Back to: MBOSE Social Science Class 10

A political party is a group of people who follow an ideology and thus 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 reflect fundamental division in a society.

A political Party has three components:

• The leaders: The leaders contest elections and, if they win, perform the administrative jobs.
• The active members: The active members attend party meetings and are close to the party leaders. They can be called the assistants of the leaders.
• The followers: The followers are the dedicated workers of the party. They work under the able guidance of the active members.

Political Parties fill political offices & exercise political power. They do so by performing various functions.

The various functions political parties perform in a democracy are as follows:

• Contest election: Candidates are put forward by all political parties to contest in elections. These candidates may be chosen by the top leaders or by the members of the party.
• Put forward policies and programmes: Political parties put forward their policies and programmes for the welfare of the people and voters choose those parties whose policy they like the most.
• Making Laws: Political parties play a major role in making laws for the country. No law can become a bill unless a majority of the parties support it.
• Form the government: Political parties form and run governments. Parties recruit leaders, train them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want.
• Play the role of opposition: Parties that lose election play the role of opposition to the party in power, by voicing different views and criticizing the government for its failures or wrong policies. Opposition parties also mobilize opposition to the government.
• Voice public opinion: Political parties voice the public opinion and raise issues to social concern. Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people. Often opinions in the society crystallize on the lines parties take.
• Social welfare schemes: Political parties form an important link between the government and the people. It is easy for the public to approach their local leader than a government official. The local leader has to listen to the public demand; otherwise, he will lose the next election.

Characteristics of a political party are as follows:

• A political party has members who agree on same policies and programmes for the society keeping in view to promote common welfare for the people.
• It seeks to implement the policies by winning popular support from the people through elections.
• The presence of a leader makes the difference for the party workers and supporters.
• It is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.

The various challenges faced by political parties are:

• Lack of Internal democracy: Every member of the party does not have a chance to take part in the decision-making process. Power remains in the hands of a few top leaders, who do not consult ordinary members. All the major or minor decision are taken by the party head. Ordinary members have no information about the internal working of the party. They hardly get a ‘ticket’ in an election. Since one or few leaders exercise paramount power in the party, those who disagree with the leadership find it difficult to continue in the party. More than loyalty to party principles and policies, personal loyalty to the leader becomes more important.
• Dynastic Succession: The biggest challenge within the political party is the issues of dynastic succession. These parties do not have transparent functioning and always try to give an unfair advantage to their family members. Hence, a political party remains under the control of one family. This is unfair to the other members of the party. This is also bad for democracy since people who do not have adequate experience or popular support come to occupy the positions of power. We can take examples of Congress, SP, RJD, DMK, etc.
• Money and Muscle Power: Money is needed to organize demonstrations, public meetings, and speeches to publicize the image of the party. Parties choose those candidates who can raise money for the party and win elections with their money. Rich people and companies who give funds to the parties tend to have an influence on the policies and decisions of the party. Sometimes parties also support criminals’ candidates because they can win elections.
• The Meaningful choice to others: Most of the political parties have same fundamental and ideological issues. Voters do not have a meaningful choice. Even leaders keep changing parties, thus confusing the voter.

Some reforms to strengthen parties so that they perform their functions well are:

• A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties. Amendment was made in the constitution to prevent MPs and MLAs from changing parties. If anyone tries to change his/her party then he/she will lose their seat. This new law has helped to bring defection down.
• It should be mandatory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets (about 1/3rd) to the women candidates. Similarly, there should be a quota for women in decision making bodies of the party.
• There should be state funding of elections. The government should give parties money to support the election expenses. This support could be given in the form of petrol, paper, telephone etc. This may reduce the influence of money in the election.
• Supreme court has helped in reducing the influence of criminals and money in elections. It is now mandatory for every person contesting the election, to give an affidavit regarding his wealth and criminal cases pending against him. The new system has made a lot of information available to the public.

Ruling Party: A political party is an organized group of people or bodies who seek to capture political power through an election in order to run the affairs of a country. It often puts forward candidates for public office. In a democracy, leaders must “run for office” in an election. The party which gain maximum seats in an election and made his own government is called ruling party. Ruling party make laws for the country, these laws are debated and passed in legislator.

Opposition Party: An Opposition Party refers to a position in the Indian parliament (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha). The political party that secures the second largest number of seats in the general elections in the upper or lower houses will be designated as the position party.

Role of Opposition: The main role of the opposition party is to question the government on all matters and bills so that the government remains accountable to the public. The opposition party Raise & highlight issues to safeguard the interest of the general public. The opposition party is also responsible to ensure that the government does not resort to any drastic step that would have harmful effects on the people of the nation.

Importance of Opposition party: The opposition party in India provides a practical criticism of the ruling party’s move and decisions. During important appointments, the opposition parties are consulted by the ruling party. It is very important that the opposition has a suitable leader who can represent the interest the non-dominant parties in the Parliament. The opposition is expected to give a tough time to the government and the ruling party so that the country’s governance happens in the best way.

Necessity of Political Parties

• Every candidate in the elections will be independent. No promises could be made and the utility of the government formed will remain uncertain.
• Political parties give a national view. If candidate in the election will be independent then he/she will be accountable to their constituency for what they do in the locality.  No one will be responsible to run the country.
• Rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of Representative Democracy
• It is the most important element of the democracy. Political Parties are required in order to form and run the Government
• Political parties accommodate different public opinion.
• Parties play a significant role in making laws/policies for a country.

How many Parties should we have?

Any democratic system must consent at least two parties to compete in elections and offer a fair change for the competing parties to come to power. In democracy any group of citizens are free to form Political Parties. More than 750 Parties are registered with Election Commission of India.

One party System: Only one party is allowed to control and run the Govt. They are called one party system. In a one-party system, there is no competition in this system. Here, the lone party nominates the candidates and the voters have only two choices i.e. “Not to vote” at all or write ‘yes’ or ‘no’ against the name of the candidates nominated by the party. Such a political system has been prominent in communist countries such as China, North Korea.  

Two Party System: Power usually changes between 2 main parties. Several Parties may merge and contest elections & win a few seats but only two major parties have serious chances of winning majority seats to form Government. Such a parliamentary system prevails in Canada and Great Britain, in which there are two parties holding the maximum numbers of seats.

Multi Party System: In such a system, there are three or more parties which have the capacity to gain control of the government separately or in a coalition. When 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 this is called multi party system. .India adopted a multiparty system because of the following reasons.

• India is blessed with tremendous social and geographical diversity. This diversity cannot be easily accommodated in one or two political parties.
• Because of multiparty system, variety of interests and opinions enjoy political representation.

Alliance or Front: An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. In the context of Politics, when several parties in a multi party system join hands for purpose of contesting elections & winning power is called alliance or a front. Eg 2004, Parliamentary elections in India NDA, UPA, left front had their separate alliances.

Multi-party system: A multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national election, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coalition.  India has evolved a multi party system, because social- geographical diversity in such a large country is not easily absorbed by two or even three parties.

National Political Parties: Parties that have their units in various states, these are country wide parties. They are called national Political Parties. A recognized party enjoys privileges like reserved party symbol, free broadcast time on state-run television and radio in the favour of the party.

Eight national parties in India are BSP, BJP, Congress, CPI, CPI-M, TMC, and NCP and recently added National peoples’ Party (NPP). NPP is the first national party from the North-East region.

Every party has to register itself with ECI. ECI offers some special facilities to large and established parties.

The National People’s Party was founded by P A Sangma after his expulsion from the NCP in July 2013. NPP was accorded the status of national party status on 7 June 2019. The current President of NPP is Conrad Sangma.

The National People’s Party’s (NPP) influence is mostly concentrated in the state of Meghalaya While the Headquarters of NPP is at M.G. Avenue, Floor, MDU Building, Imphal, Manipur 795001.

A registered party is recognised as a National Party only if it fulfills any one of the following three conditions:

1. If a party wins 2% of seats in the Lok Sabha (as of 2014, 11 seats) from at least 3 different States. or

2. At a General Election to Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly, the party polls 6% of votes in four States in addition to 4 Lok Sabha seats. or

3. A party is recognised as a State Party in four or more States.

Unique Symbol is given to parties. Parties that get this privilege & some other special facilities are recognized by ECI & are called “Recognized Political Party”.

A party that secures at least 6% of total votes in an election legislative assembly of a state & wins at least 2 seats is a recognized as a state party.

A party that secures at least 6% of total votes in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly elections in 4 states & wins at least 4 seats is a recognized as National Party.

INC – 1885

BJP – 1980

BSP – 1984

State Parties commonly called Regional Parties. A “regional party” is any political party with its base in a single region, whatever its objectives and platform may be, whereas “regionalist” parties are a subset of regional parties that specifically campaign for greater autonomy or independence in their region. Eg Samajvadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal., Mizo Nationalist Front.

The following are the conditions required for a party to be recognised as a regional party.

• A party has to secure at least six per cent of the total votes polled in the election to the legislative assembly of a state.
• It has to win at least two seats in the election to the legislative assembly of a state to be recognised as a state or regional party.

Coalition Government: Government that is formed from / by the support of many parties.

CHALLENGES TO POLITICAL PARTIES: All over the world, people are dissatisfied with the performance of the political parties. This is the case in our country too. Popular dissatisfaction and criticism have focussed on four problem areas in the working of political parties. Political parties need to face and overcome these challenges.

LACK OF INTERNAL DEMOCRACY WITHIN PARTIES: In most of the political parties, the power is concentrated in the hands of one or a few leaders at the top. Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information about the happenings inside the party. The leaders assume greater power to make decisions in the name of the party.

DYNASTIC SUCCESSION: The top positions in many political parties are generally controlled by members of one family. Leaders on the top have an unfair chance of favouring their families and friends. This is also for democracy, since people who do not have adequate experience or popular support, come to occupy positions of power.

MONEY AND MUSCLE POWER:  This is a prominent challenge to political parties during elections. Since parties are focussed only on winning elections, they tend to use shortcuts to win elections. Such shortcuts include the following:

• 1 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 influence the policies and decisions of the party.
• 2 In some cases, parties support criminals who can win elections.

MEANINGFUL CHOICE TO THE VOTERS:  It states that very often parties do not seem to offer a meaningful choice to the voters. To offer meaningful choices, parties must be significantly different. For example, in our country too, the differences among all the major parties on the economic policies have reduced. Those who want different policies have no option available to them.

Challenges of Dynastic Succession:  Dynastic succession and nepotism is a major challenge for political parties in India as it compromises their internal democracy. The lack of internal democracy within parties ultimately affects the quality of the democratic process in the country. Very little scope for an ordinary worker to raise to top in party. Top leaders give unfair advantages to their friends & family members. Dynastic succession results from the desire of a few to concentrate power in their own hands. This augurs very bad for the political parties as in long term, this results in the deterioration of the party’s mass base.

How can parties be reformed:

• Supreme Court has 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.
• A law should be made to regulate the criminal 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 of party disputes to hold open elections to the highest posts.
• It should be mandatory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets about 1/3 to women candidates. Similarly there should be a quota for women in decision making bodies of the party.
• There should be a state funding of elections. The government should give parties money to support their elections expenses. this support could be given in kind: petrol, paper etc or it could be given in cash on the  basis of voter secured by the party in the best election.
• ECI passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organizational elections and file their Income Tax Returns.

Rules and regulation governing internal party operations: Currently, there is no express provision for internal democratic regulation of political parties in India – the only (limited) provision in the law requires an explicit undertaking pledging true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India and the principles enshrined in it.

Further, the ECI also requires that the party application should be accompanied by:

• documents and information related to the organizational structure of the party,
• the powers and functions of its organs
• the method of appointment, details of all office-bearers with processes for their election etc.

The ECI is not empowered to de-register parties on the grounds of violating the Constitution or breaching the undertaking given to it at the time of registration. A party can only be de-registered if its registration was obtained by fraud; if it is declared illegal by the Central Government; or if a party amends its internal Constitution and notifies the ECI that it can no longer abide by the Indian Constitution.

Election symbols are simple images that are easily identifiable by the general mass of voters. Each symbol represents a particular political party and helps the voter to identify the party of her choice while casting her vote. This becomes particularly important where voters are illiterate and rely only on the symbols to identify the party they wish to vote for.

The ECI decides which party gets which symbol. Only parties that are recognized by the ECI can reserve symbols for their own exclusive use). This is an important reason why political parties try to get recognized by the ECI. Unrecognized parties can pick from any unreserved or free symbols. To view a list of all free symbols, click here.

The symbol reserved for a National party can be exclusively used by it and its candidates in all states throughout India. State parties, on the other hand, have symbols reserved for them only in the state(s) where they are so recognized. The ECI has also stipulated that a symbol reserved for a state party in any state will not be reserved for another state party in any other state (with effect from December, 1997), or be a free symbol anywhere else.