NATURE OF PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA

DR.GAGANDEEP DHALIWAL

ASST PROF(POL SCI)

AIL,MOHALI
 NATURE OF PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA-AN INTRODUCTION

◼ Party system in every country is a product not only of its political environment but also its history, culture, geography and
economy. India's party system originated in the late nineteenth century as a response to the British colonial challenge.
◼ The beginning of the Indian party system can be traced to the formation of the Indian National Congress as a political platform in
1885.
◼ The Indian National' Congress (1885), Muslim League (1906),Hindu Maha Sabha (1907), Shiromani Akali Dal (1920),
Communist Party of India (1924)and Forward Bloc (1938) were some of the parties which originated during the British rule in
India.
◼ At that time the growth and role of the Indian party system was mainly conditioned by the British policy of 'divide and rule.’
◼ But after Independence with the adoption of a Democratic Constitution a new and different pattern of party system emerged on
the Indian political scene, at the time of first general elections held in 1952. Thereafter, the nature of the Indian party system
went on changing corresponding with the new political and economicdevelopments in our country
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ Lack of Constitutional Sanction- The written Constitution of India does not grant Constitutional sanction to political parties.

Before 1985, there was no mention of political parties in the Indian Constitution.

In 1985, a Constitutional provision regarding prohibition of defection was made by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment.
By this 52nd Constitutional Amendment only the term 'Political Parties' has been included in the Tenth Schedule of the Indian
Constitution.

There is no Article of the Indian Constitution which provides for the formation and functioning of political parties in India.

Article19 (c) provides that, "All citizens shall have the right to form associations or unions." This very right is the Constitutional
base for the formation of politicalparties in India.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ Recognition of Political Parties. On, December 2, 2000 the Election Commission issued the Election Symbols (Reservation
and Allotment) Order to provide a procedure by which it could recognize political parties.

◼ The aforesaid Order specifies the following conditions to be fulfilled by a political party before it could be recognized by the
Commission :

◼ (i) A political party is eligible to be recognized as a National Party if

◼ It secures at least six per cent of valid votes polled in any four or more States at the general elections to the Lok Sabha or to the
Vidhan Sabha and in addition win at least four seats in the House of the People (Lok Sabha) from any State or States.

◼ Or
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ A political party is eligible to be recognized as a National Party if it wins at least two percent seats in the House
of the People from at least three different States. In other words, a party must have a minimum of eleven members
among the 543 directly elected members of the LokSabha.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ (ii) For recognition as a State Party it should secure at least six percent of valid votes polled in the State at a
general election either to House of the People (Lok Sabha) or to the Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) of the
State concerned and also two seats in the Assembly ofthe State concerned.

Or

A party to be recognized as a State Party should win at least three percent of the total number of votes in the
Legislative Assembly of the State or at least three seats in the Assembly, whichever is more.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

• Two Types of Recognized Parties. A recognized political party has been classified as a "National Party" or a "State Party". The recognition is
accorded by the Election Commission. The Election Commission has laid down the norms for according recognition, in 1968, 2000 and 2005. In
accordance with those norms, political parties are accorded recognition as National Political Parties and State Political Parties. At present 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.

◼ The Election Commission does not accord recognition to any political party as a regional political party. There is no legal provision for according
recognition to regional political parties. The parties recognized as State Parties by the Election Commission are called Regional Political
Parties.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ Derecognition of Political Parties.

◼ The Election Commission reviews the performance of every recognized party after every general elections. If a recognized party fails to secure as many votes
as are necessary for getting the recognition from the Commission, that party is derecognized by the Election Commission. For instance, on November 25, 1997
the Election Commission derecognized the Janata Party and the All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) as National Parties since both the parties failed to retain
their respective recognition as State Party in four States after their performance in the elections to the Eleventh Lok Sabha held in April-May, 1996. (ii) On
March 24, 1999the Election Commission derecognized Samata Party as a National Political Party on the basis of its performance in the elections to the 12th
Lok Sabha held in February-March 1998. Samata Party was derecognized since it failed to retain its status as State Party in four States.In 2014 & 2019 they
had also considered to derecognize NCP, and CPI due to their dismal performance but they got a reprieve due to an amendment in their own rules
whereby the status of the political parties ill be reviewed every 10 years instead of 5.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ Registration of Political Parties. The Representation of the People Act, 1950 provides that in India a "political party
means an association or body o individual citizens of India registered with the Election Commission as apolitical party". Any
association or body of individual citizens of India can make an application to the Election Commission for its registration as
apolitical party. The application should be accompanied by a copy of the Memorandum which also contains a specific provision
that the association or body shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India, and to the principles of socialism,
secularism and democracy, andwould uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ At the time ofelections of the 17th Lok Sabha held in April-May, 2019 there were 2293Political Parties
registered with the Election Commission of India. Out of them7 Parties were recognized as National Parties and 59
Parties were recognized as State Parties by the Election Commission. The remaining were not recognised by the
Election Commission but they had the right to contest elections
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ 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.
(iv) 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 Behari
Vajpayee of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
◼ POWER WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY
◼ (v) 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.
(vi) 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
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

But the results of the 16th Lok Sabha elections had almost ended the practice of coalitional politics at the Centre. The government formed under the
Prime Ministership of Mr. Narendra Modi was also a coalition government of National Democratic Alliance. But that government was completely free from
the compulsions of coalition government, since B.J.P. was in such a thumping majority in the Lok Sabha that no partner of N.D.A. had the strength to put
obstacles in the way of the policies and programmes being pursued by the government.

Similarly, the results of the Elections to the 17th Lok Sabha gave a severe blow to the practice of coalition governments and unprincipled Alliances
politics. The Bharatiya Janata Party as the largest constituent ofNDA obtained absolute majority single handedly in Lok Sabha. The NDA with BJP as its
main constituent secured 352 seats in the 17th Lok Sabha. No doubt, the Government which was formed under the leadership of Sh.Narendra Modi was a
Government of the Alliance and it was a coalitional government since many political parties, being the constituents of NDA sent their representatives in the
government formed by the parliamentary leader of NDA-Sh. Narendra Modi. Despite being a coalitional Government we dare to assert that the Government
formed by NDA after the Elections to the 17th Lok Sabha was practically free from the coalitional compulsions. The reason is that the BJP enjoyed single
handedly absolute majority in the 17th Lok Sabha and because of it the other partners in the Government cannot dare to create problems or obstacles in the
way of functioning of NDA government
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ Too many state Parties : India is a multiple party system. But in this system the number of state parties is
proportionately much more than the number of National Political Parties. This Political Trend is responsible for the
failure ofIndian Parliamentary Democracy. there were 2293Political Parties registered with the Election
Commission of India. Out of them7 Parties were recognized as National Parties and 59 Parties were recognized as
State Parties by the Election Commission. The remaining were not recognized by the Election Commission but
they had the right to contest elections
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ Lack of Firm Ideological Commitment. It has been well said that "ideology is the religion of a party". But the
Indian parties badly lack ideological commitment. On the eve of General Elections they do issue their election
manifestos emphatically claiming their commitment to one or the other ideological principle, but so far as their
actual functioning is concerned, their sole aim is to capture power. For the achievement of this aim almost all
parties are ever willing to sacrifice their proclaimed ideological principles. The ideologies and programmes have,
in fact, lost their practical importance in the context of the working of the Indian party system. Political
opportunism guides their working and they often do not hesitate in entering into electoralalliance with the party or
parties having nothing ideologically common with them.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

◼ Wrong Basis of Political Parties. Political parties are organized on the basis of some specific ideology or some
economic or political principles. But in India the case is quite different. Here, so many parties are organised on the
basis of either religion or caste or language or region or some other narrow parochial factor. Shiromani Akali Dal,
Muslim League, Hindu Maha Sabha and Muslim Majlis are some of the parties which have one or the other
religion as their base. D.M.K. and A.I.A.D.M.K. and Bahujan Samaj Party are organised mainly on the basis of
caste; Assam Gana Parishad,Telugu Desam, National Conference, Mizo National Front, etc. have a regional
appeal. Same is the case with a good number of other parties.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

Multiple Character of the Opposition. India is a multi-party system. Because of it there is multiple character of the
opposition inside the Parliament. Though officially, one party is recognized as the opposition party, yet in practice a
good number of political parties play the role of the opposition. There being no ideological commonness among the
various opposition parties they could not play an effective role of the opposition. Till the time, the number of political
parties are not reduced drastically, the multiple character of the opposition will be there and a really effective
opposition will not emerge.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

Lack of Internal Democracy. From the organizational point of view, the Indian party system lacks internal
democracy. It implies that elections to the various offices of parties are not held regularly. In fact, every political party
is being governed by an oligarchy—a few privileged leaders of the concerned party. They have established their hold
over the party so much that the working of the party and the small leaders of the party revolve around them. The elites
in the various parties have been occupying high offices of the party since a long time, and the cadre of the party does
not have an effective say in their elections.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

Personality Cult-Dominated Parties. The importance of a few personalities in the working of the Indian party
system gives the impression that the old monarchical traditions remain well entrenched in India. Evidently, the leader
has more importance than the party. It is a historical fact that till the assassination of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi the key figures
in the Congress were the members of Nehru-Gandhi family. Again, the Congress utilized the name of Nehru-Gandhi
family during the elections to the Twelfth Lok Sabha.
 PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA- FEATURES/NATURE

Factionalism. The parties in India are faction-ridden. The culture of populism has taken precedence over
programme-based parties, and individuals have become pivot of parties. This position is responsible for factionalism
within the party. Factions in a party revolve around one or the other party leaders. Prominent leaders of the party
maintain their own factions within the party in order to exert their pressure on the policy-making organ of the party.
Almost all the Indian political parties are faction-ridden. When factionalism within the party takes serious turn, it
causes split in the party. Factionalism creates indiscipline among the members of the party which ultimately harms the
unity and solidarity of the party.