Chapter 4 : Political Parties Meaning of Political Parties * A political party is @ group of people who come together {0 contest elections and hold power in the government. * They try to persuade people why their policies are better than others .A party is known by which part it stands forwhich policies it supports and whose interests it upholds, * Political parties are one of the most visible institutions in a democracy. Functions of Political Parties * Candidates are put forward by political parties to contest elections. These candidates may be chosen by the top leaders or by members of the party. * Parties put forward their policies and programmes for, voters 10 choose from them, ** Poltical parties plays a major role in making laws for the country. * Political parties form and run govemmments, * It play the role of opposition if they loose elections. Parties shape public opinion and provide access to government for people. Necessity of Political Parties * Political parties are needed because they perform variety ‘of functions. Modern democracies cannot exist without political parties. * Without existence of parties, every candidate in the elections will be independent. * No one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes. © With existence of parties, government may be formed, but its utility will remain even uncertain. * Political parties are needed to support or restrain the government, make policies justify or oppose them. Political Party Systems * Broadly, political party system can be divided into following three categories 4 ( ;stem In this party system , only one or ened to contol andrun he government China has One Party System. This system does not provide a fair chance for competing parties to gain power. (i) Two Party System In this system, two parties have a serious chance to win majority and form government, ‘The United States of America and United Kingdom are the examples of Two Party System, (ii) Multi-Party System In this system , more than two political parties contest elections to gain power. It allows a variety of interests and options to enjoy political parties. India is the example of Mult-Party System, Coalition of Parties, * When several parties in a Mult-Party System join hands for the purpase of contesting and winning it is called alliance or front '* In India, government is formed by various parties coming together in coaition. Ideal Party System * It cannot be judged that which party system is the ideal ‘one as party system can't by chosen, * ILevolves over a long time, depending on the nature of society its social and regional divisions, its history of politics and its system of elections. Popular Participation in Political Parties * Poltical parties are facing crisis of unpopularity among the citizens Political parties do not enjoy much trust among the people in South Asia. Yet the level of participation in the activities of poitical patties is fairly high, The proportion of the members of some political party is higher in India than Canada, JapanSpain and South Korea.jsucoeed Exam Eve Revision qypes of Political Parties ‘xe two kinds of poltical pates in a federal system {) National Parties i) State Partios national Parties {Parties that are present in several or all units of the federation are called National Parties. + Apaty that secures alleast 6% of the total votes in Lok ‘Sabha Elections or Assembly Elections in 4 states and ‘wins atleast 4 seats in the Lok Sabha , is recognised as ‘a National Party. some Important National Political Parties of India Recognised national poltical partes in the country are (Indian National Congress (INC) It was founded in 1885 and supports secularism and welfare of ‘weaker sections and minorities. (i) Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) It was founded in +1980, the aim of the party is to build a strong and modern India by drawing inspiration from India's ancient culture and values. (ii) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) It was founded in 1984, under the leadership of Kanshi Ram.it seeks to represent and secure power for Dalits Adiva OBC's and religious minorities. (wv) Aam Admi Party (AAP) It was founded in November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal. On 10th Apri, 2023 AAP was officially granted the status of National Party of election commission of India. (¥) Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM) Founded in 1964 and believes in Marxism-Leninism, tt opposes Imperialism and Communalism. (vi) National People's Party (NPP) It was founded by PA Sangma 13 July, 2012. Its influence is mostly concentrated in Meghalaya. It was granted the status of National Party on 7th June, 2019, State Parties ‘+ Parties that are present in only one of the federal units are called State Parties These are commonly referred to as regional parties “The Election Commission has classified that all parties other than major national parties ae state parties Parties Ike Samajwadi Party, Samata Party and Rashtriya Janta Dal have national level poliical organisation with units in several states 241 Challenges to Political Parties * Lack of Internal Democracy within Parties In most of the political parties , the power is concentrated in the hands of Cone or few leaders at the top Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information about the happenings inside the party. ‘© Dynastic Succession The top positions in many political parties are generally controlled by members of one family which is not good for democracy. ‘* Money and Muscle Power This is a prominent challenge to political parties during elections, Parties focussed only on winning elections and tend to use shortcuts to win elections. * Meaningful Choice to the Voters In order to offer meaningful choice ,parties must by significantly different. But in India, parties do not seem to offer a meaningful choice to the voters. Reformation of Political Parties In order to face the challenges, poltical parties need to be reformed, Some of the recent efforts and suggestions in our county to relorm the poitical parties are «Anti -Defection Law According to the Law, MLA's or MP's cannot change the party after the elec if any MLA or MP changes partes, he or she wil lose the seat in the legislature. © Details of Property and Criminal Cases It becomes mandatory for every candidates who contest an election to file an atfidavit giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him. But there is no system to check if the information given by the candidate is true or not ‘Fill an Income Tax Return The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to. hold their organisational elections and fill their income tax relums, Besides these suggestions, many other suggestions are often made to reform political parties. These are as follows ~ Alaw 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 quality of democracy will improve by the degree of public participation and awareness within the political parties.