POLITICAL PARTIES
POLITICAL SCIENCE(X)
CHAPTER 06
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.
A political party tries to convince people that its policies are better
than others’ policies. They try to win elections so that they can implement
their policies.
A political party has three components:
- The Leaders
- The Active Members and
- The Followers
FUNCTIONS
OF POLITICAL PARTY:
The main function of a political party is to occupy
political offices and exercise political power. For achieving this, a political
party performs following functions:
Contesting Elections: Political parties contest elections. A political party
nominates its candidate for the electoral contest in various constituencies.
Policies: Political parties put forward different policies and
programmes so that the voters can choose from them. A political party brings a
large number of similar opinions under one umbrella. These opinions are
channelized to form policies and programmes. The policies and programmes of the
RULING PARTY are expected to be followed by the government.
Making Law: Political parties play a decisive role in making laws for
the country. You may be aware that it is the legislature which passes a law
after proper debate. As most of the members belong to political parties, so a
political party has direct say in law making for the country.
Formation of Government: Political parties form and run governments. The executive
body is formed by people from the ruling party. Various political leaders are
assigned different ministries to carry out the task of governance.
Playing Opposition: A party which does not get majority or come under the
majority coalition, needs to play the role of opposition.
Shaping Public Opinion: Political parties shape public opinion. They do so by
raising and highlighting issues in the legislature and in the media. The
activists of a political party are spread all over the country. These activists
raise public awareness for their party’s perspective.
Providing Access to Government Machinery: Political parties provide people access to government
machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. Parties need to be
responsive to people’s needs and demands. This helps them in winning the
election.
NECESSITY OF POLITICAL PARTY:
If there were no political party, then each and every
candidate would be independent. Current strength of the Lok Sabha is 543.
Imagine a situation when none of the 543 members can be brought to think alike
on a particular issue. This would lead to a total chaos. An independent
candidate would always be more interested in the specific needs of his
constituency and would seldom think about the larger interest of the nation. A
political party is necessary to bring diverse people on a common platform, so
that bigger issues can be taken care of. The democracy which is being practiced
all over the world is called representative democracy.
PARTY SYSTEMS IN THE WORLD
One party system
In some countries, only one party I s allowed to control
and run the government. These are
called one party systems.
For example, in China, only the
Communist Party is allowed to rule.
Two-party system
In some countries, power is shared between two main
parties. Such party system is called
two party system. The United States of America and the
United Kingdom are examples of two party system.
Multi party system
If several parties compete for power, and more than two
parties have reasonable chance of
winning, we call it a multi party system. In India we have a multi party
system.
Since multi party system tend to offer more choices to
the voters, it is often considered better than the other party systems.
NATIONAL PARTIES
A party that secures at least six per cent of total votes in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly elections
in four States and wins at least four seats in the Lok Sabha is recognized as a national party.
National Parties In India –SEVEN(2014)
Indian National Congress,BJP,BSP,CPI,CPM,NCP,Trinamool
Congress
STATE PARTIES
A party that secures at least 6 per cent of the total votes in an election to the
Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least two seats is recognized as a State party
RISE OF REGIONAL PARTIES: Many regional parties have grown in
prominence over the last three decades. This is a sign of expansion and
deepening of democracy in India. Many regional satraps are very strong in their
states. Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal, AIADMK, DMK, etc. are examples of
regional parties.
CHALLENGES TO POLITICAL PARTIES:
Some of the challenges which the political parties face
are as follows:
Lack of Internal Democracy: In most of the political parties, the power is
concentrated in the hands of one or a handful of leaders. Ordinary members of
the party cannot even dream of rising to the top. The top leadership is often
disconnected with the grassroots workers. Loyalty to the policies and
principles of the party has less value than the loyalty to the top leadership.
Dynastic Succession: The top positions in many political parties are usually
controlled by members of one family. A person born in a particular family
becomes the leader by virtue of his birth; which is not the sign of a healthy
democracy. This tendency is present in most of the political parties in India.
This is not the case in India alone, but in many other countries as well.
Example Congress Party and Samajwadi Party
Money and Muscle Power: Winning an election is the ultimate challenge for a
political party. For this, a political party leaves no stone unturned and
spends huge sum of money on electioneering. Parties often take help of
criminals and goons to terrorise voters and polling officers.
Being a Meaningful Choice: Most of the political parties sound similar to one another.
Very few political parties give any real alternative. People have no choice
than choosing the better of the two evils. In some states, the party in power
just changes every five year but people seldom experience change on the ground.
WAY TO REFORM POLITICAL PARTIES:
Following are some of the recent efforts and suggestions in
our country to reform political parties and its leaders:
- Anti-defection Law 1985 : This law was passed during Rajiv Gandhi's Prime Ministership.
The law says that if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose
the seat in the legislature. This new law has helped bring defection down.
At the same time this has made any dissent even more difficult. MPs and
MLAs have to accept whatever the party leaders decide.
- Details of Property and Criminal Proceedings during
Nomination: It is mandatory for every candidate who
contests elections to file an AFFIDAVIT giving details of his property and
criminal cases pending against him. The new system has made a lot of
information available to the public. But there is no system of check if
the information given by the candidates is true.
- Mandatory Organizational Elections and INCOME
TAX Returns: The Election Commission passed an order
making it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational
elections and file their income tax returns. The parties have started
doing so but sometimes it is mere formality.
Suggestions for Future:
- A law 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 government should give parties money to support their election
expenses. This support could be given in kind: petrol, paper, telephone
etc. Or it could be given in cash on the basis of the votes secured by the
party in the last election.
There are two other ways in which political parties can be
reformed and they are; people’s pressure and people’s participation.
No comments:
Post a Comment