Political

Parties
th
Class10
Notes
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 Meaning of Political Party
A political party is a group of people who come together to context and
hold power in the government

Why do We Need Political Parties?

➢ They are bodies that help in the successful implementation of the
ideals and principles of democracy.
➢ They are a group of people, sharing similar ideals, come together
to contest elections and hold a powerful position in the
government.
➢ They are the fundamental political division and have leaders,
active members and followers.

Functions:
➢ In most democracies, political parties are the primary way to
contest elections. The political parties put up candidates that are
elected to form a government. The members of the party choose
the person who needs to represent the party during elections.
➢ Parties present their common ideologies as different policies and
programs.
➢ Parties play a primary role in making laws and policies for the
country.
➢ They are the primary units that form and run a government.
➢ The parties that lose from the opposition government and keep a
check on the government in control and power.
➢ They also play a major role in shaping public opinion and provide
access to the government machinery.
Necessity
➢ This provides the election procedure a shape and procedure. If
political parties were absent every person would be independent
and no proper policy decision could be made.
➢ The elected person would be held responsible for the local area but
for the whole country, no proper government would be present.
➢ During panchayat elections too the village gets split up na deach
puts forth a panel of its candidates.

How Many Parties Should We

Have?
➢ There are basically three types of party systems: one-party system,
two party and multiparty system.
➢ In many countries, only one party is allowed to control and run the
government but it’s not a democratic option since there is no fair
chance provided.
➢ In two party system the power exchanges between two parties.
Other parties can be present too but they are not provided majority
share in legislation. Example: United Kingdom
➢ In multi-party system, more than two parties have a reasonable
chance of coming to power either on their own strength or alliance
with other parties. In India, there were three such major alliances
in 2004 parliamentary elections– the National Democratic
Alliance, the United Progressive Alliance and the Left Front.
Example: India
National Political Parties
➢ Democracies that follow a federal system all over the world
tend to have two kinds of political parties: parties that are
present in only one of the federal units and parties that are
present in several or all units of the federation. This is the case
in India as well. There are some countrywide parties, which are
called ‘national parties’. These parties have their units in
various states. But by and large, all these units follow the same
policies, programmes and strategy that is decided at the national
level
➢ Every party in the country has to register with the Election
Commission. While the Commission treats all parties equally, it
offers some special facilities to large and established parties.
These parties are given a unique symbol – only the official
candidates of that party can use that election symbol. Parties
that get this privilege and some other special
➢ facilities are ‘recognised’ by the Election Commission for this
purpose. That is why these parties are called, ‘recognised
political parties’. The Election Commission has laid down
detailed criteria of the proportion of votes and seats that a party
must get in order to be a recognised party. A party that secures
at least six per cent of the total votes in an election to the
Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least two seats is
recognised as a State party
State Parties
• Other than the six state parties, the rest of the parties are classified
as ‘State parties’ by the Election Commission. They are also
referred to as regional parties.
• Parties like the Samajwadi Party, Samata Party and Rashtriya
Janata Dal have national level political organisations with units in
several states. Some of these parties like Biju Janata Dal, Sikkim
Democratic Front and Mizo National Front are conscious about
their State identity.
• Since 1996, nearly every one of the State parties has got an
opportunity to be a part of one or the other national level coalition
government.

Challenges to Political Parties

➢ There is a lack of internal democracy within parties and the power
tends to concentrate in hands of one or few leaders within the
party. There are few parties that are able to organised meetings
with all the members of the party and hence ordinary members
don’t get access to what’s happening within the party.
➢ Since parties aren’t transparent with their procedures, it’s
impossible for ordinary members to rise to the top. Only members
who are close to the leaders or members owning authority have
advantage over others.
➢ There has also been an increase in misuse of money and muscle
power which diverts the attention to just winning instead of
following the principles of democracy.
➢ The parties don’t offer a meaningful choice to the citizens. Often
only famous and popular members are represented and many
principles and promises are the same or presented with slight
variation. For example, the difference between the Labour Party
and the Conservative Party in Britain is very little.
How Can Parties Be Reformed?
• In a recent amendment, an elected MLA or MP cannot change
party or else they would lose their seat in the legislature.
• The Supreme Court has reduced the use of money and criminals in
elections by making it compulsory for every candidate to file an
affidavit providing details of his property and criminal cases
pending against him.
• It is compulsory for parties to hold organisational elections and file
their income tax returns.
• It should be made mandatory for political parties to provide tickets
to a minimum reservation of oppressed classes.
• The elections should be state funded and the support could be
provided in form of petrol, cash, paper etc.

What do You Mean by a

Political Party?
A political party is a congregation of people who collectively
participates in elections and exercises the power in the government.

Need for Political Parties

To answer the question why do we need political parties, we have to

know the actual meaning of a political party. As discussed above when
an assembly of people come together to participate in elections and hold
power in the government it is called a political party. They come
together with an agenda of some policies and programmes for the sake
of society with an aim to endorse collective good. A political party is
divided by three mechanisms:

• The Leaders.
• The dynamic members.
 • The followers.

These components of political parties hold good for all of the countries
in the world.

Functions of Political Parties

The primary functions of political parties are the filling of political
offices and exercising political power. The functions of political parties
include the following:

• Elections are contested by the political parties.

• Various policies and agendas are promoted by the political parties
chosen by the voters.
• Political parties play a quintessential role in structuring the laws of
a country.
• The government is run and formed by the parties.
• The losing side in the election plays the role of the opposition party
in the Parliament or Legislative Assemblies. Opposition parties
play a crucial role in the context of the role of political parties in
India through raising voices against the political parties in power.
• Public viewpoints are shaped by political parties.
• One of the major functions of political parties is that people get
access to the mechanisms and social welfare systems executed by
the Government through the political parties.

There are several challenges that the political parties

have to face in India. The challenges are as follows:
1. There is an insufficient level of internal democracy within the
parties. There is an absence of regular conduction of internal
elections, a lack of organizational meetings, and membership
registers.
2. The functions of political parties are not always open and
transparent. For this purpose, an ordinary worker cannot hold the
 post at the highest level. In most cases, the highest position of a
particular political party is acquired by the members of one
particular family.
3. The never-ending role of money and muscle power is one of the
major challenges faced by political parties.
4. Sometimes it is very difficult for people to select one particular
political party due to several issues.

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