Chapter 4: Political Parties (Political Science)

• Contest elections: in most democracies, elections are fought mainly among candidates put up by political parties. In India, the top party leaders choose the candidates.
• Put forward policies and programmes: parties reduce a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions, and voters choose among them.
• Make laws: laws are debated and passed in the legislature, where most members belong to parties and follow the direction of their party leadership.
• Form and run governments: the party that wins the most seats forms the government; parties recruit leaders, train them and make them ministers.
• Play the role of opposition: the parties that lose elections oppose and criticise the government for its failures or wrong policies, and mobilise opposition.
• Shape public opinion: they raise and highlight issues; their members and activists spread across the country launch movements to resolve people's problems.
• Provide access to government machinery and welfare schemes: for an ordinary citizen, it is easier to approach a local party leader than a government officer, so parties have to be responsive to people's needs.

Parties contest elections, put forward policies, make laws, form and run governments, act as opposition, shape public opinion, and give people access to government schemes.

• Lack of internal democracy: power is concentrated in one or a few leaders at the top. Parties do not keep membership registers, do not hold organisational meetings and do not conduct internal elections regularly. Those who disagree with the leadership find it difficult to continue; personal loyalty to the leader becomes more important than loyalty to party principles.
• Dynastic succession: since parties do not have open and transparent procedures, there are very few ways for an ordinary worker to rise to the top. In many parties the top positions are always controlled by members of one family, which is unfair to other members and bad for democracy.
• Growing role of money and muscle power: parties focus on winning elections, so they tend to nominate candidates who have or can raise lots of money. Rich people and companies who give funds tend to influence party policies. In some cases, parties support criminals who can win elections.
• Lack of meaningful choice: in recent years there has been a decline in ideological differences among parties in most parts of the world. Even when people want different policies, they get no real choice, because the same set of leaders keep shifting from one party to another.

Lack of internal democracy, dynastic succession, the growing role of money and muscle power (including criminals), and the lack of a meaningful choice between parties.

Steps already taken:

• The anti-defection law: the Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties; if they do, they lose their seat.
• The Supreme Court has made it mandatory for every candidate to file an affidavit giving details of their property and criminal cases pending against them.
• The Election Commission requires parties to hold organisational elections and file income tax returns.

Suggested reforms:

• A law to regulate the internal affairs of parties: they should maintain a register of members, follow their own constitution, have an independent authority to judge internal disputes, and hold open elections to the highest posts.
• A minimum number of tickets, about one-third, should be given to women candidates, and there should be a quota for women in the decision-making bodies of parties.
• State funding of elections: the government should give parties money (or support in kind, such as petrol, paper and telephone) to meet their election expenses.
• Pressure from people: through petitions, publicity, agitations, the media and movements; and more people should join parties to reform them from within.

Laws to ensure internal democracy, reserved tickets for women, state funding of elections, and pressure from citizens and the media, in addition to existing steps such as the anti-defection law, affidavits and organisational elections.

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 society with a view to promote the collective good. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.

A group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government, on the basis of agreed policies for the collective good.

• It is a group of people with shared ideas about policies and programmes for the good of society.
• Its main aim is to win elections and form the government.
• It tries to persuade people why its policies are better than others', and seeks popular support through elections.
• It reflects fundamental political divisions in a society: a party is a "part" of society and involves partisanship, i.e. taking sides.
• It has three components: leaders, active members and followers.

A party has shared policies for the collective good, aims to win elections and govern, seeks popular support, represents a section of society, and consists of leaders, active members and followers.

political party

1 – C (UPA), 2 – A (NDA), 3 – D (Left Front), 4 – B (State party).

(c) C A D B

The BSP was formed in 1984 under the leadership of Kanshi Ram.

(A) Kanshi Ram

The BJP was founded in 1980 by reviving the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, formed by Syama Prasad Mukherjee in 1951. Its guiding philosophy is Integral Humanism, formulated by Deendayal Upadhyaya.

(C) Integral humanism

C is wrong: parties are necessary for running governments in a representative democracy.

(b) A and B

Was it the right decision? Yes. Yunus had shown, through the Grameen Bank, a sincere commitment to the poor and won the Nobel Peace Prize for it. In a democracy every citizen has the right to form a party, and a new party led by an honest, respected person can give people a real choice and bring a cleaner political culture.

The statements and fears:

• I agree with the official, Shahedul Islam, that people would get a chance to choose between good and bad, and that a good government would fight corruption and black money.
• The BNP leader is right that politics is challenging and controversial, but that is no reason to keep good people out of it.
• The fear that he was "planted" by foreign mentors is not supported by any evidence; it seems to be an attempt to discredit him.

How to organise the party differently:

• Keep a membership register and hold regular internal elections, so that leaders are chosen democratically from the grassroots.
• Give one-third of tickets to women and do not nominate candidates with criminal records.
• Keep transparent accounts of funds and avoid dependence on rich donors.
• Avoid dynastic leadership; let ordinary workers rise to the top.

Defending it: I would argue that the existing parties had failed to provide good governance and had become corrupt, so a new party based on internal democracy, clean funding and the welfare of the poor was needed to strengthen democracy in Bangladesh.

Yes; a new party led by a person of integrity gives people a better choice. It should be democratic from the grassroots, with internal elections, tickets for women, no criminals and transparent funding, and it can be defended as a way to bring clean, accountable politics.