NGERT EXERCISES

State the various functions political parties perform opinion on relevant issues for
the
in a democracy. proper
functioning of the
govenment and to deenen
Ans. The the concept of democracy.
following are the various functions political
parties perform in a democracy. 2.What are the various challenges faced by political
(a) Contest elections: Parties contest elections. In parties?

countries like India, top party leaders choose
candidates for contesting elections.
(6) Put forward policies and programmes: Parties
put forward different policies and programmes
and voters choose from them. Political parties
accommodate different views and opinions.
(c) Play an important role in making laws: Political
parties play a decisive role in the making of
laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated
and passed in the legislature, but since most of
the members belong to a party, they go by the
direction of the party leadership, irrespective of
their personal opinions.
(d) Form and run govemment: To run the government,
political parties prepare council of ministers by
recruiting and training the leaders.
(e) Provide access to government machinery and
welfare schemes: Political parties provide people
access to government machinery and welfare
schemes implemented by governments. For an
ordinary citizen, it is easy to approach a local
party leader than a government officer.
( Play the role of opposition: The party which
loses election plays the role of
opposition. The
opposition party tries to put a check on the ruling
party by constantly criticizing its policies.
(g) Shape public opinion: One of the most important
functions of political parties is
to shape public
Ans As political parties are the essence of democracv
is natural that they are often blamed for the
failuree
of any policy or the working of democracy.
Mostly
political parties face four challenges in their working
area as follows.
(a) Lack of internal democracy: Political parties
face the problem of internal democracy, which
implies that:
() parties do not hold organisational meetings
(ii) they do not conduct regular elections.
(ii) membership of the party members is not
fairly registered.
(iv)
all the members, except top leaders, are
included in the decision-making process.
(b) Dynastic succession:
(i) In most of the political parties, the top posts
are always controlled by the members
of
one family, which is very un fair to other
members.
(ii)
Since open and transparent functioningIs
lacking, there is a very little chance for
an ordinary worker to rise to the top.
(c) Money and muscle power: The third challenge
is that of the growing role of money and muscle
power.
(i) Nowadays, elections are focussed mainly
on winning at any cost. So parties
try to use short-cuts like using money
and muscle power.
 Political Parties 273
ii) They try to select or
nominate those
candidates who can raise money
(d) Ban on political parties based on religion and
or
provide muscle power. caste: The Election Commission should ban the
(ii) Sometimes, wealthy political parties which are formed on the basis
people big and of religion and caste.
companies also get
involved in the (e) Ensure women participation: It should be made
democratie politics for their own mandatory for all political parties to allot one-
and try to infiuence interest
the third of the tickets to women to ensure their
process decision-making decisive voice in decision-making.
(i) In some cases,
parties support criminals
It the above-mentioned suggestions are implemented
who can win elections. these could lead to some
improvement in the working
of the political
(Absence of a meaningful choice: parties.
i)In the present political scenario, there 4. What is a
political party? Ajmer 2019
is Ans. A political
no
ideological difference among the party is an alliance of
people having same
political parties. so they do not ideology. A political party contests elections and if it
provide comes to power, forms and
a
meaningful choice to voters. the
government.
runs

(ii) Those voters, who really want

Every political party has its policies and programmes,
in the change a
which are
implemented when it is in power.
government and its policies, never
get any positive option. For
instance, in What are the characteristics of political party? a

India, where we have

the
multi-party system, Or
differences between
the parties over Explain any four characteristics of a political party.
the economic matters have
reduced. Ajmer 2019]
iii) Also, people cannot even elect different Ans. The
following are the characteristics of a
political
leaders because the same set of leaders party.
keep shifting from one party to another. (a) A political party contests elections through
3Suggest some reforms to strengthen parties so that peaceful constitutional means and refrains from
they perform their functions well. electoral malpractices.
Ans. The (6) It agrees on
certain programmes and
following reforms could be suggested in order to with
policies,
a view to placing national interest before
strengthen parties so that they perform their functions the party interest.
well
(c) It tries to persuade people as to why their policies
(a) Regulation party's internal affairs: A law
of better than those of other
are
parties.
should be made to regulate the internal affairs of (d) It seeks to implement its
policies by winning
political parties. It should be made compulsory support through elections.
for political parties to maintain a register of their
(e) It reflects fundamental political divisions in a
society.
members, to follow their own constitution, to
A political party is supported by its leaders,
have an independent authority, etc. active members and followers.
(b) State funding: There should be state funding of (g) Itinvolves partisanship.
elections. The government should give money (h) A party is known by what it stands for, which
to parties to support their election expenses to policies it supports and whose interests it
avoid corruption. upholds.
6. A
c) Pressure of public opinion: Political parties can group of people who come together to contest
be reformed ifpeople put pressure on them. This elections and hold power in the government is
called a
can be done through petitions, propaganda and
Ans. A
agitations. Pressure groups and media play an group of people who come together to contest
elections and hold power in the government is called
important role in this. a political party.
 IS.

Long Answer Type Questions [5 Marks

60 Describe any five major functions of political
parties CBSE 2018, Delhi 20151
Or
Describe the role of political parties in Indian
Democracy. Delhi 2017(C)
Ans. Refer to answer l of NCERT questions.

61. Describe the importance of political parties in a

Democratic Government. ICBSE 2018(C)
Or
Political parties are a necessary condition for a
democracy. Analyse the statement with examples.
Al India 2016
 Or
Modern democracies
cannot exist without
parties.' Examine political
the statement. Foreign 2015]
Or
why can modern democracies not exist without
political parties? Explain. Delhi 20151
Ans. In a democratic
set-up, political parties are required
because without
political parties
(a) every candidate in the elections will be
independent.
No promises could be made and the utility of the
government formed will remain uncertain.
(b) no one will be responsible for running the
country. Elected representatives will only be
accountable to their constituency.
(c) there will be no agency to gather and present
different views to the government on various
ISsues.

(d) no one will be responsible for bringing various

representatives together so as to form a
responsible government.
(e) there will be no mechanism to support the
government, make policies or to justify or
oppose them.
(any three)
, Differentiate between national and regional parties.
***The following are the differences between the national parties and regional parties.

Regional Parties
National Parties
(a) National parties have influence all over the country. | (a) The influence of regional parties is limited to a |
particular region or state.
and
(6) National parties deal with national problems. (b) Regional parties are concerned with the problems
demands of a particular region only.
are restricted to the
(c)The national parties give priority to the national (c) The activities of regional parties
problems over the regional problems. region or the state in which they function. They focus
more on local problems.

(d) In order to become a national party, a party has to (d) In order to

become a regional party, a
party has
votes in the
secure at least six per cent oftotal votes in Lok Sabha to secure at least six per cent oftotal
legislative election and win at least two seats.
or Assembly elections in four states and win at least
four seats in the Lok Sabha.
(e) BJP. Congress and BSP are the examples of national| (e) Janta Dal, Assam United Democratic Front and

parties. Manipur People's Party are the examples of regional

parties.
 centre.
67. Deseribe the importance of regional parties in
strengthening democracy. ICBSE 2018 (C)
Or

How do state or regional parties contribute in

strengthening federalism and democracy in India?
Explain with examples. All India 2012
Ans. (a) As India is a federal state, more regional parties
mean more influence of state parties in national

politics.
(b) Now, regional parties have a say in political
policies as strength of regional parties have
expanded. This made the Parliament of India
politically more and more diverse.
(c) State parties represent various regional issues of
(c)
development on the national level and provide
a platform for the diverse social groups and
Communities.
(d)
(d) Parties had to form alliances with the regional
parties to form a coalition at the centre.
(e)
(e) This has broadened the concept of popular
participation and strengthened the federation
and democracy in our country.

aCerhe.