Politics Chapter-4
Political parties
1. Political parties - It is a group of people who come together to contest in
elections and hold power in the government. They agree on some policies
or programs for society with a view to promote the collective good.
● Most visible institution in a democracy
● They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support
through elections.
● Parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society
● Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve
PARTISANSHIP.
2. What are three components of political parties?
● The leaders
● The active members
● The followers
3. Functions of political parties
● Parties contest elections.
○ Candidates contest elections on behalf of the party.
○ Parties select their candidates in different ways.
● Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the
voters choose from them.
○ Each of us may have different opinions and views on what
policies are suitable for society.
○ A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic
positions which it supports
○ A government follows the policies of the ruling party.
● Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country.
○ Since most of the members belong to a party, they go by the
direction of the party leadership, irrespective of their
personal opinions
● Parties form and run governments.
○ Parties recruit leaders, train them and then make them
ministers to run the government in the way they want.
● Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of
opposition to the parties in power.
○ By voicing different views and criticising the government for
its failures or wrong policies.
○ Opposition parties also challenge the government.
● Parties shape public opinion.
○ They raise and highlight issues.
○ Parties have lakhs of members and activists spread all over
the country.
○ Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution
of problems faced by people.
● Parties provide people access to government machinery and
welfare schemes implemented by governments.
○ For an ordinary citizen it is easier to approach a local party
leader than a government officer.
○ Parties must address people’s needs and demands otherwise
people can reject those parties in the next elections.
4. Why cannot modern democracies exist without political parties?
OR
The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of
representative democracies. Explain?[From point 6]
● Every candidate in the elections will be independent if there is no
political party.
● So no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any
major policy changes.
● The government may be formed, but its utility will always be
uncertain.
● Elected representatives will be accountable to their constituency.
● But no one will be responsible for how the country will be run.
● As society becomes large and complex there is a need for an agency
which can perform certain functions.
● Political parties fulfill these needs that every representative
government has.
○ Gather different views on various issues and to present these
to the government.
○ Bring various representatives together so that a responsible
government could be formed.
○ A mechanism to support or restrain the government, make
policies, justify or oppose them.
5. More than 750 parties are registered with the Election Commission of
India.
6. Types of party [Link].
a) One party system
● Only one party is allowed to control and run the government.
● In China, only the Communist Party is allowed to rule.
● This is not a democratic option.
b) Two party system
● Power usually changes between two main parties.
● Several other parties may exist, contest elections and win a few
seats in the national legislatures.
● But only the two main parties have a serious chance of winning a
majority of seats to form a government.
● Such a party system is called a two-party system.
● The United States of America and the United Kingdom are examples
of a two-party system.
7. Multi party system
● If several parties compete for power, and more than two parties
have a reasonable chance of coming to power either on their own
strength or in alliance with others, we call it a multiparty system.
● In India, we have a multiparty system.
● Coalition government is observed
● The multiparty system often appears very messy and leads to
political instability.
● At the same time, this system allows a variety of interests and
opinions to enjoy political representation.
8. What is alliance or front? Give examples.
When several parties in a multi-party system join hands for the purpose of
contesting elections and winning power, it is called an alliance or a front.
Eg. In India there were three such major alliances in 2004 parliamentary
elections– the National Democratic Alliance, the United Progressive
Alliance and the Left Front.
9. Which party system is better?
● Party system evolves over a long time, depending on the nature of
society, its social and regional divisions, its history of politics and its
system of elections.
● Each country develops a party system that is conditioned by its
special circumstances.
● For example, if India has evolved a multiparty system, it is because
the social and geographical diversity in such a large country is not
easily absorbed by two or even three parties.
● No system is ideal for all countries and all situations.
10.National Parties
● Countrywide parties have their units in various states.
● Most of these units follow the same policies, programmes and
strategy that is decided at the national level.
11. What are recognised political parties?
● While the Commission treats all parties equally, it offers some
special facilities to large and established parties.
● These parties are given a unique symbol – only the official
candidates of that party can use that election symbol.
● Parties that get this privilege and some other special facilities are
‘recognised’ by the Election Commission for this purpose.
● That is why these parties are called, ‘recognised political parties’.
12. What are the criteria laid down by EC to recognize a national party and a
state party?
● The Election Commission has laid down detailed criteria of the
proportion of votes and seats that a party must get in order to be a
recognised party.
● A party that secures at least six per cent of the total votes in an
election to the Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least two
seats is recognised as a State party.
● A party that secures at least six per cent of the total votes in Lok
Sabha elections or Assembly elections in four States and wins at
least four seats in the Lok Sabha is recognised as a national party.
13. Explain challenges faced by political parties
● Lack of internal democracy
○ All over the world there is a tendency in political parties
towards the concentration of power in one or few leaders at
the top.
○ Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient
information on what happens inside the party.
○ The leaders assume greater power to make decisions in the
name of the party.
○ Those who disagree with the leadership find it difficult to
continue in the party.
○ More than loyalty to party principles and policies, personal
loyalty to the leader becomes more important.
● Challenge of dynastic succession
○ Most political parties do not practice open and transparent
procedures for their functioning.
○ Less chances for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in a
party.
○ The top positions are always controlled by members of one
family.
○ This is unfair to other members of that party.
○ This is also bad for democracy, since people who do not have
adequate experience or popular support come to occupy
positions of power.
● Growing role of money and muscle power
○ Since parties are focussed only on winning elections, they
tend to use short-cuts to win elections.
○ Political parties tend to nominate those candidates who have
or can raise lots of money.
○ Rich people and companies who give funds to the parties tend
to have influence on the policies and decisions of the party.
○ Parties support criminals who can win elections.
● Parties do not seem to offer a meaningful choice to the voters
○ In order to offer meaningful choice, parties must be
significantly different
○ In recent years, there has been a decline in the ideological
differences among parties in most parts of the world.
Eg. The difference between the Labour Party and the
Conservative Party in Britain is very little.
In our country too, the differences among all the major
parties on economic policies have reduced.
○ Sometimes people cannot even elect very different leaders
either, because the same set of leaders keep shifting from one
party to another
14. Define defection and affidavit?
Defection: Changing party allegiance from the party on which a person got
elected (to a legislative body) to a different party.
Affidavit: A signed document submitted to an officer, where a person
makes a sworn statement regarding her personal information.
15. Explain the steps or suggestions taken to reform political parties in India
● The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs
from changing parties. Now the law says that if any MLA or MP
changes parties, he or she will lose the seat in the legislature.
○ Advantage: This new law has helped bring defection down
○ Disadvantage: This had made disagreement even more
difficult(ie MLAs or MPs have to accept whatever party leader
says)
● Now, it is mandatory for every candidate who contests elections to
file an AFFIDAVIT giving details of his property and criminal cases
pending against him.
○ Advantage: The new system has made a lot of information
available to the public.
○ Disadvantage: But there is no system of checking if the
information given by the candidates is true.
● The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for
political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their
income tax returns.
○ The parties have started doing so but sometimes it is mere
formality.
○ It is not clear if this step has led to greater internal democracy
in political parties.
● A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political
parties
○ It should be made compulsory for political parties to maintain
a register of its members.
○ To follow its own constitution.
○ To have an independent authority.
○ To act as a judge in case of party disputes, to hold open
elections to the highest posts.
● It should be made mandatory for political parties to give a minimum
number of tickets, about one-third, to women candidates.
● There should be state funding of elections.
○ The government should give parties money to support their
election expenses. This support could be given in kind: petrol,
paper, telephone, etc. Or it could be given in cash on the basis
of the votes secured by the party in the last election.
16. There are two other ways in which political parties can be reformed.
Public Pressure Public participation
People can put pressure on Political parties can improve if
political parties, through petitions, people who desire change join
publicity and agitations. them.
If political parties feel that they It is difficult to reform politics if
would lose public support by not ordinary citizens do not take part
taking up reforms, they would in it and simply criticise it from the
become more serious about outside.
reforms.
The problem of bad politics can be
solved by more and better politics.
