RBSE Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 6 Political Parties

These comprehensive RBSE Class 10 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 6 Political Parties will give a brief overview of all the concepts.

RBSE Class 10 Social Science Civics Chapter 6 Political Parties

Summary

Meaning of Political Party – 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. Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds. A political party has three components :

• the leaders,
• the active members and
• the followers.

Functions of Political Parties –

• Parties contest elections
• Parties put forward different policies and programmes
• Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country
• Parties form and run governments
• Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power,
• Parties shape public opinion
• Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes.

Necessity of Political Parties –

1. Without a political party every candidate in the election will be independent so no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.

2. Without a political party the government may be formed but its utility will remain uncertain forever.

3. Elected representatives will be accountable to their constituencies for what they do in the localities but not one is responsible for how the country will run.

4. The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies.

How Many Parties, should We Have –

1. One Party System – In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These are called one party system. For example – In China, only the communist party is allowed to rule.

2. Two Party System – In some countries power usually changes between two main parties. Such a party system is called two party system. The United States of America and the United Kingdom are examples of two party system.

3. Multi Party System – If several parties compete for power and more than two parties ‘ have a reasonable chance of coming to power either on their own strength or in alliance with others, we call it a multi party system.

National Political Parties in India – India has a multi party system. There are two types of political parties –

• National political parties.
• State political parties.

National Political Parties – A party that secures at least six percent of total votes in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly elections in four states and wins at least four seats in the Lok Sabha is recognised as a national party.
According to this classification, there were seven national recognised parties in the country in 2018 –

• Indian National Congress,
• Bharatiya Janata Party,
• Bahujan Samaj Party,
• Communist Party of India-Marxist
• Communist Party of India,
• Nationalist Congress Party and
• All Indian Trinamool congress (AITC).

State Parties – A party that secures at least 6 percent of the total votes in an election to the Legislative Assembly of a state and wins at least two seats is recongnised as a state party. As on 13 April, 2018, these are Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, Rashtriya Lok Dad, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal, All India United Democratic Front, Asom Gana Parishad, Sikkim Democratic Front, Nagaland People’s Front, Tehigu Desam Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha etc.

Challenges to Political Parties –

• Lack of internal democracy within parties.
• Dynastic succession,
• Growing role of money and muscle power in parties,
• Very often parties do not seem to offer a meaningful choice.

How can Parties be Reformed – In order to face these challenges, political parties need to be reformed. Some of the recent efforts and suggestions in our country to reform political parties and its leaders are as follows :

• The constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties.
• The supreme court passed an order to reduce the influence of money and criminals.
• The election commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their income tax returns.

Other Suggestions to Reform Political Parties —

• 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 a quota for women in the decision-making bodies of the party.
• There should be state funding of elections.
• The government should give parties money to support their election expenses.
• People can put pressure on political parties.