CHAPTER POLITICAL PARTIES

Introduction
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.

A political party tries to convince people that its policies are better than others’ policies. They try
to win elections so that they can implement their policies.

Thus, parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are about a part of the
society and thus involve PARTISANSHIP. Thus a party is known by which part it stands for,
which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds. A political party has three components:

 The Leaders
 The Active Members and
 The Followers

Functions of Political Party:

The main function of a political party is to occupy political offices and exercise political power.
For achieving this, a political party performs following functions:

Contesting Elections: Political parties contest elections. A political party nominates its
candidate for the electoral contest in various constituencies.

Policies: Political parties put forward different policies and programmes so that the voters can
choose from them. A political party brings a large number of similar opinions under one
umbrella. These opinions are channelized to form policies and programmes. The policies and
prgrammes of the RULING PARTY are expected to be followed by the government.

Making Law: Political parties play a decisive role in making laws for the country. You may be
aware that it is the legislature which passes a law after proper debate. As most of the members
belong to political parties, so a political party has direct say in law making for the country.

Formation of Government: Political parties form and run governments. The executive body is
formed by people from the ruling party. Various political leaders are assigned different ministries
to carry out the task of governance.

Playing Opposition: A party which does not get majority or come under the majority coalition,
needs to play the role of opposition.
Shaping Public Opinion: Political parties shape public opinion. They do so by raising and
highlighting issues in the legislature and in the media. The activists of a political party are spread
all over the country. These activists raise public awareness for their party’s perspective.

Providing Access to Government Machinery: Political parties provide people access to

government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. Parties need to be
responsive to people’s needs and demands. This helps them in winning the election.

Necessity of Political Party:

If there were no political party, then each and every candidate would be independent. Current
strength of the Lok Sabha is 543. Imagine a situation when none of the 543 members can be
brought to think alike on a particular issue. This would lead to a total chaos. An independent
candidate would always be more interested in the specific needs of his constituency and would
seldom think about the larger interest of the nation. A political party is necessary to bring diverse
people on a common platform, so that bigger issues can be taken care of.

The democracy which is being practiced all over the world is called representative democracy. In
this system, governance is done through people’s representative because it is impossible for each
citizen to directly participate in governance. The need for representative democracy has given
rise to political parties.

Multi-party System Vs Two-party System

In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government, e.g China. These
are called one-party systems. This cannot be 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.

In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties. Such a party system is
called two-party system. The United States of America and the United Kingdom are examples of
two-party 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, we call it a multi-party
system. Thus in India, we have a multi-party system. During the heydays of the Congress in
India, it used to be single party government at the centre. But after the 1996 general elections, no
single party has been able to secure even a simple majority. Subsequent central governments
have thus been formed by coalition of like-minded political parties.

The multi-party system is apparently very messy and it often leads to political instability. But we
should acknowledge the fact that it allows various interests and opinions to enjoy political
representation.

Evolution of Party System in a Country

A particular party system takes time to evolve in a country. It depends on the nature of society,
social and regional diversities. It also depends on its history of politics and its system of
elections. India is a country of huge geographical and social diversity. Such diversity may not be
easily accommodated by two or even three parties. It is quite natural that a multi-party system
has evolved in India. We should keep in mind that each system has its pros and cons.

Popular Participation in Political Parties:

In India the common perception is, political parties are facing a crisis because they are very
unpopular and the citizens are indifferent to political parties.

The available evidence shows that this belief is only partly true for India. The evidence, based on
a series of large sample surveys conducted over several decades, shows that:

 Political parties do not enjoy much trust among the people in South Asia. The proportion
of those who say their trust in political parties is ‘not much’ or ‘not at all’ is more than
those who have ‘some’ or ‘great’ trust.
 The same is true of most other democracies as well. Political parties are one of the least
trusted institutions all over the world.
 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.
 Over the last three decades the proportion of those who report to be members of political
parties in India has gone up steadily.
 The proportion of those who say they feel ‘close to a political party’ has also gone up in
India in this period.

National Political Parties:

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 ‘recognised’ by the
Election Commission for this purpose. That is why these parties are called, ‘recognised 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 recognised 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 recognised as a
national party.

According to this classification, there were six national recognised parties in the country in 2006.
  Indian National Congress (INC): This is popularly known as the Congress Party. This is one of the
oldest parties of the world and was founded in 1885. The Congress Party had played a dominant
role in Indian politics at the national and state level for several decades after India’s
Independence. Since the first general elections in 1952, the Congress party had been in power
continuously till 1977. After that, it came back to power in 1980 and remained till 1989. The
Congress Party once again came back to power in 1991 for another five years. Congress Party
came back in power in 2004 and completed two terms in office, i.e. ten years.
 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): This party was founded in 1980 by reviving the erstwhile Bharatiya
Jana Sangh. Building a strong and modern India is the main goal of this party. The BJP wants to
promote cultural nationalism (or ‘Hindutva). This party wants full territorial and political
integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India, a uniform civil code and a ban on religious
conversions. It support base increased significantly in the 1990s. The Party came to power in
1998 and remained in power till 2004. This party stormed back to power in centre in 2014.
 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): This party was formed in 1984 under the leadership of Kanshi Ram.
The party seeks to represent and secure power for the bahujan samaj which includes the dalits,
adivasis, OBCs and religious minorities. This party has good presence in Uttar Pradesh and has
been in power in UP for a couple of terms.
 Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M): This party was founded in 1964. Marxism- Leninism
is the main philosophy of this party and it supports socialism, secularism. The party enjoys
strong support in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, especially among the poor, factory workers,
farmers, agricultural labourers and the intelligentsia. The CPI has off late slipped in its hold over
public and has lost power in West Bengal and Kerala.
 Communist Party of India (CPI): This party was formed in 1925. It has the same philosophy as
CPI (M). 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 and Tamil
Nadu. Its support base had gradually declined over the years. It secured about 1.4 per cent votes
and 10 seats in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. Advocates the coming together of all left parties
to build a strong left front. Initially supported the UPA government from outside, but withdrew
support in late 2008.
 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP): This party was formed in 1999 following a split in the
Congress party. The party espouses democracy, Gandhian secularism, equity, social justice and
federalism. This is a major party in Maharashtra and has a significant presence in Meghalaya,
Manipur and Assam.

Rise of Regional Parties: Many regional parties have grown in prominence over the last three
decades. This is a sign of expansion and deepening of democracy in India. Many regional satraps
are very strong in their states. Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal, AIADMK, DMK, etc. are
examples of regional parties.

Challenges to political parties:

Some of the challenges which the political parties face are as follows:

Lack of Internal Democracy: In most of the political parties, the power is concentrated in the
hands of one or a handful of leaders. Ordinary members of the party cannot even dream of rising
to the top. The top leadership is often disconnected with the grassroots workers. Loyalty to the
policies and principles of the party has less value than the loyalty to the top leadership.
Dynastic Succession: 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; which is 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.

Money and Muscle Power: Winning an election is the ultimate challenge for a political party.
For this, a political party leaves no stone unturned and spends huge sum of money on
electioneering. Parties often take help of criminals and goons to terrorise voters and polling
officers.

Being a Meaningful Choice: Most of the political parties sound similar to one another. Very
few political parties give any real alternative. People have no choice than choosing the better of
the two evils. In some states, the party in power just changes every five year but people seldom
experience change on the ground.

Way to Reform Political Parties:

Following are some of the recent efforts and suggestions in our country to reform political
parties and its leaders:

 Anti-defection Law: This law was passed during Rajiv Gandhi's Premiership. 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. At the same time this has made any dissent even more difficult.
MPs and MLAs have to accept whatever the party leaders decide.
 Details of Property and Criminal Proceedings During Nomination: 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. But there is no system of check if the information given by the candidates is true.
 Mandatory Organizational Elections and IT Returns: The Election Commission passed an order
making it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their
income tax returns. The parties have started doing so but sometimes it is mere formality.

Suggestions for Future:

 A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties.

 It should be made mandatory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets, about
one-third, to women candidates.
 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.

There are two other ways in which political parties can be reformed and they are; people’s
pressure and people’s participation.
 CHAPTER –OUTCOMES OF DEMOCRACY
How do we assess democracy’s outcomes?

• Democracy is a better form of government because:

→ It promotes equality among citizens.
→ It enhances the dignity of the individual.
→ It improves the quality of decision-making.
→ It provides a method to resolve conflicts.
→ It allows room to correct mistakes.

Is the democratic government efficient?

• Non-democratic rulers do not have to bother about deliberation in assemblies or worry about
majorities and public opinion.

• A democratic government will take more time to follow procedures before arriving at a
decision.

→ Because it has followed procedures, its decisions may be both more acceptable to the people
and more effective.

Accountable, responsive and legitimate government

The most basic outcome of democracy is that it produces a government that is accountable to the
citizens, and responsive to the needs and expectations of the citizens.

Democratic government can apparently be less efficient than a non-democratic government. This
happens because a non-democratic government does not need to arrive at consensus among a
diverse set of people. Democracy functions on the basis of deliberation and negotiation and
hence decisions are often delayed. But this does not mean that a democratic government is less
efficient.

A non-democratic government may be able to take decisions in non time. But one needs to assess
if those decisions are acceptable to the masses or are they really solving people’s problems.

A democratic government is more transparent than a non-democratic government. A citizen has

the right to know the processes which were followed while taking a decision in a democratic
government. Thus, a democratic government is more accountable and responsive to its citizens.

A democratic government is legitimate government because it is elected by the people. This is

the reason that democratic governments are thriving in most of the countries.
Economic growth and development:
Data for the fifty years between 1950 and 2000 suggests that dictatorships have slightly higher
economic growth. In most of the democracies, the economic growth is somewhat slower. But
there are many democratic countries which are among the economic superpowers of the world.
This shows that economic growth does not depend on the form of government only. Other
factors also decide the trend of economic growth; like population size, global situation,
cooperation from other countries, economic priorities of the country, etc.

When we look at several other positive outcomes; alongwith a reasonable economic growth; then
democracy is always better than dictatorship.

Reduction of inequality and poverty:

Economic inequality has been increasing all over the world. In India, a larger portion of the
population is poor and the number of rich people is less. Moreover, there is a large difference in
the income of rich and the poor. In most of the countries, democracy has failed in reducing
economic inequalities.

Accommodation of social diversity:

Every society is full of diversities and conflicts are bound to happen among various sections. It is
impossible to fully rule out the possibility of conflicts. Bu democracy normally develops a
procedure by which there can be a healthy competition among different sections of the society.
People can learn to respect the differences and learn to resolve conflicts in an amicable manner.
In most of the democratic countries, social diversity is accommodated peacefully. There can be
some examples where social diversity is still a big problem; like in case of Sri Lanka.

Dignity and freedom of the citizens:

Democracy has succeeded in ensuring the dignity and freedom of its citizens. Let us take
example of India. There are many social groups which had faced a long history of oppression.
Due to democratic process, a sizeable portion of these people have been able to move up the
social ladder and are in a position to assert themselves.

Equality of Women

Because of democracy, women could be able to wage a struggle for staking their claim to
equality. In most of the democratic countries, women have succeeded in getting equal status in
the society. This is not the case in most of the autocracies.

Caste Inequalities
Caste based inequalities had been quite predominant in India. But thanks to the democratic
process, such cases have reduced to a bare minimum. People from all castes can be seen in every
sphere of life.

CHAPTER- CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRACY

Meaning of Challenge:
A challenge is not just any problem. We usually call only those difficulties a ‘challenge’ which
are significant and which can be overcome. A challenge is a difficulty that carries within it an
opportunity for progress. Once we overcome a challenge we go up to a higher level than before.

Foundational Challenge:
Different countries face different kinds of challenges. At least one fourth of the globe is still not
under democratic government. The challenge for democracy in these parts of the world is very
stark. These countries face the foundational challenge of making the transition to democracy and
then instituting democratic government. This involves bringing down the existing non-
democratic regime, keeping military away from controlling government and establishing a
sovereign and functional state. For example, Nepal was under Monarchy till recent times. Now
Nepal has changed to a democratic system. Certain mindsets and systems will take years to
change as they have taken years to develop. Nepal is a very good example of foundational
challenge of democracy.

Challenge of Expansion:
Most of the established democracies face the challenge of expansion. This involves applying the
basic principle of democratic government across all the regions, different social groups and
various institutions. Ensuring greater power to local governments, extension of federal principle
to all the units of the federation, inclusion of women and minority groups, etc., falls under this
challenge. This also means that less and less decisions should remain outside the arena of
democratic control. Most countries including India and other democracies like the US face this
challenge. In India certain socio-economically backward groups have yet to get the political
powers. Additionally, some north-eastern states have not yet fully integrated with the mainstream
India. These are examples of challenge of expansion of democracy.

Deepening of Democracy
The third challenge of deepening of democracy is faced by every democracy in one form or
another. This involves strengthening of the institutions and practices of democracy. This should
happen in such a way that people can realise their expectations of democracy. But ordinary
people have different expectations from democracy in different societies. In the early nineties,
when T N Sheshan became the Chief Election Commissioner, he brought about a revolutionary
change of disciplining political parties. This in turn ensured fairer elections. This is an example
of strengthening a particular political institution.

From above descriptions it is clear that different country face different kinds of challenges to
democracy. These challenges depend on what stage of social development the country is.
Solutions to these challenges also depend on a particular country’s unique situation. It can be
said that there is no pre-prescribed method to tackle the challenge faced by a democracy.

Devising ways and means for political reforms in India.

A.(i) One way is legal reform, making new laws to ban undesirable things.
(ii) But legal-constitutional changes cannot overcome challenges to democracy.
(iii) The reforms have to be carried out mainly by political activists, parties, movements and
politically conscious citizens.

B. Legal changes sometimes have a counter-productive result. But laws which empower people
to carry out democratic reforms are best, e.g. the Right to Information Act.

C. Democratic reforms are spread or brought about through political practice. Main focus of
political reforms is strengthening democracy.

D. While proposing a political reform, one should be very clear about who will implement it and
how. Political parties and MPs will never vote for a legislation that is against their interests.

POLITICAL FUNDNG .

• Most of the political parties are dependent on money given by bigbusiness houses.

• The worry is that the role of money in politics will reduce whatever little voice the poor have in
our democracy.

Reform proposals

• The financial accounts of every political party should be made public.

• There should be state funding of elections. Parties should be given some money by the
government to meet their election expenditure.

• Citizens should be encouraged to give more donations to parties and to political workers.