Political Parties and Outcomes of Democracy

Ans. Three main components of a political party are:

• The leaders
• The active members
• The followers

Ans. Political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and to hold power in the government. They agree on some policies to promote collective good. They seek to implement those policies by winning popular support through elections. Thus political parties tend to fill political offices and exercise political power.

Ans. A pressure group is an organized or unorganized body that seeks to promote its interests while a political party is a body that seeks to attain political power by contesting elections.

Ans. India adopted multi-party system because:

• India is a large country and has social and geographical diversities.
• It is easy to absorb different diversities in a multi-party system.

Ans. Democracy ensures that decision making will be based on norms and procedure. Every citizen has the right and means to examine the process of decision making. This is known as transparency.

Ans. Democracy promotes equality among its citizens.

It enhances the dignity of the individual and people are free to make decisions.

In a democracy conflicts are solved amicably and there is room to correct mistakes.

These are the reasons why a democracy is preferred to other forms of governments.

Ans. People have the right to choose their representatives and they have control over the rulers.

If these elected representatives do not work properly, people have a chance to not elect them in the next election.

People have the right to examine the decision-making process. The Right to Information enables the people to run a check on the government.

Ans. Democracies are based on political equality as:

• They provide equal rights to all the citizens to contest elections and cast vote and ensure equal opportunity to be elected.
• They also subscribe to one vote, one value and equal political rights.

Ans. The most basic outcomes of democracy is to produce a government that is

• Accountable to citizens
• Legitimate
• Responsible to citizens.

Ans. Democracy is based on the idea of deliberation and negotiation. Thus, the necessary delay in implementation.

Dictatorship do not have to bother about majorities or public opinion, thus can be quick and efficient in decision-making.

Ans. Complaints are treated as testimony to the success of democracy in the following ways:

• Complaints highlight the awareness of the people and their expectations from the system that has been put in place.
• It reflects that citizens are not overawed by those in power and can objectively and critically examine the difference they have made.
• It is a measure of their participation in public debates which democracy seeks to encourage.
• A public expression of dissatisfaction with democracy shows the success of the democratic project.
• It shows that people have transformed themselves from being subjects to being citizens.

Ans. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is an autonomous and permanent constitutional body responsible for organizing free and fair elections in the Union and States of India.

The Constitution grants the ECI with the power of direction, superintendence, and control of elections to Parliament, State legislatures, the office of President of India and the office of vice-president of India.

The ECI does not deal with the elections to the urban bodies such as Municipalities and Panchayats in the states.

Ans. National political parties have their units in various states. They enjoy national recognition and are granted special privileges. By and large, all these units follow the same policies, programmes and strategy that is decided at the national level.

Conditions required to be a National Political Party:

• A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in general elections of Lok Sabha or assembly elections in four states.
• A party that wins at least 4 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Ans. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was founded in 1980. It draws inspiration from India’s ancient culture and values.

Features:

• Cultural Nationalism (Hindutva) is an important element in its conception of Indian nationhood and politics.
• It wants full territorial and political integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India.
• A uniform civil code for all people living in the country irrespective of religion and ban on religious conversions is another desire.
• Earlier limited to north and west and to urban areas, the party expanded support in the south, east, the north-east and rural areas.

Ans. Democracy ensures that decision-making will be based on norms and procedures. So a citizen, who wants to know if a decision was taken through the correct procedures, can find out as democracy guarantees to the citizens the right and the means to examine the process of decision-making.

In a democracy people have the right to choose their rulers and people will have control over them Whenever possible and necessary, citizens should be able to participate in decision-making that affects them all. Thus it ensures transparency by producing a government that is accountable to the citizens and is responsive to their needs and expectations.

It is right to expect democracy to produce a government that follows procedures and it accountable to people. To do so, the democratic government develops mechanisms for citizens-regular, free and fair elections, open public debate on major policies and legislations and citizens’ right to information about the government and its functioning.

Ans. A democratic government is efficient and effective. This statement can be analysed giving the following arguments.

• A democratic government is mainly a government of people. It is the people who run a democracy by electing their own government.
• A democratic government works for the betterment and welfare of the people.
• A democratic government promotes equality of status and opportunity. There is no discrimination on the basis of caste, class, gender, religion, etc.
• A democratic government gives freedom of thought, expression and belief i.e., in a democratic government, the rights of the people are protected. They can even fight if their rights are encroached.

Ans. There is an overwhelming support for the idea of democracy all over the world because of the following reasons.

• A democratic government is people’s own government. People wish to be ruled by the representatives elected by them.
• It promotes equality among citizens. It improves the quality of decision-making.
• It provides room for correction of mistakes.
• It has the ability to generate its own support.

Ans. Some people think that democracy produces a less-effective government because of the following reasons.

• In democracy, decisions are delayed because of a long decision-making process. Too many people have to be consulted before reaching a consensus. Non-democratic governments take quick decisions as they are not worried about deliberations and public opinion.
• Democratic governments do not have a very good record when it comes to sharing information with the citizens.
• Democracies often frustrate the aspirations of the people and often ignore the demands of majority of its population.

Ans. Democracy accommodates social diversities in the following ways.

• Democracy develops competitive attitude: Democracy develops a procedure to conduct competition among social classes. This reduces the possibility of conflicts and social tensions.
• Democracy evolves mechanisms to negotiate: No society can fully and permanently resolve conflicts among different groups, but we can certainly learn to respect these difference and can also evolve mechanisms to negotiate the differences. Democracies are best suited to produce this outcome.
• Democracy represents the general view: Democracy ensures that the government should not be made by the majority but it should have the representation of minority as well.

Ans. The following are the three common features of democracies.

• Regular elections: In a democratic government, the general elections are held to elect a new government.
• Right to vote: All the citizens of the country, of and above a certain age, have the right to vote.
• Political parties: Political parties are an essential part of democracy. They put up candidates who contest the election.
• Rule of law: Another common feature of all democracies is that it ensures rule of law. Law is supreme and all the citizens are equal in the eyes of lae. No one is above the law.

Ans. To fill political offices and exercise political power, political parties are needed to perform a series of functions, which are the following:

• Parties contest elections. Elections are fought mainly among candidates put up by political parties.

In India, top party leaders choose candidates for contesting elections.

• Parties put forward different policies and programmes. Political parties in a democracy group together similar opinions, to provide a direction in which government policies can be formulated.
• Parties make laws for a country. Laws are debated and passed in the legislature.
• Parties that lose elections play the role of the opposition. Opposition parties voice their views by criticizing government for its failure or wrong policies.
• Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues and resolve people’s problems. Many pressure groups are the extensions of political parties.

Ans. Political parties are a necessary condition for a democracy” in the following ways:

• Without political parties democracies cannot exist. If we do not have political parties, every candidate in elections will be independent.
• No one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.
• The government may be formed but its utility will remain uncertain.
• Elected representatives will be accountable to their constituency, for what they do in their locality but no one will be responsible for how the country will run.
• As societies become large and complex they also needed some agencies to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government, that’s why political parties are needed.

Ans. Opposition parties play an important role in democracies. They play both positive and negative roles.

Positive role:

• They ensure political party in power does not misuse or abuse its power
• They expose the weaknesses of the ruling party
• They also keep a close vigil on the bills and expenditure of the government

Negative role:

• They target the government and aim at dislodging and discrediting the government for all the ills and the troubles the people face.
• The opposition’s work is not to abstract the functioning of the administration but keep a close watch on the working of the party in power so that democracy becomes meaningful.

Ans. Five suggestions made to reform the political parties:

• Law to regulate the internal affairs of political parties like maintaining a register of its members, to follow its own constitution, to have independent authority, to act as judge in case of party dispute, to hold open elections to the highest post.
• It should be mandatory for political parties to give one-third tickets to women candidates. Also there should be quota for women on the decision-making bodies of the party.
• There should be state funding of elections. The government should give money to parties to support their election expenses in kind (petrol, paper, telephone, etc) or in cash on the basis of votes secured by the party in the previous election.
• The candidate should be educated, so that he can solve and understand people’s problems. His previous record should be cleared. He should be honest and there should be no criminal case against him.
• Citizens can reform politics if they take part directly and join political parties. People can put pressure on political parties through petitions, publicity in media, agitations etc.

Ans. Political Parties are plagued with many shortcomings such as –

• Lack of Information – Most political parties do not practice open and transparent procedures for their functioning.
• Maintaining membership registers, holding organizational meetings or conducting internal elections regularly has not been kept up with. Thus, ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information and have no means to influence the decisions.
• Dynastic Succession – There are very few chances for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in a party. Leaders favour people clse to them or even their family members.
• In many parties, the top positions are invariably controlled by members of one family which is bad for democracy.
• Undue Influence – Those who happen to be the leaders, take undue advantage. Since one or at the most a few leaders exercise paramount power in the party, those who disagree with the leadership, find it difficult to continue in the party.

Ans. As political parties are the essence of democracy, it is natural that they are often blamed for the failure of any policy or the working of democracy. Mostly, political parties face the following challenges in their working area.

Lack of Internal democracy:

• Political parties face the problem of internal democracy, which implies that parties do not hold organisational meetings.
• They do not conduct regular internal elections. Memberships of the party members is not fairly registered.

Dynastic Succession:

• Another challenge is that in most of the political parties, the top posts are always controlled by the members of one family, which is very unfair to other members.
• Since open and transparent functioning is lacking, there are very few chances for an ordinary worker to rise to the top.

Man and muscle power: The third challenge is the growing role of money and muscle power.

• Nowadays, elections are focussed mainly on winning at any cost, so parties try to use shortcuts like using money and muscle power.
• They try to select or nominate those candidates who can raise money or provide muscle power.
• Sometimes, wealthy people and big companies also get involved in the democratic politics for their own interest and try to influence the decision-making process.

Ans. Democracy stands much superior in promoting dignity and freedom of the citizens. This statement can be justified giving the following arguments.

• Democracy promotes equality. It gives equal treatment to every person.
• It involves every person in the decision-making process. Every citizen has a right to information.
• The passion for respect and freedom are the bases of democracy. It accepts dignity of women as a necessary ingredient of society. Democracy recognises the principle of equal treatment to women unlike non-democratic governments.
• The same is true of caste inequalities. Democracy in India has strengthened the claims of the disadvantaged and discriminated cases for equal status and opportunity.
• Also, democracy has to meet the expectations of citizens and people have the right to complain about the functioning of democracy.

Ans. ‘Democracies are based on political equality but they are not appearing to be very successful in reducing economic inequalities’. The following points analyse the statement.

• A small number of ultra-rich enjoy a highly disproportionate share of wealth and incomes. Their share in the total income of the country has been increasing.
• They have-riots lead a frugal life and they have very little to depend upon. Their incomes have been declining and they find it difficult to meet their basic needs of life.
• According to a recent report, India is the second most unequal country in the world with 54% wealth controlled by millionaires.
• The poor constitute a large population of voters. No party wants to lose their votes but they do not seem very interested in addressing the question of poverty.
• People in several poor countries are dependent on rich countries for food with Bangladesh being the worst with half of its population living in poverty.

Ans. Democracies accommodate various social divisions and differences in the following ways

• Democracy usually develops a procedure to conduct competition among social divisions. It reduces the possibility of social tensions becoming violent.
• Democracy evolves mechanisms to negotiate. No society can fully and permanently resolve conflicts among different groups. Democracies are best suited to produce this outcome.
• Democracy presents the general view. The majority always needs to work with minority so that the government functions to represent the general view. Hence majority and minority views are not permanent.
• Democratic regimes do not suppress internal social differences. They do not turn a blind eye to such differences.
• Democratic governments have the ability to handle social differences, divisions and conflicts.

Ans. The state parties also referred to as regional parties are not necessarily regional in ideology. Some of these parties are all India parties that happen to have succeeded only in some states.

Over the last three decades, the number and strength of these parties has expanded. Before the general elections, one national party was able to secure on its own a majority in the Lok Sabha.

As a result, the national parties were compelled to form alliances with state parties. Since 1996, nearly every one of the state parties got an opportunity to be a part of one or the other national level coalition government.

This contributed to the strengthening of federalism and democracy. Example of state parties having national level political organization with units in several states are Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal, etc.