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Political Parties
MIND MAP 0
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Political Party
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Meaning
A political party is a political organisation of people who come
. together to c~ntest election and control political power.
· t Functions of Political Parties
-• Contest elections by putting up their candidates
• Frame· policies and programmes to attract general public
• Play decisive role in the lawmaking process in Parliament
• Form and run government
• Play the role of opposition when _not in majority
1• Shape public opinion by raising and highlighting public issues
• Provide access to government machinery and welfare schemes through local party leaders
. Necessity/Importance/Significance of Political Parties
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t.:. , .. ...._
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. Without political parties:
• • every candidate in the elections will be independent. No promises could be made and the utility of the government
formed wm remain uncertain .
• no one will be responsible for running the country. Elected representatives will be accountable only to their constituency
---... • there will be no agency to gather and present different views on various Issues to the government .
• 110 one will be responsible for bringing various representatives together so as to form a responsible government
• 1here wiD be no mechanism to support the government, make policies and Justify or oppose them
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Types of party system -
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,wo-party System Multi-party System
One-party System
t - t
• Power usually changes between two • More than two parties have a
• Only one party is allowed chance of coming together treasonable
main parties government O
to control and run the • Other parties may exist, co ntest frorn the
government elections and win only a f~w seats • Coalition government and allianc
• Communist Party in China • The United States of Amenca and the the specific features of multipa~iYstern are
is the best example of United Kingdom are the examples of • India is the best example of sy~
one-party system system mu1t1party
two-party system
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Kinds of Political Parties
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National Political Parties State or Regional Political Parties
• Are the countrywide parties having their units • Are present in only one of the federal units
in several states
• Follow almost the same policies and programmes • Have their own policies, programmes and strate
to be followed gy to be foll
at the national level. at the state or regional level
• A party is recognised as a national party when owed
secures at least • A party is recognised as a state party when
six per cent of the total votes in Lok Sabha or Assembly secures at least .
elections per cent of the total votes in an election· to legislative
in four states and wins at least four seats in the Lok Assem~:
Sabha and wins at least two seats
· Recognition to a Political Party
• Every party has to register with the Election Com I
mission
• All parties aie treated equally by the Election Com
mission
• Special fa~ilities and. a unique symbol are given to
large and established parties
• Such parties get registered by the Election Commissi
on and are called recognised political parties
National Political Parties of lncJia
(Six National Parties)
Aam Aadmi Party • The party was formed on 26 November 2012
f .
(Aap) • Founded on the idea of accountability clean a'
o~l~wm~ the 2011 anti-corruption movement.
-+ • Emerged as the second largest party 'in the
d~ims~atio~, transparency and good governanc
• It formed a government with the su O81 1 e.
~ LegiSlative Assembly election in the year 2013
.
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• In the Lok Sabha election held in 26f9 ~ of Indian National Congress (INC).
O
, it secured one seat in the Lok Sabha.
.
• Formed in 1984 under the leader h.
i • Aims to represent and sec s ip of Kanshi Ram
- .. ~
comm u iti
Bahujan Samaj • Foll ~ es and religious minoure power for the bah ·
rities uian samaj, including the dalits adivasis other rd
Party (BSP) ows ideas and teachi backWa
" Ambedkar ngs of Sahu Maharaj Mahatm • '
....,. • Has its main base in U .
' a Phule, Penyar Ramaswarni Naicker and Baba saheb
Delhi and Pun·ab ttar
• Formed govem~nt . Uttar Pradesh and formal prese .
nce m Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttaraklland
• In the 20 '
19 Lok Sabhina electiPradesh by taking support of diff
- ons, BSP polled about S .
erent Parties at cflfferent times
63
· % votes and secured 1O seats in the Lok $abh3
. -
• Founded in 1980 •
• Incepted from Bharatiya J
• Stress ana Sangh form e_d bY Syama Prasad Mukherjee In 1951
. es modern India on the b 1 ' ideas
eharatlya Janata 0~ integral humanism and Anty ~s s of ancient Indian culture and values and Deendayal Upadhyaya's
Party (BJP) • Hmdutva is its basic element o aya
y _. • Favours .political integration of Jammu nd
conversions
• Formed National Democ ti A .
• Emerged as the largest :re ll~ance
• Presently leads the ruling NiAw
.
a Kashmir with India, a unlform civil code and a ban on religious
(NDA) In 1998
Ith 3o3 members in 2019 elections
government at the centre
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".l!'b • Yd t d ' '"
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in·
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• Founded in 1964
communist Party • Believes in Marxism-Leninis . .
of India-Marxist • Opposes imperialism and co% and s~pports soc1ahsm, secularism an~ democracy
(CPI-M) objectives of soc· . ~u~ahsm and accepts democratic elections as the means for securing the
-.= . Io-econo mIc Justice in India
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• EnJoys strong support in W t B
~~ farmers, etc. es engal, Kerala and Tripura, especially among the poor, factory workers ,
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Opposes th e new economic policies and free,trade
r--., • .
- - - - - - •.: • Won about 1.75% of votes and '3 seats in the Lok Sabha in
2019 elections
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One the oldest political party of the world, found~d in 1885
" • Dominated Indian politics at national and state levels
Indian National
• Built modern secular democratic republic in India
Congress (INC)
_. • Ruled from 1947 to 1977, 1980 to 1989, and 2004 to 2014
. • Favours secularism and welfare of weaker sections and minorities
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• Supports new economic reforms
• Formed United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in 2004
• It won 52 seats.in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Nationalist • The party was formed in July 2013 under the leadership of PA Sangma.
party.
People's Party • . NPP is the first political party from North East India to ha~e attained the status of a national
(NPP) • Believes in diversity of the country. ·
rment of all
_. • The core philosophy of the party is education and employment to all as well as empowe
ff;]___
.,..__ ~ :1 •
sections of the society.
It formed government in Meghalaya and has presence in many of North Eastern States
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State/Regional Parties of India
regional parties also.
• The Election Commission recognises some state parties which can be referred to as
own a majority in the Lok Sabha. So, the national parties were
• From 1984 to 2014, no national party was able to secure on its
compelled to form alliances with state parties, leading to a strong coalition government.
part of one or the other national level coalition ·
• Thus, since 1996, nearly every one of the State parties has got an opportunity to be
_ government. This has strengthened the concept of federalism and democracy.
Challenges to Political Parties
• Concentration of power in one or few leaders at the top
• No record of membership registers
Lack of Internal + • No regular internal elections .
- democracy • Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information
• Personal loyalty to the leaders becomes more important than loyalty to the party
• Leaders of the party favour people close to them or even their family members. .
• In many parties, the top positions are always controlled by members of one family.
Dynastic ,. • As a result people who do not have adequate experience or popular support come to occupy Positions of
succession
po~ .
• Dynastic succession, in some way or the other, is present all over the worl d even m some of the older
democracies.
• Nowadays, the role of money and muscle power is growing in parties. .
Growing role • Most of the parties are focused only on winning elections, so they tend to use short-cuts t~ wm elections.
of money and , . • Sometimes, candidates are nominated on the basis of their money and muscle, power. Rich people and
muscle power companies give funds to the parties and tend to influence the policies and decisions of the party.
• In some cases, parties support criminals who can win elections.
• In the present democratic scenario, no party offers a meaningful choice to the voters.
• Recently, there has been a decline in the ideological differences among parties in most parts of the wor1d.
Lack of meaningful , . • Those who want really different policies have no option available to them.
choice • For instance, the difference between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party in Britain is very little.
Reforms Introduced and Suggested
Anti-defection Law:
• The constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties, i.e. from indulging in defection.
• According to law, if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose his/her seat in the legislature
Affidavit:
Efforts • In order to reduce the influence of money and muscle power the Supreme Court has made it mandatory for the
made _. contestants to file an affidavit
• The candidate in his/her affidavit, will give details of his/her property and criminal cases pending against hinv'her.
Mandatory organisational meetings:
• The Electio~ Commission has ma~~ it mand~ory for political parties to hold their organisational meetings and elections.
• Some parties have started organising elections but most of the time it is a last formality.
Law to regulate internal affairs:
• It should be made compulsory for political parties to maintain aregister of its members and to f
Seats to be reserved for women: 011 ow its own constitution·
• It should be made mandatory to reserve a minimum number of seats for women
- Suggestions + • There should be a quota for women in decision-making bodies of the party
State funding of elections:
• The government should give parties money to support their election funding
• It should be in kind (petrol, paper or telephone) or cash (based on the votes secured by the party in the last electiOn)
Pressure to be put:
Voluntary • People can put_ pressure on political parties through Petitions, publicity and ita .
+ Join political parties: ag tions
ways
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• Those who want to make changes should join political parties
