Political Parties

Question Bank

1. Meaning of Political Parties

2. Features of Political Parties
3. Criteria for recognition of Political Parties as National & Regional Parties
4. Role of Regional Parties
5. Rise of Regional Parties
6. Problems that surfaced the political parties.
7. Meaning of coalition politics
8. Reasons for formation of coalitions
9. Evaluation of coalition governments

A political party is a group of people who share similar political views, come
together to contest elections and try to hold power in the government. The
members of the political parties agree on some policies and programs for the
society intending to promote the collective good.
● Political parties that wish to contest local, state or national elections are
required to be registered by the Election Commission of India (EC).
● The status is reviewed periodically by the Election Commission of India.
● A recognized party enjoys privileges like a reserved party symbol, free
broadcast time on state-run television and radio, consultation in the setting
of election dates and giving input in setting electoral rules and regulations.
according to the 2019 Indian general election and Legislative Assembly
elections and any party aspiring to state or national party status must fulfil
at least one of the concerned criteria. national and state parties have to
fulfil these conditions for all subsequent Lok Sabha or State elections, or
else they lose their status.
● the total number of parties registered was 2599, with 8 national parties, 53
state parties, and 2538 unrecognised parties.
● All registered parties contesting elections need to choose a symbol from a
list of available symbols offered by the EC.
● All states of the country along with the union territories of Puducherry have
elected governments unless the President's rule is imposed under certain
conditions.

India has a multi-party system, where political parties are classified as national,
state or regional

Criteria to recognise a party as a National party

A registered party is recognised as a national party only if it fulfils any one of

the following three conditions:
● A party should win 2% of seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three different
states.
● At a general election to Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly, the party polls
6% of votes in any four or more states and besides it wins four Lok Sabha
seats.
● A party gets recognition as a state party in four states.
● Bahujan Samaj Party, Bhartiya Janta Party, Indian National Congress,
Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), National
Congress Party.

Criteria to recognise a party as a State party

A party has to fulfil any of the following conditions for recognition as a state
party:
● A party should win a minimum three percent of the total number of seats
or a minimum of three seats in the Legislative Assembly.
● the party should win at least one seat in the Lok Sabha for every 25 seats
or any fraction thereof allotted to that State.
● A party should secure at least six percent of the total valid votes polled
during the general election to a Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly
and should, also, win at least one Lok Sabha, and two Legislative Assembly
seats in that election,
● Under the liberalised criteria, one more clause that it will be eligible for
recognition as state party if it secures 8% or more of the total valid votes
polled in the state.

Meaning of Regional political party

● its activities are confined only to a single or handful of states. represents the
interests of a particular linguistic, religious, ethnic or cultural group, whose
 population may be concentrated in an area as small as a single assembly
constituency or region.
● regional parties differ from All India parties both in terms of their outlook
as well as the interests they pursue. their activities are focused on specific
issues concerning the region and they operate within the limited area.
● They merely seek to capture power at the state or regional level and do not
aspire to control the national government.
● It is noteworthy that in India, the number of regional parties is much larger
than the national parties and some of the States are being ruled by the
regional parties, viz., Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka
● social-cultural geographical ethnic diversity of India has contributed largely
to rise of regional parties in India.
● Other factors such as caste, religion, region, ethnicity have been quite
strong in India and have encouraged the formation of regional parties –
DMK, SHIV SENA, AKALI DAL, etc.
● due to strong historical and traditional reasons and desire to maintain their
independent entity have resolved integration
● the faction fights within larger parties also encouraged the formation of
regional parties. Political leaders who were not permitted to play their role,
they formed their parties example: BHARTIYA KRANTI DAL(UP), BEGAL
CONGRESS, KERALA CO RJD(Bihar), TRINAMUL CONGRESS ( West Bengal),
BJD( Orissa), etc.
● the growing economic disparity between various political parties in
backward areas encouraged the growth of regional parties. Such regional
parties demanded attention to their development.
● In certain areas, it has emerged as a protest against the ever-increasing
centralizing tendency.

Problems confronting political parties

The political parties have a vital role to play in the parliamentary form of
government but they have not worked successfully on account of the presence
of several organisational, financial and disciplinary problems
Some of them are: -
● Political parties are not organised based on social or economic policy but
based on religion, caste, culture, etc. it tends to promote their respective
group interest. Often within the same party, different groups pull each
other in different directions resulting in the organization of the party and
effective working.
● The political parties face the problems of the leadership crisis. It has
passed into the hands of opportunist politicians and the talented discard
to join politics and prefers to join government services or private
companies.
● The political party operates in an undemocratic and authoritarian
manner the evil of growing defection when prevailed in the country till
1985 hampered the smooth working of the political parties. Members
left one part and joined another with the hope of quick political
instability. The 52nd amendment act, 1985 put a ban on all defection.
● The growing role of black money affected the working of political parties.
The election in India is an expensive affair and various political parties
have to depend on donations from company or business houses and in
return, they had to protect and promote the interest of those
companies. This resulted in corrupt and dishonest politicians and
affected genuine representatives.
● The presence of a large number of independent members has
undermined the position of political parties/ leaders becoming dishonest
and corrupt. Too much importance given to the leaders has resulted in
the worship of those leaders which adversely affected the role of
political parties.
● The spirit of cooperation and coexistence is completely missing among
the political parties of India. The conflict with each other based on
personal differences of party leaders rather than their policy decision.
● Political parties in India have not been able to work effectively as
expected from them.
● At the same time, it cannot be denied that they have performed roles
like political aggregation, articulation, socialisation and participation
Political parties and coalition
Meaning-
● A coalition government means the coming together of more than one
political party or group based on common understanding or agenda.
Coalition governments have a framework within which all the parties
function. A coalition government in a parliamentary system is a
government in which multiple political parties cooperate, reducing the
dominance of any one party within that ‘coalition’. In this situation, several
smaller parties join hands to form the government. A coalition government
thus implies an agreement between two or more parties for sharing power.
● No single political party can secure a working majority in the popular
house on account of the presence of the multi-party system. Under which
circumstances, several like-minded parties from the coalition to provide a
workable majority and run the government
● A coalition government might also be created in the time of national
difficulty or crisis, for more example during wartime, to give a government
the high degree of perceived political legitimacy it diminishing interval
political strife.
Evaluation of coalition governments
● The 1967 elections – the fourth in the series – saw for the first time a real
challenge to the Congress party. While it gained the majority in the Lok
Sabha, it lost in several state assemblies. That was the first time when the
phenomenon of tandem voting got a jolt. People voted differently for the
Vidhan Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
● Coalition politics now characterize the Indian polity. There is no party at
the all-india level that can claim to enjoy a full majority.
● . With the Common Minimum Programme, the group led by the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) formed the government after the 1999 elections; the
coalition was called the NDA, the National Democratic Alliance.
● Since no political party, today is in a position to form the government all by
itself, attempts at allying are made soon after the election results are
declared. Any alliance that succeeds in garnering more votes in the Lok
Sabha puts its claim forward for running the government.
● Such a situation of uncertainty forces the majority group within the ruling
alliance to compromise with its principles, and offer concessions to its
alliance partners.
● People vote for individual party candidates or independent candidates.
They do not vote for the coalition. As such, no coalition can claim to have
the mandate of the people.
● Coalition government suffers from some major pitfalls. It finds difficulty in
solving major problems because major problems require agreement and
support of various coalition partners.
● in day to day working of the government and administration, different
party leaders and critics bring in objections and difficulties. They often
oppose and obstruct the process of decision making and the conduct of
decision implementation. As a result, the government finds it difficult to
work smoothly.
● In coalition politics, adjustment is required at the national, state and local
level wherein stability and governance are both important to maintain the
strength of the political system.
● they are not stable because of a lack of a common minimum program, as
suggested by the Second Administrative Commission.
● defections are encouraged where the role of the Governor is important.
The Sarkaria Commission recommendations should be implemented and
the office of the Governor must be made free from the political hold.
● the coalition has come to symbolise instability in India because the ruling
party has to pander to the needs of the coalition partners. It depends on
the competence of the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister to run the
coalition. Political parties need to be clear of each other’s expectations and
working platform.
● A coalition Government at the State or federal level will be stable only
when national parties lead it.