SOCIOTHON

POLITITCAL PARTIES

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 Political parties are easily one of the most
visible institutions in a democracy. For most
ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political
parties.

Why do
we need Most people tend to be very critical of political
political parties. They tend to blame parties for all that is
wrong with our democracy and our political life
parties?

But despite this fact , political parties are a very

essential part of our political system

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 A political party is a group of people who
come together to contest elections and
hold power in the government.

Meaning Parties are about a part of the society and

thus involve PARTISANSHIP.

A political party has three components:

the active
the leaders the followers
members
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Functions of Political
Parties

1. Parties contest elections.

2. Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters
choose from them.
3. Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country.
4. Parties form and run governments.

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5. Those parties that lose in
the elections play the role of
opposition to the parties in
power, by voicing different
views and criticising
government for its failures or
wrong policies
6. Parties shape public
opinion. They raise and
highlight issues.
7. Parties provide people
access to government
machinery and welfare
schemes implemented by
governments.
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 Necessity of
Political Parties

• We can understand the necessity

of political parties by imagining a
situation without parties.
• The rise of political parties is
directly linked to the emergence
of representative democracies.
• They needed a mechanism to
support or restrain the
government, make policies,
justify oppose them.
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 How many
parties should
we have?

[Link] Party
System – Eg :
China,Cuba etc
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 [Link] or Bi-
Party System
Eg: USA,
Britain etc

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 [Link]-Party
System- Eg :
India,
Bangladesh

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 Types of
Political Parties

State Party: The Election Commission

has laid down detailed criteria of the
proportion of votes and seats that a
party must get in order to be a
recognised 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.

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State Parties

Example:
• Biju Janata Dal
• Sikkim Democratic Front
• Mizo National Front
• Telangana Rashtra Samithi

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National 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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Major National Parties in India
There were 7 recognised national parties in the country in 2018. Here are the
details of these parties:
1) All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)
• Launched on 1 January 1998 under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee.
• Recognised as a national party in 2016.
• The party’s symbol is flowers and grass.
• Committed to secularism and federalism.
• Has been in power in West Bengal since 2011 and has a presence in Arunachal
Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura.
• In the General Elections held in 2014, it got 3.84% votes and won 34 seats,
making it the fourth-largest party in the Lok Sabha.
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2) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP):
• Formed in 1984 under the leadership of Kanshi Ram.
• Seeks to represent and secure power for the Bahujan samaj which includes the
Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs and religious minorities.
• Stands for the cause of securing the interests and welfare of the Dalits and
oppressed people.
• It has its main base in the state of Uttar Pradesh and substantial presence in
neighbouring states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Delhi
and Punjab.
• Formed government in UP several times by taking the support
of different parties at different times.

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3) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
• Founded in 1980, formed by Syama Prasad Mukherjee in 1951.
• Wants to build a strong and modern India by drawing inspiration from India’s
ancient culture and values, and Deendayal Upadhyaya’s ideas of integral
humanism and Antyodaya.
• Cultural nationalism (or ‘Hindutva’) is an important element in its conception
of Indian nationhood and politics.
• Earlier limited to north and west and to urban areas, the party expanded its
support in the south, east, the north-east and to rural areas.
• Emerged as the largest party with 282 members in the 2014 Lok Sabha
elections.

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4) Communist Party of India (CPI):
• Formed in 1925. Believes in Marxism-Leninism, secularism and
democracy.
• Opposed to the forces of secessionism and communalism.
• Accepts parliamentary democracy as a means of promoting the
interests of the working class, farmers and the poor.
• Significant presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab,
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
• It secured less than 1 per cent votes and 1 seat in the 2014 Lok
Sabha elections.

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5) Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M):
• Founded in 1964. Believes in Marxism-Leninism. Supports socialism,
secularism and democracy and opposes imperialism and communalism.
• Accepts democratic elections as a useful and helpful means for securing the
objective of socio-economic justice in India.
• Enjoys strong support in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.
• The part was in power in West Bengal without a break for 34 years.
• In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it won about 3% of votes and 9 seats.

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6) Indian National Congress (INC):
• Popularly known as the Congress Party. One of the oldest parties of the
world. Founded in 1885 and has experienced many splits.
• Under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the party sought to build a modern
secular democratic republic in India.
• The ruling party at the centre till 1977 and then from 1980 to 1989. After
1989, its support declined, but it continues to be present throughout the
country.
• The party’s main idea is to promote secularism and welfare of weaker
sections and minorities.

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7) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP):
• Formed in 1999 following a split in the Congress party.
• Supports democracy, Gandhian secularism, equity, social justice and
federalism.
• A major party in Maharashtra and has a significant presence in Meghalaya,
Manipur and Assam.
• A coalition partner in the state of Maharashtra in alliance with the Congress.
Since 2004, a member of the United Progressive Alliance

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 • Lack of internal democracy within
Challenges to parties. Parties do not keep
Political Parties membership registers, do not hold
organisational meetings, and do not
conduct internal elections regularly.
• Most political parties do not
practice open and transparent
procedures for their functioning, so
there are very few ways for an
ordinary worker to rise to the top in
a party. In many parties, the top
positions are always controlled by
members of one family
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 • The third challenge is about the
Challenges to growing role of money and muscle
Political Parties power in parties, especially during
elections. Since parties are focussed
only on winning elections, they tend
to use short-cuts to win elections. In
some cases, parties support criminals
who can win elections.
• People do not find parties to be a
meaningful choice for their votes.
Sometimes people cannot even elect
very different leaders either, because
the same set of leaders keep shifting
from one party to another
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How can Parties be Reformed?

• The Constitution was amended to prevent

elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties.
• 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 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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Besides these, many suggestions are made to reform political
parties. These suggestions have not yet been accepted by
political parties.

• 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. Similarly, there
should be a quota for women in the decision
making bodies of the party.
• There should be state funding of elections. The
government should give parties money to support
their election expenses.

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There are two other ways
in which political parties
can be reformed.

• People can put pressure on

political parties. This can be
done through petitions, publicity
and agitations.
• Political parties can improve if
people who want change can
join political parties. It is difficult
to reform politics if ordinary
citizens do not take part in it and
simply criticise it from the
outside.
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