POLITICAL PARTIES CLASS10 NCERT

• A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and powers in the government.
• They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote collective goods.
• Parties reflect fundamental political division in a society. It is a part of society and thus involve partisanship.
• A political party has three components: –

1. The Leaders,
2. The active members
3. The followers

FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES

• Political parties fill political offices and exercise political powers.
• Contest Elections – In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties.
• Selection of candidates: – In most of the democracy, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by the political parties. For eg. In USA, candidates are chosen by members and supporters of party.  On the other hand, in India, Candidates chosen by top party leaders.
• Put forward different policies and programmes – A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions which it supports.
• Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country.
• Parties form and run governments, parties recruit leaders, train them and make them ministers to run the government in the way they want.
• Parties that lose in elections play role of opposition to keep a check on to the parties in power by criticizing and voicing different views.
• They provide people to access government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by government.

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FEDERALISM CLASS 10 CHAPTER 2 NOTES

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WHY DO WE NEED POLITICAL PARTIES?

1. Modern democracies cannot exist without political parties, every person would be independent, and no proper policy decision could be made.
2. Elected candidate would be held responsible for their constituency but for whole country no proper government would be present.
3. The rise of political parties is directly linked to emergence of representative democracy

HOW MANY PARTIES SHOULD WE HAVE?

There is no one system that is ideal for all countries and all situations. Each country develops a party system that is conditioned by its special circumstances depending on nature of society, its social and regional divisions, its history of politics and its system of elections.

Basically, there are 3 types of party system-

1. One-Party System: – In China only one party (COMMUNIST PARTY) is allowed to rule. This system does not permit free competition for power. It’s not a democratic option since there is no fair chance provided
2. Two-Party System: – Under this system power exchanges between two parties. Other parties can be present too, but they are not provided majority share in legislation. Eg – United Kingdom, USA.
3. Multi-Party System: – In this, more than two parties have reasonable chance of coming to power either on their own strength or in alliance with other parties. Eg – INDIA.

In 2004, there were 3 alliances in parliamentary elections of India: –

• NDA (national democratic alliance)
• UPA (united progressive alliance)
• LEFT FRONT

Democracies that follow federal system tend to have 2 kinds of political parties.

1. Parties that are present in only one of the federal units.
2. Parties that are present in several or all units of federation.

 

ELECTION COMMISSION AND POLITICAL PARTIES

(What is the role of Election Commission in formation of political parties?)

• Every party in the country has to register with the election commission.
• Commission offers some special facilities to large and established parties and then these parties are given a unique symbol which can be used by only the official candidates of that party.

Parties that get these privileges and some other special facilities are “recognized “by election commission for this purpose, hence these parties are called ‘Recognized Political Parties’

Criteria Defined by Election Commission to be a Recognised Party

To be Recognized as a National party: 

1. A Party that secures at least 6% of total votes in Lok Sabha or in Assembly Election of 4 states, and
2. Wins at least 4 seats in Lok Sabha.

To be Recognized as a state party: 

1. A party that secures at least 6% of votes in an election of legislative assembly of state party, and
2. Wins at least 2 seats in state legislative assembly.

NATIONAL PARTIES OF INDIA IN 2018 (POLITICAL PARTIES CLASS10 NCERT )

(There are 7 National parties in India )

1. INC (Indian National Congress) 

• Established in 1885.
• One of the oldest parties of the world.
• Popularly known as congress party.
• A centrist party in its ideological orientation.
• Currently principal opposition party in Lok Sabha.
• Leader of UPA govt. [2004-2014]
• The party’s symbol is “Hand”.

 Objectives-

1. Secularism and welfare of weaker section and minorities.
2. Supports new economic reforms

2. CPI (Communist Party of India)

• Established in 1925.
• Believes in Marxism-Leninism, secularism and democracy.
• Accept parliamentary democracy.
• Formation of new party CPI(M) after split of CPI in 1964.
• Significant Presence: – Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh& Tamil Nadu.
• The party’s symbol is Ears of corn and sickle.

3. CPI-M (Communist Party of India –Marxist)

• Established in 1964.
• Believes in Marxism- Leninism.
• Supports secularism, socialism &democracy.
• Opposes imperialism& communalism.
• The party’s symbol is Hammer, sickle and star.

Objectives-

1. Socio-economic justice in India.
2. Criticize the new-eco policies that allow free flow of foreign capital & goods into the country.

4. BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party)

• Established in 1980.
• Founded by reviving Bhartiya Jana Sangh [1951] formed by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.
• Leader of NDA govt in 1998.
• The party’s symbol is “Lotus”.

Objectives-

I. To build a strong and modern India by 

• Drawing inspiration from India’s ancient cultural values and   
• Deendayal Upadhyay’s ideas of integral humanism and Antyodaya.

II. To promote nationhood based on Cultural nationalism {Hindutva}

III. Full territorial & political integration of J&K with India.

IV. A Uniform Civil code for all people living in country.

5. BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party)

• Formed in 1984 under leadership of Kanshi Ram.
• It has its main base in Uttar Pradesh.

objectives:

1. To secure the interests and welfare of the dalits and oppressed people.
2. To secure power for the Bahujan samaj (Dalits,  Adivasis, OBCs and religious minorities).
3. Draws inspiration from the ideas and teachings of Sahu Maharaj, Mahatma Phule, Periyar Ramaswamy Naicker and Babasaheb Ambedkar.

6. AITC (All India Trinamool Congress)

• Launched on 1998 under leadership of Mamata Banerjee.
• Recognised as a  national party in 2016.
• The party’s symbol is flowers and grass.
• Committed to secularism and federalism.

7. NCP (Nationalist congress Party)

• Formed in 1999.
• A major party in Maharashtra and significant presence in Meghalaya, Manipur and Assam.

objectives:

1. High positions in government should be confined to naturally born citizens of the country.
2. Espouses  democracy, Gandhian secularism, equity, social justice and federalism.

CHALLENGES TO POLITICAL PARTIES 

1. Lack of internal democracy in the parties is due to the exercise of paramount power by one or few leaders in the party. As a result of the concentration of power among one or few leaders at the top, personal loyalty to the leader becomes more important than loyalty to the principles  and policies of the party.
2. Dynastic succession: In most of the parties, the top positions are always controlled by members of one family. This is unfair to other members of that party and also bad for democracy.
3. Growing role of money and muscle power in parties especially during elections. Parties are focused only on winning elections, they tend to use short cuts to win elections for this they nominate those candidates who have or can raise lots of money.
4. Often parties do not offer meaningful choice to voters: To offer meaningful choice, parties must be significantly different. Those who want really different policies have no options available to them. Sometimes people cannot even elect very different leaders either, because the same set of leaders keep shifting from one party to another.

 

REFORMS TO STRENGTHEN POLITICAL PARTIES

(Efforts and suggestions in our country to reform political parties)

EFFORTS TO REFORM POLITICAL PARTIES:

1. The constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties. Now the law says that if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose the seat in legislature.
2. To reduce the influence of money and criminals Supreme court made  it mandatory for every candidate who contest election to file an Affidavit giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him. This new system has made a lot of information available to the public.
3. Election commission made it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their income tax returns.

SUGGESTIONS TO REFORM POLITICAL PARTIES:

1. A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties
2. It should be made mandatory for political parties to give minimum number of tickets ,about one third, to women candidates. similarly ,there should be a quota for women in the decision making bodies of parties.
3. There should be state funding of elections and government should gives parties money to support their election expenses.
4. To reform political parties, people can put pressure on parties by petitions, publicity and agitations.
5. Political parties can improve if those who want this join political parties.

 

FAQs:

Q1. How many national political  parties are there in India ?

Ans.  There are 8 national political parties of India in 2022. These are:

1. INC (INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS) 1885
2. CPI(COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA)1925
3. CPI-M(COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA -MARXIST) 1964
4. BJP(BHARTIYA JANTA PARTY)1980
5. BSP(BAHUJAN SAMAJ PARTY)1984
6. AITC(ALL INDIA TRINAMOOL CONGRESS)1998
7. NCP(NATIONAL CONGRESS PARTY)1999
8. NPP(NATIONAL PEOPLE’S PARTY)2013

Q2.Which is the oldest political party of India and when it was formed?

Ans.INC(Indian national Congress) party is the oldest political party of India. INC formed in 1885.

 

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