Changing nature of Indian Political

System/Emerging trends
DR.GAGANDEEP DHALIWAL
ASST PROF,
AIL,MOHALI
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► Nature of the Indian political system has always been dynamic. New trends has emerged
in the Indian politics from time to time and the nature of the Indian Political system has
experienced significant changes under the influence of those new trends.
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► Multiple Party System with ever increasing number of Political Parties.
India is a multi party system where the number of political parties is ever increasing but the national parties have not been
multiplied, rather the figure of number of national parties remains revolving around 6 to 8... On the eve of elections to the
17th Lok Sabha there were 2293 total Political Parties registered with the Election Commission of India. Out of them, only
7 political parties were recognized as National Political parties by the Election Commission and 59 political Parties
enjoyed the recognition of Election Commission. The remaining parties i.e. 2227 were not recognized by the Election
Commission but they had the right to participate in the elections. As per the notgification issued by the EC on 23rd
Sept’2021, the total number of parties registered with the Election commission is 2858, with 8 national parties, 54
state parties and 2796 unrecognized parties

• From 1,112 registered unrecognised parties in 2010, the number has increased to 2,301 in 2019.
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► Setback to the Increasing Importance of Regional Parties. Increasing importance of regional parties is another
important trend of the Indian party system. The importance of regional political parties has increased to the extent
that no national political party dares to contest elections singularly, and every national political party is compelled to
make electoral alliances with regional parties. The Congress which has enjoyed political monopoly in the Indian
politics for a long time and which has ruled at the Centre for nearly 45years, had to make electoral alliances in
elections to the 12th, 13th and 14thLok Sabha.In the elections to the 15th and 16th Lok Sabha alliances were
concluded between various Political Parties. Nobody expected that any Political Party will be able to secure absolute
majority in the Lok Sabha at the time of Elections to the 16th Lok Sabha. But BJP did the unexpected and got
absolute majority in the 16th Lok Sabha. The unique performance was repeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the
Elections to the 17th Lok Sabha held in April-May 2019. The party secured 303 seats in the Lok Sabha and it became
the largest single party in the Lok Sabha by securing 303 seats in the House of543 seats in total. The exemplary show
presented by the BJP promotes thealready developing fact i.e. the decreasing importance of the regional
politicalparties.
► The recent assembly elections held in Manipur,Goa,UP and Uttarakhand again
point to the the fact that the regional political parties like Samajwadi party in UP,
Maharastrawadi Goamantak Party in Goa, Naga people’s front in Manipur
showed a dismal performance and paved a smooth way for the BJP government in
all four states
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► Decline of National Political Parties. The defective laws according recognition to Indian political parties as national parties, do
not demand the widespread organizational system and support bases of political parties, rather it is confirmed to about four-six states

only. Hence they lack a nationwide impact. Moreover the importance of national parties is also declining because of the increasing

numbers and importance of the state or regional parties. The number of national parties have perhaps never risen more than 10 even when

the total number of parties in India were 1761 in September 2016. In the 16th Lok Sabha elections three National parties(CPI,BSP

&NCP) faired so badly in the elections that they were in danger of loosing their status of National Political Parties. The National Political

Parties in India are National because they fulfill the conditions laid down by Election Commission for acquiring the status of National

Political Party. But none of the National Political Parties has brought support base or organizational aspect throughout the territories of

India. It is mockery of the National character of the Indian National Political Parties. A National Political Party like Bahujan Samaj Party,

All India Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India(Marxist) do not have

their support base and organizational structure in the territories of India.

Performance of National Political Parties

Name of NPP Seats secured in Seats secured Seats secured Seats secured
14th Lok Sabha 15th Lok Sabha 16th Lok Sabha 17th Lok Sabha

INC 141 222 44 52

BJP 130 112 282 303
CPI 10 4 1 2
CPI(M) 43 16 9 3
NCP 11 8 6 5
BSP 17 21 0 10
NPP - - 1 1
AITMC 2 18 33 22
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► Political Power of Political Parties associated with Caste or Religion Declining. In our country there are several such political parties
which are associated with a religion or caste. The present political circumstances symbolize that fact that political power of the political
parties which seem associated with a religion or caste, has been increasing at a great pace. The political power of the Bhartiya Janata
Party and a few Muslim organizations has increased due to the the Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid dispute. The Bahujan Samaj Party is
generally considered a party of dalits. That is why political power of this party in the Indian politics is on constant increase. The Bahujan
Samaj Party has formed its government in Uttar Pradesh several times In the 16th and 17 th Lok Sabha elections political parties based on
castes suffered huge loses, but a political party being in favour of Hindutav and national ideology got thumping majority in the Lok
Sabha. The recent electoral results in UP assembly clear cut points out the the fact that people develop an affinity to
performance-oriented parties and they have started shunning away the caste and religion preferences. Same can be held true about the
dismal performance of SAD in Punjab assemble elections of 2022 .The people of Punjab single mindedly voted against the party.
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
Decreasing importance of Socialist or Leftist Parties. Results of the lastfive elections to the
Lok Sabha testify to the fact that no special expansion in political importance, spheres of
influence and support bases of the Communist parties and other leftist parties of India, has
taken place. The fall of communism and disintegration of the Soviet Union have made the
leftist parties very weak and not likely to give a tough competition to the other parties. As a
matter of fact, the leftist parties in India are struggling very hard for their existence. The C.P.I,
and the C.P.I. (M) both fared very badly in the elections to the 16th and 17th Lok Sabha. Both
the Communist Parties are facing the crisis of survival and there is a little hope that parties with
leftist leanings will someday hold the sway in the electoral politics of the country.
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► Lack of Constant Contact with the Masses. Political parties do not realize the importance of constant contact with
the masses. Political parties come into contact with the masses only during elections and after elections the Indian
voters and political parties become distant relatives.. Lack of constant contact with the masses in political parties is
responsible for

► less interest of people in political activities.

► Failure of the parties in India to become the mass based parties

The future belongs to such parties which will make the basis in the masses. When Aam Aadmi Party secured wonderful
victory in the Delhi Assembly elections and formed the government the political parties were alarmingly awakened to
create direct contact with the people.
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► Decline of Credibility of Political Parties.

► Politics of opportunism made the Indian politicians go to any extent to fulfil their selfish
interests. Political parties have almost given up ideological principles and made the
capturing of political power in any way, their ultimate end. That is why credibility of
political parties among common people is declining day by day. Lack of discipline in
political parties, existence of groups of different leaders, electoral alliances with political
parties following opposite ideologies during elections, etc. are becoming causes of decline
of credibility of political parties.
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► Coalition Governments. Following results of the elections held between 1989to 2009 led to the
beginning and continuance of coalition parties governments:
(i) In 1989, no political party was able to secure a clear majority in the Lok Sabha. National Front(Janata
dal,DMK,TDP,AGP & Congress(S) ) of five political parties formed the government with outside support
of the Bharatiya Janata Party and some otherpolitical parties.
(ii) In the elections to the 10th Lok Sabha held in May-June, 1991, no single political party won a clear
majority. The Congress (I) formed the government because it had secured more seats than other political
parties.
(iii) In the elections to the 11th Lok Sabha held in April-May, 1996, no single party had a clear majority
in the Lok Sabha. United Front Front which formed its government on June 1, 1996 under Sh. H.D.
Devegowda and on April 21,1997 under Sh. Inder Kumar Gujral, included 13 political parties in it.
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
Elections to the 12th Lok Sabha were held in February-March, 1998. After the
elections the representatives of two National Political Parties and 15 regional parties
joined the government formed under the leadership of Sh. Atal Behar Vajpayee of the
Bharatiya Janata Party.
After elections to the 13th Lok Sabha held in September-October, 1999
thegovernment formed by National Democratic Alliance included in it one National
Political Party and nearly 25 regional parties.
Coalition governments were formed under the Congress after elections to the14th
Lok Sabha held in April-May, 2004 and 15th Lok Sabha 2009. This governments
included two National Political Parties and 12 regional parties
Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► In the 16th Lok Sabha election the National Democratic Alliance secured a land slide victory in

theLok Sabha and after the elections a coalition government of N.D.A. was formed under a leadership
of Sh. Narendra Modi, but that coalition government was almost free from the political compulsions of
coalition dharma. Similarly, the results of 17th Lok Sabha in May, 2019 confirmed the fact that new
polarization is taking place. It is hoped that the multi-party character of the Indian Politics may shrunk
to the minimum level and the form of new polarization may make India an ideal democracy
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► Criminalization of Indian Politics- According to the Association of Democratic
nearly half of the 17th Lok Sabha members have criminal charges against
them,.As many as 233 MPs or 43% have criminal charges.The BJP has 116 MPs
or 39% of its winning candidates with criminal cases followed by 29 MPs (57%)
from the Congress, 13 (81%) from the JDU, 10 (43%) from the DMK and nine
(41%) from the TMC, the ADR said. In 2014, 185 Lok Sabha members (34%) had
criminal charges and 112 MPs had serious criminal cases against them. With the
passage of time, all hopes of decriminalizing our legislature stand in vain.
 Changing nature of Indian Political
System/Emerging trends
► No significant improvement in Women Representation in Lok Sabha since independence In the first Lok Sabha
formed in 1952, there were 24 women. 16th Lok Sabha, there were only 66 women members out of the total House strength
of 543, which makes it just 12 per cent. This was the situation 67 years after the first general elections.

17th Lok Sabha has 78 women Members of Parliament (MPs), the highest since independence according to PRS legislative
research. Out of the 716 women candidates who contested elections, 78 have been elected, which is 14% of the house.

Had the long-pending legislative proposal to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha been passed, it could
have ensured at least 179 female members in the Lower House of Parliament.

► Educated Legislature The current Lok Sabha has the highest number of people with at least a graduate degree, 394. This is
almost three times the number of graduates in the first Lok Sabha . the literacy rate has increased from 18.33% in 1951 to
74% in the last census in 2011.