SST-10-CIV-6-POLITICAL PARTIES- NOTES

A Key words:
1. Ruling party 7. National party 11. Leftist party
2. Opposition 8. State / Regional Party 12. Rightist party
3. Political Parties 7. Multi party 13. Affidavit
4. Partisan 8. National party 14. Defection
5. One party / mono party 9. State / Regional party 15. Partisanship
6. Biparty / Two party 10. Recognized party 16. referendum
1. Political party.
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.
2. Partisanship:
Partisanship is a tendency when a person adheres to a particular party and refuses to engage with any
other party.
3. Recognized political party:
A. A recognized political party is a party recognized by the Election Commission with all the privileges
and facilities.
4. National political parties which opposes the forces of secessionism and communalism.
A. Communist Party of India (CPI) opposes the forces of secessionism and communalism.
5. Regional political parties that are predominant in Manipur, Maharashtra and Odisha.
A. Manipur – People’s Democratic Alliance
Maharashtra – Shiv Sena
Odisha – Biju Janata Dal
6. Guiding philosophy of Bhartiya Janata Party
A. The source of inspiration of Bharatiya Janata Party is the ancient Indian culture and values. Cultural
nationalism (Hindutva) is an important element in its conception of Indian nationhood and politics.
7. One party system.
A. A One-party system is a form of government where the country is ruled by a single political party,
meaning only one political party exists and the forming of other political parties is forbidden.
In this case, opposition parties against the dominant ruling party are allowed, but have no real chance of
gaining power.
8. Meaning of ‘defection’ in democracy:
Defection in politics means moving of a person from one party to another party for some personal benefit.
It means changing party allegiance from the party on which a person got elected to a different party.
9. Give your opinion about which party system should be adopted in a country.
i) 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.

ii) 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
 iii) 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. Therefore, no system is ideal for all countries
and situations.
10 National political party- Criteria
.
i) National political parties are the parties that have their units in various states. By and large all theseunits
follow the same policies, programme and strategy that is decided at the national level.
Conditions required to be a national political party:
ii) A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in general elections of Lok Sabha or assembly
elections in four states.
iii) A party that wins at least 4 seats in the Lok Sabha.
11 State parties contributed to the strengthening of federalism and democracy. Give your opinion.
.
i) The state parties also referred to as regional parties are not necessarily regional in ideology. Some of these
parties are all India parties that happen to have succeeded only in some states. Over the last three decades,
the number and strength of these parties has expanded.
ii) Before the general elections, one national party was able to secure on its own a majority in the LokSabha. As
a result, the national parties were compelled to form alliances with state parties.
iii) Since 1996, nearly every one of the state parties got an opportunity to be a part of one or the other national
level coalition government. This contributed to the strengthening of federalism and democracy.

12 “Dynastic succession is one of the most serious challenges before the political parties”. Comment.
.
i) 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.

ii) 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.

iii) 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

13 Describe in brief the recent efforts that have been made in India to reform political parties and its
leaders.

ii) Filing of an affidavit: The Supreme Court has made it mandatory for every candidate who contests
an election to file an affidavit giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him. This has
been done to reduce the influence of money and criminals.

iii) Hold organizational elections: The Election Commission has made it necessary for political parties
to hold their organizational elections and file their income tax return
14. Modern democracies cannot exist without political parties. Justify.
OR
The rise of political parties is linked to the emergence of representative democracies. Comment.
A. Political parties perform various functions such as contesting elections, formation of government, acting as
opposition party, etc. We, therefore, need political parties in a democracy. But still question is raised why
modern democracies cannot exist without political parties. The reasons for this are as
mentioned below :
i) In the absence of political parties, every candidate in the elections will be independent. There willbe no
promises, no party manifestos. People will not be able to know about the future
programme/policies of the new government after the elections.
ii) The government may be formed but there will be no unity among the members of the legislature
unless they are members of one political party.
iii) Elected representatives will be accountable to the voters /people of their constituency for their problems
and promises made to them. No one will be held responsible for the foreign and defense policies of the
country because these are decisions that are taken by majority or unanimously.
The question may also be raised to whom the members will be responsible and why for national
policies.
iv) It may be mentioned here that even during the non-party based elections to the panchayats, the parties
do not contest formally but it is generally noticed that the village gets split into more than one faction,
each of which puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates. This function is performed by
political parties in a democracy

. v) Modern large scale societies need representative democracy which in turn need some agency to gather
different views on various issues and present these to the government. This function is done by political
parties. Thus, parties are a necessary condition for democracy as well as modern democracies cannot
exist without political parties.

15 Suggest and explain any five effective measures to reform political parties.
i) Laws 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 should be made.

ii) 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.

iii) 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

iv) 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 caseagainst him.
v) 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.
16 FIND OUT YOUR ANSWAERS
1. Differentiate between National Parties. (5 differences)
2. Practice Internal democracy with in Political parties. (5 points)
3. Five major function of political parties.
4. The national political party which gets inspiration from India’s ancient culture and values.
Mention four features of that party. (5 points)