Political Parties

Question 1. What is meant by a political party?

Answer: Political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and to hold
power in the government. They agree on some policies to promote collective good. They seek to
implement those policies by winning popular support through elections. Thus political parties tend to
fill political offices and exercise political power.

Question 2. What are the three main components of a political party?

Answer: The three components of a political party are as follows:

 The leaders. A political party consists of leaders, who contest elections and if they win the
elections, they perform the administrative jobs.

 The active members. They are the ones who work actively for the party. They are the
assistants of the leaders and implement the plans and ideologies of the political party.

 The followers. They are the ardent followers of the parties and their leaders and support
them in the elections.

Question. Why do political parties involve partisanship?

Answer: Partisanship is marked by a tendency to take a side and inability to take a balanced
view on an issue. Parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are a part
of the society and they involve partisanship.

Question. Why do we need political parties? Explain.

Or
Describe any five major functions performed by political parties.
Answer: To fill political offices and exercise political power, political parties are needed to perform a
series of functions, which are the following:

1. Parties contest elections. Elections are fought mainly among candidates put up by political
parties.
In India, top party leaders choose candidates for contesting elections.

2. Parties put forward different policies and programmes. Political parties in a democracy group
together similar opinions, to provide a direction in which government policies can be
formulated,

3. Parties make laws for a country. Laws are debated and passed in the legislature.

4. Parties that lose elections play the role of the opposition. Opposition parties voice their
views by criticizing government for its failure or wrong policies.

5. Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues and resolve people’s problems.
Many pressure groups are the extensions of political parties.

6. Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes. For an
ordinary citizen it is easy to approach a local party leader than a government officer.

Question 3. Name any one political party that has national level political organisation but not
recognised as a national political party.
 Answer: State parties like the Samajwadi Party, Samata Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal have
national level political organisations with units in several states but are not recognised as
national parties.

Question 4. Why did India adopt multi-party system? Give reasons.

Answer: India adopted multi-party system because:

 India is a large country and has social and geographical diversities.

 It is easy to absorb different diversities in a multi-party system.

Question. Mention the ideology of Indian National Congress.

Answer: Under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian National Congress sought to build a
modern secular democratic republic in India. The party propagates secularism and welfare of the
weaker sections and minorities of society. It supports new economic reforms but with a human face.

Q. Name any one political party of India which grew out of a movement.
Answer:
Asom Gana Parishad.

Question Name the national political party which gets inspiration from India’s ancient culture and
values. Mention four features of that party.
Answer: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) founded in 1980 draws inspiration from India’s ancient culture
and values.
Features:

1. Cultural Nationalism (Hindutva) is an important element in its conception of Indian

nationhood and politics.

2. Wants full territorial and political integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India.

3. A uniform civil code for all people living in the country irrespective of religion and ban on
religious conversions.

4. Earlier limited to north and west and to urban areas, the party expanded support in the
south, east, the north-east and rural areas.

Question “No party system is ideal for all countries and in all situations.” Justify the statement with
five arguments.
Answer: Parties are a necessary condition for a democracy. The rise of political parties is directly
linked to the emergence of representative democracies. Party system is not something any country
can choose. It evolves depending on the nature of society, its social and regional divisions, its history
of politics and system of elections.

Each country develops a party system that is conditioned by its special circumstances.

For example, India has evolved a multi-party system, because of its social and geographical diversity
which cannot be easily absorbed by two or three parties.
Political parties make policies to promote collective good and there can be different views on what is
good for all. Therefor no system is ideal for all countries and situations.

Question What is a multi-party system? Why has India adopted a multi-party system? Explain.
Or
How has multi-party system strengthened democracy in India?
Answer: Multi-party system. In this system, the government is formed by various parties coming
together in a coalition. 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.

For example, in India there were three major alliances in 2004 parliamentary elections—the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA), the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Left Front. This system on
one hand leads to political instability but at the same time, allows for a variety of interests and
opinions to enjoy political representation.

Each country develops a party system that is suitable for its special circumstances. India has evolved
as a multi-party system because its social and geographical diversity cannot be absorbed by two or
three parties. Thus, such representation strengthens democracy. Multi-party system facilitates
representation of regional and geographical diversities. In India, several regional parties are in power
at the State level such as the DMK in Tamil Nadu, Akali Dal in Punjab the BSP in Uttar Pradesh.

Question. “Lack of internal democracy within parties is the major challenge to political parties all
over the world”. Analyse the statement.
Answer: Most political parties do not practise open and transparent procedures for their functioning
like maintaining membership registers, holding organisational meetings or conducting internal
elections regularly. Thus, ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information on the
happenings in the party and have no means to influence the decisions.

1. Also, there are very few chances for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in a party. Since
one or, at the most, a few leaders exercise paramount power in the party, those who
disagree with the leadership, find it difficult to continue in the party.

2. Those who happen to be the leaders are in a position to take undue advantage and favour
people close to them or even their family members. And, in many parties, the top positions
are invariably controlled by members of one family which is bad for democracy.

Question. “Dynastic succession is one of the most serious challenges before the political parties.”
Analyse the statement.
Answer: Most political parties do not practise open and transparent procedures for their functioning.
So there are very few ways for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in a party. Those who happen to
be the leaders are in a position of unfair advantage as they favour people close to them or even their
family members. In many parties in India, we see a trend of dynastic succession. The top positions
are always controlled by members of a particular family, which is unfair to other members of the
party, and bad for democracy. This is so because people who do not have adequate experience or
popular support come to occupy positions of power.

More than loyalty to party principles and policies, personal loyalty to the leader becomes more
important. This tendency is seen all over the world, even in older democracies.

Question. What is meant by a ‘national political party’? State the conditions required to be a national
political party.
Answer: National political parties have their units in various states. By and large all these units follow
the same policies, programmes and strategy that is decided at the national level.
Conditions required to be a national political party:

 A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in general elections of Lok Sabha or
assembly elections in four states.
  A party that wins at least 4 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Question. What is meant by regional political party? State the conditions required to be recognised
as a ‘regional political party’.
Answer: A regional party is a party that is present in only some states. Regional parties or State
parties need not be regional in their ideology. They have state identity as they are present only in
some states. Some of these parties are all India parties that happen to have succeeded only in states.
Example, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janta Dal.
Conditions required for a party to be recognized as a regional political party:

 A party that secures atleast six percent of the total votes in an election to the legislative
assembly of a state.

 Wins atleast two seats in the legislative assembly.

Question. Explain any five suggestions to reform political parties in India.

Suggest and explain any five effective measures to reform political parties.
Answer: Five suggestions made to reform the political parties:

1. Law to regulate the internal affairs of political parties like maintaining a register of its
members, to follow its own constitution, to have independent authority, to act as judge in
case of party dispute, to hold open elections to the highest post.

2. It should be mandatory for political parties to give one-third tickets to women candidates.
Also there should be quota for women on the decision-making bodies of the party.

3. There should be state funding of elections. The government should give money to parties to
support their election expenses in kind (petrol, paper, telephone, etc.) or in cash on the basis
of votes secured by the party in the previous election.

4. The candidate should be educated, so that he can solve and understand people’s problems.
His previous record should be cleared. He should be honest and there should be no criminal
case against him.

5. Citizens can reform politics if they take part directly and join political parties. People can put
pressure on political parties through petitions, publicity in media, agitations etc.

Question Explain the growing role of money and muscle power in political parties.
Or
How do money and muscle power play an important role in elections?
Answer: Political parties need to face and overcome the growing challenge of Money and Muscle
power during elections in order to remain effective instruments of democracy.

Since parties are focussed only on winning elections, they tend to use shortcuts to win elections, for
example, like booth-rigging, distribution of food, money, alcohol, etc. to the poor voters to get their
votes. 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. These days, parties are supporting criminals who can win elections. This is a
major cause of concern to the democrats all over the world who are worried about the increasing
role of rich people and big companies in democratic politics.
Question Examine the role of opposition parties in a Democracy. (2014 OD)
Answer: Opposition parties play an important role in democracies. They play both positive and
negative role. Positive role,

1. They ensure political party in power does not misuse or abuse its power;

2. They expose the weaknesses of the ruling party;

3. They also keep a close vigil on the bills and expenditure of the government.

Negative role.

 They target the government and aim at dislodging and discrediting the government for all
the ills and the troubles the people face;

 Through stalling the proceedings of the parliament, dhamas and gheravs, it curtails the
progress of the country.
The opposition’s work is not to abstract the functioning of the administration but keep a
close watch on the working of the party in power so that democracy becomes meaningful.

Question “About hundred years ago there were few countries that had hardly any political party.
Now there are few countries that do not have political parties.” Examine this statement. (2014 OD)
Answer: We can understand the necessity of political parties by imagining a situation without parties.
Every candidate in the election will be independent. Therefore, no major policy changes will be
made. Elected representatives will be accountable to their constituency but no one will be
responsible for the smooth running of the country. As societies become large and complex, they
need an agency to gather views on various issues and to present them to the government. There is a
need to bring various representatives together so that a responsible government can be formed.

A mechanism is needed to support or restrain the government to make policies, justify or oppose
them. Political parties fulfil the needs of a representative government and are thus a necessary
condition for a democracy.

Question “All over the world, people express their dissatisfaction with the failure of political parties
to perform their functions well.” Analyse the statement with arguments.
Or, Which three challenges do you feel are being faced by political parties in India? Give your
opinion.
Or, Identify and explain challenges which political parties need to face and over come in order to
remain affective instruments of democracy.
Answer: Since parties are the most visible face in a democracy, people blame them for whatever is
wrong with the working of democracy.
There are four major areas where the working of political parties faces challenge:
(i) Lack of internal democracy. There is concentration of power in one or a few leaders at the top.
Parties do not keep membership registers, do not hold organisational meetings and do not conduct
internal elections regularly. More than loyalty to party principles and policies, it is personal loyalty
which becomes more important. The leaders assume greater power to make decisions in the name
of the party. Since one or few leaders exercise paramount power in the party, those who disagree
with leadership find it difficult to continue in the party.

(ii) Dynastic succession. In many parties, top positions are always held by members of one family.
Most political parties do not practice transparent and open procedures for their functioning and it is
very difficult for an ordinary worker to rise to the top. This is bad for democracy, since people who do
not have adequate experience or popular support come to occupy positions of power.

(iii) Money and muscle power. Since parties are focussed only on winning elections, they tend to use
short-cuts to win elections. They nominate candidates who have or can raise money and thus are
able to have influence on the policies and decisions of the party.

(iv) No meaningful choice. There has been a decline in the ideological differences among parties.
They agree more on fundamental aspects, but differ only in details, on how policies are to be framed
and implemented. Sometimes people cannot even elect different leaders as the same set of leaders
keep shifting from one party to another.

Question “Political parties are a necessary condition for a democracy”. Analyse the statement with
examples.
Answer: “Political parties are a necessary condition for a democracy” in the following ways:

1. Without political parties democracies cannot exist. If we do not have political parties, every
candidate in elections will be independent.

2. No one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.

3. The government may be formed but its utility will remain uncertain.

4. Elected representatives will be accountable to their constituency, for what they do in their
locality but no one will be responsible for how the country will run.

5. As societies become large and complex they also needed some agencies to gather different
views on various issues and to present these to the government, that’s why political parties
are needed.

Question Describe any five efforts made to reform political parties in India. (2017 D)
Answer: Five efforts made to reform the political parties:

1. Law to regulate the internal affairs of political parties like maintaining a register of its
members, to follow its own constitution, to have independent authority, to act as judge in
case of party dispute, to hold open elections to the highest post.

2. It should be mandatory for political parties to give one-third tickets to women candidates.
Also there should be quota for women on the decision-making bodies of the party.

3. There should be state funding of elections. The government should give money to parties to
support their election expenses in kind (petrol, paper, telephone, etc.) or in cash on the basis
of votes secured by the party in the previous election.

4. The candidate should be educated, so that he can solve and understand people’s problems.
His previous record should be cleared. He should be honest and there should be no criminal
case against him.

5. Citizens can reform politics if they take part directly and join political parties. People can put
pressure on political parties through petitions, publicity in media, agitations etc.