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Contentpage 2 46 846 PDF
Political parties
A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in
the government. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to
promote the collective good.
i. The democracy which is being practiced all over the world is called representative
democracy.
ii. In this system, governance is done through people’s representative because it is
impossible for each citizen to directly participate in governance.
iii. The need for representative democracy has given rise to political parties.
iv. As societies have become more heterogeneous and population of counties have
expanded
v. This has created the need for people who can take decisions on people’s behalf.
a) In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government, e.g.
China. These are called one-party systems.
b) It is not considered democratic since a democratic system must allow at least two parties
to compete in elections and provide a fair chance for the competing parties to come to
power.
a) In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties. Such a party
system is called two-party system.
b) The United States of America and the United Kingdom are examples of two-party
system.
a) 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 multi-party system. Thus in India, we have a multi-party system.
b) After the 1996 general elections, no single party has been able to secure even a simple
majority.
c) Subsequent central governments have thus been formed by coalition of like-minded
political parties.
d) The multi-party system is apparently very messy and it often leads to political instability.
e) But we should acknowledge the fact that it allows various interests and opinions to enjoy
political representation.
i. Political parties do not enjoy much trust among the people in South Asia.
ii. Political parties are one of the least trusted institutions all over the world.
iii. Yet the level of participation in the activities of political parties was fairly high. The
proportion of those who said they were members of some political party was higher in
India than many advanced countries like Canada, Japan, Spain and South Korea.
iv. Over the last three decades the proportion of those who report to be members of political
parties in India has gone up steadily.
v. The proportion of those who say they feel ‘close to a political party’ has also gone up
in India in this period.
• Every party in the country has to register with the Election Commission.
• 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 ‘recognized’ by the
Election Commission for this purpose.
• That is why these parties are called, ‘recognized political parties’.
State Party: A party that secures at least 6 per cent of the total votes in an election to the
Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least two seats is recognized as a State party.
National Party: A party that secures at least six per cent of total votes in Lok Sabha elections
or Assembly elections in four States and wins at least four seats in the Lok Sabha is
recognized as a national party
According to this classification, there were six national recognized parties in the country in 2006.
QUESTION: Mention the criteria given by EC for the recognition of state and national party.
• Formed in 1925.
• Same philosophy as CPI (M). ( Marxist )
• After the split in the party in 1964 it led to the formation of the CPI (M).
• Significant presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu.
• Advocates the coming together of all left parties to build a strong left front.
• This party was formed in 1999 following a split in the Congress party.
• The party espouses democracy, Gandhian secularism, equity, social justice and
federalism.
• Wants high office in government to be confined to natural born citizens of the
country
• This is a major party in Maharashtra and has a significant presence in Meghalaya,
Manipur and Assam
Some of the challenges which the political parties face are as follows:
• The top positions in many political parties are usually controlled by members of one
family.
• A person born in a particular family becomes the leader by virtue of his birth;
• Not the sign of a healthy democracy.
• This tendency is present in most of the political parties in India.
• This is not the case in India alone, but in many other countries as well.
i. Anti-defection Law:
• The law says that if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose the seat in
the legislature.
• This new law has helped bring defection down.
• It has made any dissent even more difficult.
• MPs and MLAs have to accept whatever the party leaders decide.
• It necessary for political parties to hold their organizational elections and file their
income tax returns.
• The parties have started doing so but sometimes it is mere formality.
Question: Suggest some features which can further help in strengthening political
parties and their functioning.