CBSE Class 10 Social Science Political Parties Notes Set 03

These CBSE Class 10 Political Science notes for Chapter 4 Political Parties cover the components and functions of political parties, why democracies need them, one-party, two-party and multi-party systems, national and state (regional) parties in India, the challenges political parties face, and the reforms suggested to address them, with important terms, personalities and dates at the end.

Components of Political Parties

Political parties have three components:

(i) Leaders: they frame the party's policies and programmes, choose candidates to contest elections, and contest elections themselves.
(ii) Active members: an important link between leaders and followers, who carry the party's programmes and policies to the people and take part in its various committees.
(iii) Followers: those who believe in the party's policies and ideology and support it by voting for it in elections.

Functions of Political Parties

Political parties are responsible for filling political offices and exercising political power. They do this by: contesting elections; putting forward policies and programmes; playing a decisive role in making a country's laws; forming the opposition when they lose; forming and running government when they win; shaping public opinion; and giving people access to government machinery and the welfare schemes it implements. The opposition is the largest non-government party, or coalition of parties, in the legislature, whose role is to criticise the ruling party's policies and hold it accountable.

Why Do We Need Political Parties?

Modern democracies cannot function without political parties. Without them: every candidate in an election would be independent and unable to make major policy promises; elected candidates would be accountable only to their own constituency, with no one responsible for the country as a whole. The emergence of political parties is closely linked to the rise of representative democracy: parties gather issues from society and present them to government, act as a mechanism to support or restrain government, justify or oppose its policies, and ultimately fulfil the basic needs of a representative system of government.

How Many Parties Should We Have?

The Election Commission of India has around 750 registered political parties, though only a smaller number seriously contest to win elections and form governments. Broadly, three kinds of party systems exist around the world:

One-party system: only one party is allowed to control and run the government — for example, China (the Communist Party of China). People remain free to form other parties in principle, but the electoral system does not permit free competition for power, so this is not considered a democratic option, since there is no real competition.

Two-party system: power usually alternates between two main parties, even though several smaller parties may exist and win some seats — for example, the UK (Labour and Conservative) and the USA (Democratic and Republican).

Multi-party system: several parties compete for power, with more than two having a realistic chance of forming a government, either alone or through an alliance. This system can appear messy and sometimes leads to political instability, but it allows a wide variety of interests and opinions to gain political representation. India follows a multi-party system: well-known alliances include the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), an alliance led by the BJP, formed in 1998, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), an alliance led by the Congress party, formed in 2004, and the Left Front. An alliance is a government formed by several parties coming together on agreed conditions.

No country can simply choose a party system for itself — it evolves over a long period, shaped by factors such as the structure of society, regional diversity, a society's history, and its electoral system.

Types of Political Parties in India

Every party must register with the Election Commission, which treats all parties equally in principle but offers special facilities, including a unique election symbol, to larger, established ("recognised") parties, based on their share of votes and seats. Election symbols were introduced in India's first general elections to help illiterate voters identify a party's candidates.

National Parties

Per the Election Commission's Political Parties and Election Symbols, 2019 handbook, a party is considered a national party if it is "recognised" in four or more states; or if its candidates secured at least 6% of the total valid votes in at least four states (in the most recent Lok Sabha or Assembly elections) and it has at least 4 MPs in the last Lok Sabha; or if it won at least 2% of the total Lok Sabha seats from at least three states.

Recognised national parties in India include:

Indian National Congress (INC): also known as the Congress party, one of the oldest parties in the world, founded in 1885 by A. O. Hume. It played a dominant role in Indian politics, nationally and in the states, for many years after Independence. A centrist party (neither strictly rightist nor leftist), it advocates secularism and the welfare of weaker sections and minorities, and supports economic reform. It led the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government from 2004 to 2014, and is currently the principal opposition party in the Lok Sabha.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): founded in 1980 as a renewal of the earlier Bharatiya Jana Sangh, formed by Syama Prasad Mukherjee in 1951. It seeks to build a strong, modern India, drawing inspiration from India's ancient culture and from Deendayal Upadhyaya's ideas of integral humanism and Antyodaya. Its ideology is described as cultural nationalism, or "Hindutva". It supported the full territorial and political integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India, and advocates a uniform civil code and a ban on religious conversions. Its support base grew substantially in the 1990s; it led the NDA government from 1998 to 2004, returned to power in 2014 with 282 Lok Sabha seats, and was re-elected with an absolute majority of 303 seats in 2019.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): formed in 1984 under the leadership of Kanshi Ram, advocating representation for the "bahujan samaj" — Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs and religious minorities. It has held power in Uttar Pradesh for several terms.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M): split from the Communist Party of India in 1964; as of the mid-2000s it was strongest in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, leading state governments there. It supports socialism, secularism and democracy, opposes imperialism and communalism, and believes in democratic elections as the means to secure social and economic justice.

National People's Party (NPP): founded by P. A. Sangma after his departure from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in July 2012. It is concentrated mainly in Meghalaya, and was granted national party status.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP): founded in November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal; it became India's ninth national party in 2022, and currently forms the government in two states, Delhi and Punjab.

State (Regional) Parties

State parties, also called regional parties, represent particular regions of the country. A party is recognised as a state party if it meets any one of several conditions, such as: securing 6% of the valid votes polled in a general election to that state's Legislative Assembly, together with winning 2 seats in that Assembly; or securing 6% of the total valid votes in the state at a Lok Sabha election, together with winning 1 Lok Sabha seat from that state; or winning 3% of the seats in the state Assembly, or 3 seats, whichever is more; or winning 1 Lok Sabha seat for every 25 (or part of 25) seats allotted to the state; or securing 8% of the total valid votes polled in the state in a Lok Sabha or Assembly election. Well-known regional parties include the Shiromani Akali Dal (Punjab, founded 1920), the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or DMK (Tamil Nadu, founded 1949), the Shiv Sena (Maharashtra, founded 1966), the Telugu Desam Party (Andhra Pradesh, founded 1982), the Asom Gana Parishad (Assam, founded 1985) and the All India Trinamool Congress (West Bengal, founded 1997/98).

Challenges Facing Political Parties

Lack of internal democracy: power tends to concentrate in one or a few top leaders. Ordinary members often get little information about what happens within the party, and organisational meetings or internal elections are not held regularly, limiting members' influence over decisions. Members who disagree with the leadership often find it difficult to stay in the party, so personal loyalty to the leader becomes more important than policy agreement.

Dynastic succession: with less transparent internal procedures, many parties see top leaders favour family and friends, making it harder for an ordinary party worker to rise to the top.

Money and muscle power: especially at election time, parties often nominate candidates who can raise large sums of money, and in some cases even support candidates with criminal backgrounds, in order to win.

Lack of meaningful choice: parties sometimes fail to offer voters real policy alternatives.

Decline of ideological differences: differences between party ideologies have narrowed over time, and some leaders move between parties more freely than before.

Suggestions for Reforms in Political Parties

The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from defecting to other parties, after many representatives had switched parties for ministerial posts or financial reward; under this law, a legislator who changes parties now loses their seat. The Supreme Court has ordered every election candidate to file an affidavit disclosing their property and any pending criminal cases, to reduce the influence of money and criminalisation in politics. The Election Commission has made it mandatory for parties to hold internal organisational elections and file income tax returns. It has also been suggested that parties maintain a register of members, follow their own constitution, set up an independent authority to judge internal disputes, hold open internal elections, reserve one-third of election tickets for women candidates (with quotas in decision-making bodies too), and receive state funding for elections (in cash or in kind, such as petrol, paper or telephone facilities, based on past performance). Citizens, in turn, can press for reform through petitions, publicity and agitation.

The Anti-Defection Law

The anti-defection law punishes individual MPs and MLAs for leaving one party for another. It was added to the Constitution as the Tenth Schedule by the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985, to bring stability to governments by discouraging legislators from switching parties, and to provide for the disqualification of members who defect. It was a response to the large-scale toppling of state governments by party-hopping MLAs after the 1967 general elections — the phrase "Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram" was coined after Gaya Lal, an MLA from Haryana, changed parties three times within a single day.

Important Terms

Political Party: a group of people that contests elections and seeks to hold power to administer the country — a political organisation.
Partisanship: a party's identity, shaped by which side it represents, which policies it supports, and whose interests it defends.
Elections: the chief mechanism of indirect (representative) democracy, through which citizens elect representatives who then make decisions and pass laws on their behalf.
Policies: the rules, principles, guidelines or procedures a government adopts to achieve its long-term goals.
Welfare Schemes: government-sponsored aid programmes for low-income individuals and families — e.g. the Swachh Bharat Mission, mid-day meals in schools, and the Ayushman Bharat Yojana.
Ruling Party: the political party holding a majority and running the government.
Opposition Party: the largest non-government party or group of parties in the legislature, whose main role is to challenge and hold the government accountable.
Representative Democracy: a system of government in which citizens elect their own leaders — e.g. India.
Alliance/Coalition Government: when several parties in a multi-party system come together to contest elections and seek power jointly — e.g. the NDA, UPA and Left Front in India's 2004 parliamentary elections.
Defection: switching from the party on which a legislator was elected to a different party.
Affidavit: a signed document, submitted to an officer, in which a person makes a sworn statement about their personal details.
Election Commission: the autonomous constitutional authority responsible for conducting Union and State elections in India.
MLA: an elected or appointed member of a state Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha).
MP: an elected or appointed member of Parliament (Sansad).

Important Personalities

Jawaharlal Nehru: a prominent Congress leader and India's first Prime Minister.
Kanshi Ram: political leader who founded the Bahujan Samaj Party, for the political representation of Dalits and Adivasis.
Mamata Banerjee: current Chief Minister of West Bengal and founder of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).
Syama Prasad Mukherjee: founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (precursor of the BJP).
P. A. Sangma: founder of the National People's Party.
Silvio Berlusconi: former Prime Minister of Italy, also a prominent Italian businessman, cited as an example of business and politics intersecting.

Important Dates

1925: The Communist Party of India (CPI) was formed; it believes in Marxism-Leninism, secularism and democracy.
1980: The Bharatiya Janata Party was founded (as a renewal of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, originally formed by Syama Prasad Mukherjee in 1951).
1984: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was formed, under the leadership of Kanshi Ram.
1985: The anti-defection law was added to the Constitution as the Tenth Schedule, via the 52nd Amendment Act.
1998: The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) was launched on 1 January 1998, under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee.