Party and party system in India

Democratic way of governing the people all over the world require political parties to
play a very big role. They are regarded as having an important place in democracy,
carrying the weight of expectation and aspiration upwards from citizen to state. Their
importance and significance can in no way be underestimated. They are considered by
many as intermediate organisations between the citizen and the state. A political party
may conveniently be defined as a body of men who have united for promoting by their
collective efforts, upon some principles to which they have all agreed. According to
Maclever a political party is an association organised in support of some principles or
policies which by constitutional means it endeavours to make the determinant of
government. Prof. Leacock is of the view that it is a more or less organised group of
citizens who act together as a political unit. It is always a voluntary organisation and is
formed by those who hold common views on certain basic political issues. Its object and
aim is always to seek power and stay in it.
There has been a plethora of typologies of political parties in the political science
literature. Parties have been classified according to varied criteria or combination of
criteria. However before we attempt a classification, it would be worthwhile to list the
various functions of political parties. A non-exhaustive list of the core functions of
political parties would consist of the following:
 The most important function is the recruitment of the political leadership, which
consist of candidate nomination and electoral mobilisation to win the elections.
 Another function is issue structuration or the framing of what becomes issues
and determing how these issues are determining and debated in the public
sphere. This is the case mostly at election campaigns.
 Also closely linked is the function of forming and sustaining governments in
office.
 Three broader non electoral functions continuously performed by parities in civil
society are the functions of societal representation, interest aggregation and
social integration.
Maurice Duverger has given a simple classification of single, two or bi and multi-party
systems and there by sought to place all party systems of the world in one of the three
relevant categories’ .A single political party being understood to mean a party system
in which all members think alike. They follow a leader and have a uniform programme
and line of action for achieving that. This principle category has two sub-categories –
totalitarian and democratic. Totalitarian model means if the party in power allows no
other party or group to live or act in opposition to its authority while democratic model
tolerates the existence of other party in opposition. Fascist and Nazi party systems
constituted the case of a totalitarian party system while as the communist party
systems belong to the category of democratic tradition. We may also put Spain and
Portugal in the first category i,e totalitarian and Soviet Union now Russia, China,
Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary, Poland, etc in the second one i,e democratic.
Bi-Party System:-A two party system or bi-party system may be said to exist where
there are only two parties strong enough to take part in the struggle for power.
However there may be other parties too but the alternation of power remains between
the two major ones. A two party system may be said to have three sub categories,
namely:-
 A two party system where alternation of power takes place between two major
parties.
 Two-plus party system where some other party or parties may seldom have a
chance to share power with either of the two major parties and
 A two party system in the midst of many where parties other than the two major
ones have chances now and then to share power.
A two party system has its two more sub categories-Distinct and Indistinct. If two major
parties have their policies and programs clearly different from each other on the basis
of which they take part in the struggle for power, it comes under distinct category. The
Conservative and Labour parties of England find their place in this category. The case
of indistinct party system finds its example in the United States where the Democrats
and the Republicans have no ideological difference or as Robert Dahl says, they have
ideological similarity and issue conflict.
Multi-Party System:-A multi-party is one in which there is more than one political
party, each having its programme of action as well as method of achieving the goals
which it has set before itself. This is also known as group-system. France is the
traditional home of multi-party system. India being the largest democracy in the world
has also adopted multi-party system and there are a large number of political parties
much more than found in other democratic countries of the world. This multiplicity of
political parties has been due to:
 Splinter grouping in the congress
 Personality and personal importance of some individuals
 Due to introduction of universal adult franchise
 Policy of reservations
  Dissatisfied and disgruntled groups have formed political parities
 Language, caste, religion have encouraged establishment of parities
Gunther and Diamond in a state of the art survey and update on the literature on
political party typologies, develop the following multiple criterion typology of parities.
Instead of classifying parties by employing only one of a variety of possible criteria, for
example, functionalist or organisational or sociological criteria and associated
typologies, they develop a much richer yet fairly parsimonious typology using a
combination of criteria. It does not necessarily fit every country but is best suited for
Indian purpose. Gunther and Diamond divide political parties into 15 types or species
clustered into five broader genuses-elite parities, mass based parities, ethnicity based
parities electroalist parities and movement parities.
Viewing Indian parties through the prism of this typology and attempting to fit them
into the categories of this most contemporary typology is a useful classificatory exercise
yielding a useful mapping of the spectrum of Indian parities.
Party System in India
Political Party System in India has its own rich background. It can be traced back to
1885 when Indian National Congress was founded. It discussed national, political and
economic issues though at the initial stages its aim was not to capture political power.
Its aim was to get certain political reforms from foreign masters.
Indian political parties can be placed under various catagories. Broadly speaking these
are National, Regional and local .Congress, BJP, CPI and CPIM, AAP etc. are some
examples of National party. Some of them are secular and without some ideological
commitment while some are communal in nature. Then there are regional parities both
communal (e.g. Akali Dal, Indian union Muslim league etc.) and non-communal
(Peasants and workers party, Forward block etc). Local parties operate and influence
in a particular area. Examples are Jharkhand party,Manipur Peoples party, etc.
In India a national party means a political party which has the support of 4% electorate
in any four states. It has organisational set which spreads in many parts of the country.
Indian National Congress (I,), Janta Party , Janta Dal, BJP and CPI and CPI(M) fall under
the category of National parties and were recognised by Election Commission in
1992.On the other hand a regional party is one which has its hold in a particular region.
Its activities are confined to a particular area and does not spread beyond that.
For a brief overview of the evolution of Indian party system, the scholars divide it into
some phases: (1) 1952-1967 or the first four general elections, a period of congress
dominance in both the centre and the states with the congress wining a majority. (2)
1967-89, a period of bipolarisation of state party systems in which a single but leading
opposition party tended to dominate non congress votes and seats in an increasing
number of states. (3) Post 1989 a period of continued bipolarisation of party systems
combined with six consecutive hung parliaments. (4) 2014 General parliament Elections
and the huge victory of BJP which attempts to give a distinctive Hindu orientation to
the politics of the country and seeks to unite Hindus, Muslims and Christians on the
basis of a common culture drawing its inspiration from the Hindu values or what the
BJP describes as” Bharatiya Samskriti”.