Political parties

NCERT CLASS X CHAPTER
SUBJECT – DEMOCRATIC POLITICS
PRESENTED BY MAHENDRA KUMAR
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POLITICAL PARTIES

Ponder about these questions
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 Why do we need parties?
 How many parties are good for a democracy?
 The role of political parties in the rise of democracies, in the
formation of constitutional designs, in electoral politics and in the
making and working of governments is very important
 political parties as vehicles of federal sharing of political power
and as negotiators of social divisions in the arena of democratic
politics

Why do we need political parties?
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 For Most ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political parties
who may not know anything about our Constitution /nature of
our government. But they may know something about our
political parties
 Parties have become identified with social and political divisions.
 Let us first answer what political parties are and what they do,
before we say why we need them.

What are Political Parties
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 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.
 Parties try to persuade people why their policies are better than
others.They seek to implement these policies by winning popular
support through elections.
 Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve
PARTISANSHIP

What are Political Parties
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 A political party
has three
components:
 The leaders
 The active
members
 The followers

Functions of Political Parties
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 1 Parties contest elections. In most democracies, elections
are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political
parties.
 In USA, members and supporters of a party choose its
candidates.
 In India, top party leaders choose candidates for contesting
elections

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 2 Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters
choose from them. In a democracy, a large number of similar opinions have to
be grouped together to provide a direction in which policies can be formulated
by the governments.This is what the parties do.
 A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions which it
supports.
 A government is expected to base its policies on the line taken by the RULING
PARTY.
 Ruling Party: Political party that runs government

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 3 Parties play a decisive role in making 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.

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 4 Parties form and run governments. Parties recruit leaders,
train them and then make them ministers to run the government
in the way they want.

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 5Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of
opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different
views and criticizing government for its failures or wrong
policies.
 Opposition parties also mobilise opposition to the
government

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 6 Parties shape public opinion.They raise and highlight
issues by launching movements for the resolution
 Many of the pressure groups are the extensions of political
parties among different sections of society. Parties sometimes
also of problems faced by people.

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 7 Parties provide people access to government machinery and
welfare schemes implemented by governments.
 they feel close to parties than a government officer even when they
do not fully trust them.
 Parties have to be esponsive to people’s needs and demands.
Otherwise people can reject those parties in the next elections.

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 Summary
 1 Parties contest elections
 2 Parties put forward different policies and programmes
 3 Parties make laws for a country
 4 Parties form and run governments
 5 Losing party play the role of opposition
 6 Parties shape public opinion
 7 Parties provide people access to government machinery
and welfare schemes implemented by governments

Why parties are a necessary condition for democracy ?
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 Imagine a situation without parties
 Independent candidates _ local responsibility _ how the country
will be run. _ So no promises to the people about any major policy
changes.
 The government may be formed, but its utility will remain ever
uncertain.
 Non-party based elections to the panchayat _ village gets split into
more than one faction _ that puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates.
 This is exactly what the party does.That is the reason we find
political parties in almost all countries of the world.
 We need political parties to gather different views on various issues
and to present these to the government

How many parties should we have?
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 In a democracy any group of citizens is free to form a political party.
 More than 750 parties are registered with the Election Commission
of India.

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 One-party systems-one party is allowed to control and
run the government.These are called one-party systems.We
cannot consider one-party system as a good option because
this is not a democratic option.Any 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.
Example- Chiana – Communist Party Of China

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 Two-party system- Countries in which only the two main
parties have a serious chance of winning majority of seats to
form government.
 Great Britain has had two successive two-party alignments:
Conservative and Liberal
 The USA two-party system has Republican and
Democratic

Multiparty system-
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Multiparty system-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.
Example – India and Sweden

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 Alliance or a front-When several parties in a multi-party
system join hands for the purpose of contesting elections and
winning power, it is called an alliance or a front.
 The United Progressive Alliance UPA andThe National
Democratic Alliance (NDA)

National political parties
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 These parties have their units in various states all these units follow
the same policies, programmes and strategy that are decided at the
national level.These are called national parties
 Every party in the country has to register with the Election
Commission..
 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 ‘recognised’ by the
Election Commission for this purpose.That is why these parties are
called,‘recognised political parties’.

Conditions to be called National political parties
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 In order to be a recognized party. A party that secures at least
six per cent of the total votes in an election to the
Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least two seats
is recognised as a State party.
 A party that secures at least six per cent of the total votes
in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly elections in four States
and wins at least four seats in the Lok Sabha is recognised
as a national party.

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 Indian National Congress (INC)
 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
 Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)
 Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M)
 Communist Party of India (CPI)
 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

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 Indian National Congress (INC): Congress Party _ Founded in
1885
 Played a dominant role in Indian politics after India’s Independence
 Ruling party at the Centre till 1977 and then from 1980 to 1989.
 A centrist party (neither rightist nor leftist) in its ideological
orientation, the party espouses secularism and welfare of weaker
sections and minorities .
 Supports new economic reforms but with a human face. Leader of
the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government from 2004 to
2014.
 Currently it is the principal opposition party in the Lok Sabha

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 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - Formed in 1984 by Kanshi Ram.
 Bahujan Samaj _ Dalits _ Adivasis _ OBC _ religious minorities.
 Stands for the cause of securing the interests and welfare of the
Dalits and oppressed people
 Draws inspiration from the ideas and teachings of Sahu Maharaj,
Mahatma Phule, Periyar Ramaswami Naicker and Babasaheb
Ambedkar.
 It has its main base in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Formed
government in Uttar Pradesh.

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 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): Founded in 1980 by Bharatiya Jana
Sangh (by Syama Prasad Mukherjee) in 1951.
 Inspired by India’s ancient culture and values and Deendayal Upadhyaya’s
ideas of integral humanism andAntyodaya.
 Cultural nationalism (or‘Hindutva’) is an important element in its
conception of Indian nationhood and politics.
 Wants full territorial and political integration of Jammu and Kashmir with
India (act 370), a uniform civil code (article 44) for all people living in the
country irrespective of religion, and ban on religious conversions.
 Came to power in 1998 as the leader of the National DemocraticAlliance
(NDA) including several regional parties . Emerged as the largest party
with 282 members in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections . Currently leads the
ruling NDA government at the Centre with 303 MP in LokSabha

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 Communist Party of India - (CPI) _ Formed in 1925.
 Believes in Marxism-Leninism, secularism and democracy. Opposed
to the forces of secessionism अलगाव and communalism साांप्रदायिकता .
 Accepts parliamentary democracy as a means of promoting the
interests of the working class , farmer s and the poor.
 Became weak after the split in the party in 1964 that led to the
formation of the CPI(M).
 Significant presence in the states of Kerala,West Bengal, Punjab,
Andhra Pradesh andTamil Nadu. Its support base had gradually
declined over the years.

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 Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) Founded in
1964.
 Believes in Marxism Leninism. Supports socialism, secularism and
democracy and opposes imperialism साम्राज्यवाद and
communalism.
 Accepts democratic elections as a useful and helpful means for
securing the objective of socioeconomic justice in India.
 Enjoys strong support inWest Bengal, Kerala andTripura, especially
among the poor , factory workers, farmers , agricultural laborer's
and the intelligentsia.बुद्धिजीवीवगग ,शिक्षित-वगग
 Critical of the new economic policies that allow free flow
of foreign capital and goods into the country.

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 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) _ Formed in 1999
 following a split in the Congress party.
 Espouses democracy, Gandhian secularism, equity, social justice and
federalism.
 Wants that high offices in government be confined to natural born
citizens of the country.
 A major party in Maharashtra and has a significant presence in
Meghalaya, Manipur and Assam.

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 TMC -Trinamool Congress is now 7th 'national party'
in India

State parties
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 Most of the major parties of the country are classified by the
Election Commission as‘State parties’.These are commonly
referred to as regional parties.
 Parties like the Samajwadi Party, Samata Party and Rashtriya
Janata Dal have national level political organisation with units
in several states.

Difference between a national party and a state party
National Party State Party
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 A registered party is recognized as a
National Party if it fulfils one of these
conditions:
 1. It wins 2% of the seats in Lok Sabha
from at least 3 States.
 2.The party polls 6% of the votes in 4
States and wins 4 Lok Sabha seats in a
General Election.
 3.The party gets recognition as a State
Party in 4 or more States.
 A registered party is recognized as a State Party if
it fulfils any one of the following conditions:
 1. It wins minimum 3% of the total number of
seats or a minimum of 3 seats in the Legislative
Assembly.
 2.The party wins at least 1 seat in the Lok Sabha
for every 25 seats or any fraction thereof
allocated to that State.
 3. It secures at least 6% of the total valid votes
polled in a General Election to a Lok Sabha or
State Legislative Assembly and wins at least 1 Lok
Sabha and 2 Legislative Assembly seats in that
election.
 4. Under the liberalized criteria it can be eligible
if it secures 8% or more of the total valid votes
polled in the State and 1 seat in any State.

Challenges to political parties
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 1 Lack of internal democracy within parties
 the concentration of power in one or few leaders at the top.
 Parties do not keep membership registers, do not hold organizational
meetings, and do not conduct internal elections regularly.
 Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information on
what happens inside the party. the leaders assume greater power to
make decisions in the name of the party.

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 2 dynastic succession is related to the first one. In many
parties, the top positions are always controlled by members
of one family
 Those who happen to be the leaders are in a position of
unfair advantage to favour people close to them or even their
family members..This is unfair to other members of that
party.This is also bad for democracy.

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 3 Growing role of money and muscle power in parties,
especially during elections.
 they tend to use short-cuts to win elections.They tend to nominate
those candidates who have or can raise lots of money.
 Rich people and companies who give funds to the parties tend to
have influence on the policies and decisions of the party.

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 4 very often parties do not seem to offer a meaningful
choice to the voters.
 In order to offer meaningful choice, parties must be significantly
different.

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 SUMMARY
 1 Lack of internal democracy within parties
 2 Dynastic succession
 3 Growing role of money and muscle power in
parties
 4 very often parties do not seem to offer a
meaningful choice

How can parties be reformed?
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 The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and
MPs from changing parties.This was done because many
elected representatives were indulging in DEFECTION in order
to become ministers or for cash rewards. Now 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.
 Defection: Changing party allegiance from the party on which a
person got elected (to a legislative body) to a different party

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 The Supreme Court passed an order to reduce the influence
of money and criminals. Now, it is mandatory for every candidate
who contests elections to file an AFFIDAVIT giving details of
his property and criminal cases pending against him. The
new system has made a lot of information available to the public.
 The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for
political parties to hold their organisational elections and
file their income tax returns.

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 A law should be made to
regulate the internal affairs of
political parties. It should be
made compulsory for political
parties to maintain a
register of its members, to
follow its own constitution,
to have an independent
authority, to act as a judge in
case of party disputes, to hold
open elections to the highest
posts.

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 It should be made mandatory for
political parties to give a
minimum number of
tickets, about one-third, to
women candidates.
 Similarly, there should be a quota
for women in the decision
making bodies of the party.

How can parties be reformed? :
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 There should be state funding of elections.The government should
give parties money to support their election expenses.
 This support could be given in kind: petrol, paper, telephone etc.
Or it could be given in cash on the basis of the votes secured by the
party in the last election.

BOARD QUESTIONS COMING SOON
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VOTE OF THANKS
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Political parties