Political Parties - Class 10 Political Science - Extra Questions

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

Regional political party exists, operates and functions at the regional level whereas national political party operate at national level.

A group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government is called a Political Party.

The various functions political parties perform in a democracy are:

• Candidates are put forward by political parties to contest in elections. These candidates may be chosen by the top leaders, or by members of the party.
• Parties put forward their policies and programes for voters to chose from them.
• Political parties play a major role in making laws for the country. No law can become a bill unless majority parties support it.
• Political parties form and run governments.
• Parties that lose election play the role of opposition to the party in power.
• Parties shape public opinion.
• Political parties form an important link between the government and the people. It is easy for the public to approach their local leader than a government official. The local leader has to listen to the public demand, otherwise, he will lose the next election.

Characteristics of a political party are:

• A political party has members who agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promoting the common good.
•  It seeks to implement the policies by winning popular support through elections.
•  The presence of a leader, the party workers and supporters.
•  It is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.

Some reforms to strengthen parties are:

• A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties.
• It should be mandatory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets, about 1/3rd to the women candidates.
• There should be state funding of elections. The government should give parties money to support the election expenses.

The various challenges faced by political parties are:
Lack of Internal democracy:
• Every member of the party does not have a chance to take part in the decision-making process.
• Every member is not consulted before taking a decision.
• There is no proper organisation or registration of members.
• Power remains in the hands of a few top leaders, who do not consult ordinary members.
• Ordinary members have no information about the internal working of the party.
Dynastic Succession: With power in the hands of a few top leaders, all party positions go to their family members. These members may not be qualified or have the ability to hold their positions.

Money and Muscle Power:
• Money is needed to organise demonstrations, public meetings, and speeches to publicise the image of the party. Parties choose those candidates who can raise money for the party and win elections with their money.
• Sometimes parties also support criminals candidates because they can win elections.

The meaningful choice to others: Most of the political parties have the same fundamental and ideological issues. Voters do not have a meaningful choice. Even leaders keep changing parties, thus confusing the voter. 

1. Without political parties, democracies cannot exist. If we do not have political parties, every candidate will be independent.

Bharatiya Janata Party.

A "regional party" is any political party with its base in a single region, whatever its objectives and platform may be, whereas "regionalist" parties are a subset of regional parties that specifically campaign for greater autonomy or independence in their region.

(a) The people believe that political parties will solve their day-to-day problems.
(b) On the other hand political parties are also dependent on the people for their support in the elections.
(c) Political parties try to satisfy the demands of the people.
(d) The people, in turn, support the political parties.
(e) Thus the people feel affiliated with political parties.

Untouchability refers to any belief or social practice which looks down upon people on account of their birth with certain caste labels. Such practices disallow them interaction with others or access to public places as equal citizens. So the Constitution made untouchability a punishable offence. 
P. Sainath travelled to various parts of the country and found that untouchability was still being practised against dalits or person belonging to scheduled castes. He found that in many places 
(a) Tea stalls kept two kinds of cups, one for Dalits one for others. 
(b) Barbers refused to serve dalit clients. 
(c) Dalit students were made to sit separately in the classroom or drink water from separate pitcher. 
(d) Dalit grooms were not allowed to ride a horse in the wedding procession. 
(e) Dalits were not allowed to use common hand pump or if they did, the hand pump was washed to purify it.

(i) Garibi Hatao (Remove Poverty) - given by the Congress Party. 
(ii) Protect the Self-Respect of the Telugusgiven by the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh.

Political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. 
Three components of political parties are: 
1) The leaders 
2) The active members 
3) The followers

• Samajwadi Party:-

Came into existences on 4th October 1992. Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav was elected party’s first president. The Party Vice President is Shri Janeshwar Mishra. In the 13th Lok Sabha, it was the 5th largest party with 27 members. Samajwadi Party stands for Equality and Prosperity of all. It is deadly against communal forces. Samajwadi Party is in favour of ‘Indo Pak Bangladesh Mahasangh’. Party believes in democratic socialism and opposes uncontrolled entry of Multinational companies to India. The party believes that Agriculture, Small and Medium scale Industry is the backbone of Indian Economy and hence every assistance should be given to these sectors.

• Shiv Sena:-

Shiv Sena was formed by Balasaheb Thackeray in 1966. The party came into existence to promote the interests of ‘sons of the soil,’ Maharashtrian youth. The party maintains its Hindutva ideology and is a right-wing political party. It has been accused of instigating many riots in the state, including the Mumbai riots of the late 1960s, the Bhiwandi riots in 1984 and the Mumbai riots of 1992-93.

• Ruling party is a governing party in a democratic system of government.
  
• A party becomes ruling party only when it attains majority in elections.
  
• Present ruling party in India is the BJP.

Guidelines for political reforms in India:-

• The law of a country play an important role in bringing about reforms. the laws have to be revised carefully to ensure that wrong political parctises are not encouraged.
• Any legal change must carefully look at what results it will have on politics.
• Political reforms should empower people to carry out democratic reforms.
• Democratic reforms should be carried out through political practice. They should strengthen democratic practices.

The parties that exclusively operate within a region or a state and their influence is limited within the boundaries of that particular region is called a 'Regional' or 'State' party. These parties look after the needs of the people living within that particular area and promote regional interests.

The following steps should be taken to reform the political parties:

(i) Anti-Defection Law Under the Anti-Defection Law, MLAs and MPs cannot change party after the election. This was done as many elected candidates were indulging in defection in order to become ministers or for cash rewards. Now, according to this law, if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose the seat in Legislature. At the same time, this law has made any dissent even more difficult. MPs and MLAs have to accept whatever the party leaders decide.

(ii) Affidavit 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.

(iii) The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their income tax returns.

(iv) It should be made mandatory for the parties to give one-third of their party tickets to women candidates, thus women can take part in the decision-making bodies of the party.

1) To reform politics the will of the people in the politics plays an important role. The politicians often want to maintain status quo and hence legislations to reform politics are seldom brought up or even if they are brought up they don't garner enough support in the Parliament for it to become a law.

Some of the major functions of political parties performed in a democracy are as follows:-

There have been many political parties in India which have grown out of a movement. Eg. Asom Gana Parishad (Assam People's Association, AGP), a state political party in Assam, India. The AGP was formed after the historic Assam Accord of 1985. The latest to join the group has been Aam Aadmi Party which grew out of a movement against corruption.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) formed under leadership of Kanshi Ram.

The Democratic Party
Explanation:
FDR belonged to the Democratic Party nd won four electrons as a Democratic candidate and president.

A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good. Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to persuade people why their policies are better than others. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.

• 1885- Indian national congress
• 1925- Communist party of India
• 1980- Bhartiya janta party
• 1984- Bahujan samaj party
• 1999-Nationalist congress party

Unemployment and transport access.
African Americans saw their jobs disappear in the South due to mechanisation and recessions such as the Great Depression.
Most could not afford transport and so hitched rides on goods wagons. They therefore often settled where the railroads ended, for example, Chicago.

The Constitution prescribes that the Senate be composed of two senators from each State (therefore, the Senate currently has 100 Members) and that a senator must be at least thirty years of age, have been a citizen of the United States for nine years, and, when elected, be a resident of the State from which he or she is chosen. A senator's term of office is six years and approximately one-third of the total membership of the Senate is elected every two years.

Effective measures to reform political parties are: 
1) A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties. 
2) It should be made compulsory for political parties to maintain a register of its members. 
3) It should be made mandatory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets; about 1/3rd to its women candidates. 
4) There should be a quota for women in the decision-making bodies of the party.
5) There should be state funding of elections. 
6) The government should give parties money to support their election expenses in kind for example petrol, paper, telephone etc. or in cash. 
7) Vote casting should be made compulsory in each election. 
8) Data regarding caste religion OBC, SC, ST should not be utilized during the election period in any form. 

Dynastic succession is one of the most serious challenges before the political parties because: 
1) Most political parties do not practice open and transparent procedures for their functioning. 
2) There are few ways for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in a party. 
3) In many parties, the top positions are always controlled by members of one family.
4) This practice is unfair to other members of that party and is also bad for a democracy. 
5) People who do not have adequate experience or popular support come to occupy the position of power.

i) The anti-defection law was introduced to curb the growing trend of elected representatives who changed political parties to become ministers or to get cash rewards.
ii) The affidavit requirement was an order passed by the Supreme Court as a measure to curb the challenge of money and muscle power.
 iii) The third reform measure was made by the Election Commission where for all political parties it was mandatory to hold regular elections and also file their income tax returns.
Besides these, many suggestions are often made to reform political parties: 

Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the Dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930, clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorates for Dalits. When the British government conceded Ambedkar’s demand, Gandhiji began a fast unto death. He believed that separate electorates for Dalits would slow down the process of their integration into society. Ambedkar ultimately accepted Gandhiji’s position and the result was the Poona Pact of September 1932. It gave the Depressed Classes (later to be known as the Schedule Castes) reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils, but they were to be voted in by the general electorate. The Dalit movement, however, continued to be apprehensive of the Congress led national movement. 

The creation of Linguistic States was the first and a major test for democratic politics in our country. In 1947, the boundaries of several old States of India were changed in order to create new States. This was done to ensure that people who spoke the same language lived in the same State. Some States were created not on the basis of language but to recognise differences based on culture, ethnicity or geography. 

These include States like Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. When the demand for the formation of States on the basis of language was raised, some national leaders feared that it would lead to the disintegration of the country. The Central Government resisted linguistic States for some time. But the experience has shown that the formation of linguistic States has actually made the country, more united. It has also made administration easier.