhra Pradesh. It has resulted in splitting the votes away from TDP and indirectly encouraging Congress to win.
- Being Unresponsive to Changes in Public Opinion
- A vote by an individual doesn't really carry any weight unless (s)he votes for one of the two major parties.
- Open to the Manipulation of Electoral Boundaries
- We have such manipulations earlier. But I am not sure if such manipulations are still possible with electronic voting.
(Source)

Now, let us look at the advantages of the FPTP:
- It provides a clear cut choice for voters between two main parties
- Is this still relevant? With the increase in the number of the parties contending the election, FPTP will become ineffective. Parties with 30% of the votes can be elected.
- It benefits broadly-based political parties.
- Which forced BJP to include minorities in their party.
- It excludes extremist parties from parliamentary representation.
- In somecases, it is not really an advantage in my opinion.
- It retains the link between constituents and their Member of Parliament (MP)
- Does it really help? Do our MP/MLA's represent their constituency in true sense OR do they really do any work for their constituencies ?
- It allows voters to choose between people, rather than just between parties.
- Same question as above
- Finally, FPTP systems are particularly praised for being simple to use and understand.
(Source)

Now these are my points for discussion:
- Is FPTP still relevant and useful for India? When all the other countries have moved away or trying to move away from FPTP?

- Which one of the other systems are good for India?
- As Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan said is MMP system good for India?
- As per a report by the National Commission "....the National Commission recommended that the government and the Election Commission of India conduct a careful and full examination of the introduction of a Two-Round system, with the second round conducted between the two leading candidates in each district on the day after the first round....." (source)

- Will a two-round system works in India. Considering the cost of its implementation and the illiteracy of the common man to understand what is a two round system?
- Will the two-round system possibly eliminate the vote-for-money?

- Finally, as a common man what can we do to change the electoral system if some other system seems to be better than FPTP.