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A Descriptive Study Of Position Of Political Parties In India Democracy (By-Prajakta Vilas Shinde)
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A Descriptive Study Of Position
Of Political Parties In India Democracy
Authored By-Prajakta Vilas
Shinde
Introduction
After
independence, many political, social and economic transformations have taken place in Indian Democracy. A change
has been produced in the functioning
of democracy in the late 1980s and early 1990s due to the evolution of political parties in North India and
particularly the development of political parties
whose electoral success depends on the support of a small section of the society of a state of the Indian Union. A
change can also be seen in attitude and relation
between citizen and political parties. This paper attempts to examine the Indian democratic changes at political
level. Firstly it examines the evolution of the
coalition politics. Secondly it deals with the changing social profile of representatives. Thirdly paper defines the
politics at the local level. A study of changing
Indian democracy at the national, regional and local ! levels of politics will enable us to build an analysis that
addresses different aspects of changes, the diversity
of situation and the various
trajectories of democracy within India.
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE STUDY
India
- with a population of a billion and a quarter and an electorate of 814 million (2014) - is the world's largest
democracy and, for all its faults and flaws,
this democratic system stands in marked contrast to the democratic
challenges over the years. The Indian
political system is a much more recent construct dating from India's independence from Britain in 1947 and
different from American and British
political systems. The constitution of Indian came into force on 26th January 1950 and stands on the pillars of justice,
liberty and equality for all
citizens. The Constitution of India is consisting of 444 articles, 12 schedules and 98 amendments, with
approximate 146,000 words in its English
language version and the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world. The constitution of
India has been one of the most amended
national documents in the world with 98 changes in just over 70 years. Most of the amendments have resulted
over the strife between the parliament and
Supreme Court on the issue of parliamentary1.To understand the Indian Political System and to understand the
Role of High Political Offices in India and
of alternative moral and ethical frameworks for interpreting and evaluating contemporary political discourses:- a)
President of India, b) Vice-president of India,
c) the prime Minister and Union council of Ministers. The study undertakes the objective to understand the
Indian Constitutions and its working firstly. The following points brought out the importance of parliamentary system of India:-
1. The Executive:
The
head of state in India is the President. This is normally a ceremonial role, originally modelled on the British monarch
to "advise, encourage and warn" the
elected government on constitutional matters. The President can return a Parliamentary Bill once for reconsideration and, in
times of crisis such as a hung Parliament, the role is pivotal. The
President can declare a state of emergency
which enables the Lok Sabha to extend its life beyond the normal five-year term. As members of an electoral
college, nearly 5,000 members
of the national parliament and
state legislators are eligible to vote in the election of the President. The current President is
Ram Nath Kovind, a member of the Dalit (untouchable)
caste. There is also the post of Vice-President who is elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of both houses of parliament.
The Vice-President chairs the upper house called the Rajya Sabha. The
head of the government is the Prime
Minister who is appointed by the President on the nomination of the majority party
in the lower house or Lok Sabha.
In May 2014, Narendra
Modi, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), became PM, having never previously held office at national
level. Ministers are then appointed by the
President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and these ministers collectively comprise the Council of Ministers.
.
2.President of India:- The Constitution of India lays down that the Head of State and Union Executive is the President
of India. S/He is elected for a five- year
term by an electoral college consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament and members of legislative
assemblies of the states. The President is
eligible for re-elections; however, in India's independent history, only
one president has been re-elected,
Rajendra Prasad. The President appoints the Prime
Minister of India from the party or coalition which commands maximum support of the Lok Sabha, on whose
recommendation he/she nominates the other
ministers. The President also appoints judges of the Supreme Court and High Court. It is on the President's
recommendation that the Houses of Parliament
meet, and only the president has the power to dissolve the Lok Sabha. Furthermore, no bill passed by
Parliament can become law without the president's
assent. However, the role of the president of India is highly ceremonial. All the powers of the
president mentioned above are exercised on recommendation
of the Union Cabinet, and the president does not have much discretion in any of these matters. The
president also does not have discretion in the
exercise of his executive powers, as the real executive authority lies in the cabinet.
The current President is Ram Nath
Kovind.
.
3.Vice President of India:-The Office of the Vice-President of India is constitutionally the second most senior
office in the country, after the President.
4.The vice-president is also elected by an electoral college, consisting of members of both houses of parliament.
Like the president, the role of the Vice- President
is also ceremonial, with no real authority vested in him/her. The Vice- President fills in a vacancy in the
office of President (till the election of a new president). His only regular function is that he functions are
the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. No
other duties/powers are vested in the office. The current Vice President is Venkaiah Naidu.
5. The Prime
Minister and the Union Council of Ministers:-The Union Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime
Minister, is the body with which the real executive
power resides. The Prime Minister is the recognized head of the government. The Union Council of Ministers
is the body of ministers with which
the PM works with on a day-to-day basis. Work is divided between
various ministers into various departments and ministries.
The Union cabinet is a smaller body
of ministers which lies within the Council of Ministers, which is the most powerful set of people in the
country, playing an instrumental role in legislation
and execution alike. All members of the Union Council of ministers must be members of either House of
Parliament at time of appointment, or must
get elected/nominated to either House within six months of their
appointment. It is the Union
Cabinet that co-ordinates all foreign and domestic policy of the Union. It exercises immense control over
administration, finance, legislation, military,
etc. The Head of the Union Cabinet is the Prime Minister. The current Prime Minister
of India is Narendra Modi.
6. The States
Governance?-India has a federal form of government, and hence each state also has its own government.
The executive of each state is the Governor
(equivalent to the president of India), whose role is ceremonial. .2.1. President of India:-The President of
India, the Head of state is a component of
Parliament. Under Article 60 and Article 111, President's responsibility
is to scrutinize that bills/laws
passed by the parliament are in accordance with constitutional mandate and stipulated procedure is followed
before according his/her approval to
the bills. The President of India is elected by the elected members of Parliament of India and the
state legislatures and serves for a term of
5 years.
7.
Lok Sabha:-The lower house in the Indian political
system is the Lok Sabha or House of
the People. As set out in the Constitution, the maximum size of the Lok Sabha is 552 members,
made up of up to 530 members
representing people from the states of India, up to 20
members representing people from the Union Territories,
and two members to represent the Anglo-Indian community if it does not have adequate representation in
the house according to the President. Currently the size of the house is
545 - made up of 530 elected from the states, 13
elected from the territories, and two nominated from the Anglo-Indian community. By far the largest state
representation is that of Uttar Pradesh with
80 members. At the other end of the scale, three states have only one representative each. There are certain
constituencies where only candidates from
scheduled casts and scheduled tribes are allowed to stand. Each member - except the two nominated ones - represents
a geographical single-member constituency
as in the British model for the House of Commons. Each Lok Sabha is formed for a five year term,
after which it is automatically dissolved, unless extended
by a Proclamation of Emergency which may extend the term in one year increments. This has happened
on three occasions: 1962-1968, 1971 and
1975-1977. The last election to the
Lok Sab
Rational Behind Research
The
furore over factionalism in the ruling Congress in Rajasthan and the question regarding the leadership of the
party at the national-level in recent months
has once again made it extremely important to understand the larger issues of inner-party democracy in
political parties in the country. India is one
of the most vibrant and robust multi-party democracies in the world
which has sustained despite all
challenges for over seven decades now. And the political parties, like in any other modern democracy, have been the major
driver of democratic politics and governmental power in the country.
But interestingly, there are no explicit provisions in the Indian
Constitution that lays down
guidelines for regulating the conduct of the political parties in India. There is no mention of political parties
either in the statute. Only Section 29 (A)
of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 mandates the registration
of political parties. The Election
Commission of India (ECI) is also not equipped
to regulate the functioning of the political parties.
In the case of ‘Indian National Congress vs Institute of Social Welfare
& Others’ of 2002, the Supreme Court
held that the ECI cannot take punitive action
against registered political parties for violating the principles of inner- party democracy. The court, acknowledging
the de-registering powers of the registering
authority, maintained that the issue of political parties is different from other forms of registration. This makes the regulation of the conduct
and functioning of the political parties extremely difficult,
reducing the chances of democratic working
of parties in the country.
Major Challenges
As
political parties are the most crucial actors of Indian democracy, their democratic functioning becomes
inextricably inter-linked to the health and vibrancy
of the former. The lack of democratic functioning of the parties is mainly manifested in two fundamental
aspects. First, the procedure for determining
the leadership and composition of the parties are not completely open and inclusive. This adversely impacts
the constitutional right of all citizens to equal political
opportunity to participate in politics and contest elections.
Second, the centralised mode of functioning of the political parties and
the stringent anti-defection law of
1985 deters party legislators from voting in the national and state legislatures according to their individual preferences.
The anti-defection legislation requires the elected
representatives to strictly
follow the party whip during
legislative voting. Failure of do so results in the disqualification of their membership from the legislature.
Leadership And Composition
In
most of the major political parties, the elections to organisational posts at various levels are fraught with
challenges. It has been observed that the leadership
is mostly decided by a coterie of party functionaries who holds sway over the party administration. Even when
elections take place in which the members
of the national organisational or decision-making body of the party participate, the pre-determined choice of
the party elite is merely supported by the other members.
Most of the times, the elections to leadership positions are uncontested
and unanimously decided. In many
instances, the ceremonial rubber stamp organisational
elections are also held after long intervals with serious irregularities.
The composition of the party
elite in the political parties
is also a major concern
in India. Multiple research findings have suggested that centralised and ambiguous working of the parties that led
to distribution of party ticket to certain
sections of the population and excluding the rest of the society. Reports suggest that party members with adequate
social and financial resources are given primacy
while distributing tickets for contesting
elections.
Also, a large number of candidates with criminal background as party
nominees has come to the forefront
in the recent times. The Supreme Court has also taken cognisance of the growing prevalence of ‘criminalisation of politics’
in India.
As no legally enforceable mechanism is in place for the parties, the lack
of democratic functioning has kept a
large section of people from the leadership
positions and election nominations
for political contests.
Freedom For Legislators
The
democratic spirit is not only found wanting in terms of the representativeness of the party functionaries
but also in case of the elected representative
of the parties. The Anti-Defection Act of 1985 requires the party legislators to act according to the party
whip which is decided by the diktats of the
highest party leadership. This Act was brought in place in order to defer unabashed horse trading of lawmakers for
breaking and making governments by manipulating
legislative majorities. However, the contemporary political scenario vividly suggests that the law has
achieved very little in terms of its original intention.
Rather
the Act has done further damage to the cause of inner-party democracy as “the obligatory whip that the act
imposes on the party legislators compels them
to adhere to the directives of their party high-command in the legislature. Therefore, the discretional autonomy of
the legislators becomes hostage to the whims
of the party leadership”. Hence, the elected representatives are likely to remain accountable and answerable to
their party leadership and its authority rather
than to the electoral constituency which has elected the candidate to the legislature.
Need For Political Will
Thus,
the lack of transparency and accountability in the inner functioning of the political parties in India have serious
consequences for the steady functioning of
parliamentary democracy in the country. Lack of free and fair internal
elections, questionable procedure
of distributing party tickets, the lack of information regarding the candidates contesting elections and the murky
domain of campaign finance urgently
requires a serious public deliberation regarding the increasing need for
political party reforms.
As
this article has pointed out, there is a number of suggestions on electoral reforms that has been put forward “by
several government constituted committees
like the Dinesh Goswami Committee, the Tar Kunde Committee and Indra Jit Gupta Committee, which
strongly argued for more transparent working
of the political parties in the country. The 1999 Law Commission Report strongly recommended the introduction
of a regulatory
framework
for governing the internal
structures and inner party democracy of the political parties. Even, a draft Political Parties (Registration and
Regulation of Affairs) Act, 2011 was submitted to the Union
Law Ministry.
The
draft envisaged the creation of an Executive Committee for every political party whose members would be elected by
the members of the local committees of
the state units of the party. The latter, in turn, would elect the
office-bearers of the party from amongst themselves, without accepting
any nomination.
Political parties control the levers of governance in a democracy. So
only strong political will
emanating from irrefutable electoral demands for inner-party democracy
can only lead India towards
the process of democratising its political parties.
AIMS & OBJECTIVES
Social Democratic Party of India is:
1.
Working for Freedom
from Hunger & Freedom from Fear
2.
Against imperialist forces
3.
Against bribery and corruption
4. Against
communal politics and fascist forces who are on the verge of dividing India on the basis of
caste, creed & religion
5.
Working to establish
social justice and equality
for all the citizens of India
6. Working for
establishing the Welfare State, where all citizens could be ensured free education, health
and food security
7.
Working for the development of farmers and labours
8.
Against all social
evils
Aim
A political party
is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for
the members of a party to hold
similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals.
Objects
The study focus on understanding the
knowledge of the political science
discipline; its principal theoretical frameworks and applications, conceptual vocabulary, and methods of
inquiry; its major subfields of study; and
its interrelationships with the other social science fields. The study
focus on increase understanding of
basic facts and concepts about the Indian political system, including its history, philosophical, constitutional and
legal foundations, leading
political values and ideas, governing institutions, and policymaking processes.
The study also addresses diverse political systems, including empirical area-based knowledge; broader
theoretical understanding of different political
systems, institutions and processes; and the changing domestic and global contexts within which they operate.
The study discusses the fundamental values
and ethical issues contested in politics over time; and of alternative moral and ethical frameworks for interpreting
and evaluating contemporary political discourses. The major
objectives of the study are as:-
1. To
understand the Indian Political System and to understand the Role of High Political Offices in India and of
alternative moral and ethical framework porary
political discourses. The major objectives of the study are as:- 1. To understand the Indian Political System and
to understand the Role of High Political
Offices in India and of alternative moral and ethical frameworks for interpreting and evaluating contemporary
political discourses:- a) President of India,
b) Vice-president of India, c) 3. To understand the Political issues of Indian politics:- a)Social Issues,
b)Economic issues, and c)Law and the prime
Minister and Union council of Ministers 2. To
analyze and study the Indian Politics
in terms of Elections of 2014 and the role of political parties and to assess the alliances of political
parties .1
The Two Objectives Of A Political Party Are:
It presents
the public with a choice of having their own representatives by fielding their candidates for elections.
It provides a common platform
to the people which unites the masses
that otherwise are divided into social, economic
and religious groups.
Statement Of Research Problem
1.
the paradox of centralised Federalism : An Analysis
of the challenges to
Indian’s federal
Design .
2. Both the
executive branch of the legislative branch of the govt representative of the political parties who have been elected
through the election .
3.
Most Indians are satisfied with their country’s direction and the economic
prospects of the next generation despite
dissatisfaction over .
Hypothesis -
1.Political parties are very important in India democracy . 2.Political parties are a big part of India’s
Democracy
3. Political parties
strengthen democracy in India by taking on variety of challenges
and important roles .
Scope of Research
A political party basically, is a group of
people. These people come together to contest
elections in order to hold power in the government. It is a way to mobilize voters to support common sets of interests, concerns, and goals. The primary role
of
the political party is to fix the political agenda and policies. So, each party tries to persuade
people by claiming their policies are better than those of other parties.
n a broader perspective, a political party is a means via which the people can speak to the government and have a say in the governance of any country.
So, every political
party must have three key components:
·
Leaders
·
Active Members
·
Followers
Functions Of A Political Party
·
A political
party contests elections by putting up candidates.
·
In countries
like the USA, the candidates are selected by members and supporters of a party.
·
Every party has
different policies and programmes. Voters make a choice in accordance with the policies
and programmes liked by them.
certain similar
opinions group together
and form a party. Then then, give a direction to the policies
adopted by the government.
·
Those parties
which lose elections form the opposition. They voice different views and criticise the government for their failures
and mobilize opposition to the government.
·
Political parties
shape public opinion. With the help of the pressure groups, the parties
launch movements for solving problems
faced by the people.
·
Parties even
offer access to government machinery and welfare schemes. The local party leader serves as a link between the citizen and the government officer.
Importance Of Political Parties
A democracy
cannot exist without the presence of a political party. This is clear from the function performed by the political parties. In case, there are no political parties
then:
·
Every candidate in the election would be an independent candidate. Any individual candidate
does not have the efficiency to promise any
major policy change to the people.
In such a scenario, no one will be responsible for how the country is run.
·
In the long run, only a representative democracy can survive. Political parties are the agencies that
gather different views on various issues and present
them to the government.
Party System
There are three types of party systems:
·
One-Party System
·
Two-Party System
·
Multi-Party System
One-Party System
In a one-party
system, there is no competition in this system. Here, the lone party
nominates the candidates and the voters have only two choices
i.e.
·
Not to vote at all or
·
write ‘yes’
or ‘no’ against
the name of the candidates nominated by the party
Such a political
system has been prominent in authoritarian regimes and communist countries such as China, North Korea, and Cuba. Before the collapse of communism, this system was also prevalent
in USSR.
Two-Party System
In a two-party
system, the power shifts between two major, dominant parties. So, for winning the elections, the winner
will have to get the maximum number of votes.
However, please know that maximum number of votes
is not equivalent
to a majority of votes.
So, the smaller
parties tend to merge with the bigger parties
or they drop out of elections.
Such a parliamentary system prevails in Canada and Great Britain, in which there are two parties
holding the maximum
numbers of seats.
1 Times of India news paper ,law book .
Multi-Party System
The third and the most common
form of government is the multi-party system.
In such a system, there are
three or more parties which have the capacity to gain control of the government separately or in a coalition.
In case, no party achieves a clear
majority of the legislative seats, then several parties join forces and form a coalition government. Countries like India, follow a multi-party system. Some people are of the view, that a multi-party system often leads to political instability in a country.
Significance Of Research –
As
with any other democracy, political parties represent different sections among the Indian society and regions, and
their core values play a major role in the
politics of India. Both the executive branch and the legislative branch of the government are run by the representatives of the political
parties who have been elected through the elections. Through
the electoral process, the people of India
choose which representative and which political party should run the government. Through elections, any party may gain simple majority in the lower house. Coalitions are formed by the
political parties in case no single party
gains a simple majority in the lower house. Unless a party or a coalition have a majority in the lower house, a
government cannot be formed by that party or the coalition.
India has a multi-party system,
where there are a number of national as well as regional parties. A regional party may gain a majority and rule
a particular state. If a party is
represented in more than 4 states, it would be labelled a national party (subject to other criteria above).
Out of the 72 years of India's independence,
India has been ruled by the Congress party for 53 years as of January
2020.
The party
enjoyed a parliamentary majority save for two brief periods during the 1970s and late 1980s. This rule was
interrupted between 1977 and 1980, when
the Janata Party coalition
won the election owing to public discontent with
the controversial
state of emergency declared by the then Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi. The Janata Dal
won elections in 1989, but its government
managed to hold on to power for only two years.
Between 1996 and
1998, there was a period of political flux with the government being formed first by the nationalist BJP followed by
a left- leaning United Front coalition.
In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic
Alliance with smaller regional parties, and became the first non- INC and coalition government to complete
a full five-year term. The 2004 elections saw the INC winning the largest
number of seats to
form a
government
leading the United Progressive
Alliance, and supported by left- parties
and those opposed to the BJP.
On 22 May
2004, Manmohan Singh[12] was
appointed the prime
minister of India following
the victory of the INC and the left front in the 2004 Lok
Sabha election. The UPA
ruled India without the support of the left front.
Previously, Atal Bihari
Vajpayee[13]
had taken office in October 1999 after a
general election in which a BJP-led coalition of 13 parties called the
National Democratic Alliance emerged
with a majority. In May 2014, Narendra Modi of
BJP was elected
as the prime minister.
Formation of
coalition governments reflects the transition in Indian politics away from the national parties toward
smaller, more narrowly based regional parties. Some
regional parties,
specially in
South India, are deeply aligned to the ideologies of the region
unlike the national
parties and thus the relationship between the central government and the state government in
various states has not always been
free of rancour. Disparity between the ideologies of the political parties ruling the centre and the state leads to
severely skewed allocation of
resources between the states.
Research Methodology:-
The study is based on secondary
data which has been collected
from the various newspaper, online and offline media,
election commission reports, magazines,
journal and TV reports and books written by well-known authors. Furthermore, secondary data can also be
helpful in the research design of subsequent
primary research and can provide a baseline with which the collected primary data results can be
compared to. Therefore, it is always wise to
begin any research activity with a review of the secondary. Secondary data are those which have already been
collected and analyzed by someone else. The
sources of published data are as below: i. Official publications of
Central and local governments. ii.
Official publications of semi government statistical organization. iii. Official publication of foreign government or
international bodies like the UNO,
World Bank, ADB, WTO, UNESCO, etc. iv. Reports and publications of Trade union, Chamber of Commerce, Commercial
Banks, Co- operatives, Stock Exchange
etc. v. Report submitted to economists, re-search scholars, universities and various educational and research institutions. vi.
Reports of
various committees and commissions appointed by government. vii. Newspaper and Periodicals and Books Now
most of the information that is available to people and researchers in regard to social problems
is to be found in form
of reports. The reports published by Government are considered as more dependable. On the other hand some people
think that the reports that are published
by certain individuals and agencies are more dependable and reliable. Journals, Books and magazines are
important public documents including a wide variety
of information which can be usefully utilized
in collection of datain
this study. Most of these information are very much reliable. Newspapers publish news, discussion on contemporary
issues, reports of meetings and conferences,
essays and articles on living controversies and the letters of the readers to the editors; all this has been
used in this research paper. Besides the above mentioned
public documents, film, television, radio
and public speeches
etc., are other important sources
of information for writing this paper.
Types Of Political Parties
Every
political party in India, whether a national or regional/state party, must have a symbol and must be registered
with the Election
Commission of India. Symbols
are used in the Indian political system to identify political parties in part so that illiterate people can vote by recognizing the party symbols.[6]
In the current
amendment to the Symbols Order, the commission has asserted the following five principles:
1.
A party, national or state, must have a legislative presence.
2.
A national
party's legislative presence must be in the Lok Sabha. A state party's legislative presence
must be in the State Assembly.
3. A party can set up a candidate only from amongst
its own members.
4.
A party that
loses its recognition shall not lose its symbol immediately but shall be allowed to use that symbol for some time to try and retrieve
its status. However, the grant of such facility to the party will not
mean the extension of other
facilities to it, as are available to recognized parties, such as free time on Door
darshan or AIR, free supply of copies of electoral rolls,
etc.
5.
Recognition
should be given to a party only on the basis of its own performance in elections and not because it is a splinter group
of some 2other recognized party.
A political party shall be eligible to be recognized as a national
party if:
1.
it secures
at least six percent (6%) of the valid votes polled in any
four or more states, at a general election to
the Lok Sabha or, to the State Legislative Assembly; and
2.
in addition, it
wins at least four seats in the House of the People from any State
or States.
3.
or it wins at
least two percent (2%) seats in the House of the People (i.e. 11 seats in the existing House having
543 members), and these members are elected
from at least three different States.
Political parties are indispensable to any democratic
system and play the most crucial role
in the electoral process – in setting up candidates and conducting election campaigns. In recent years, we
have witnessed a succession of unstable governments,
and the reason for such a recurring phenomenon is said to be the archaic and chaotic functioning of
political parties. Alliances and coalitions are made, broken and changed at whim, and the balance of power seems
to be held not by those at the Union
level, but by minor parties on the fringes. There is no doubt that Indian political parties have fragmented over the
years. Frequent party splits, mergers
and counter splits have dramatically increased the number of parties that now contest elections. In
1952, 74 parties contested elections, whilst
in recent years this number has swollen to more than 177, and has been consistently increasing since 1989. Can
the instability at the Union level or in the
States be attributed solely to the growing number of parties, or the malaise with which the political system suffers
today lies in the functioning and the dynamics
of the party system in India, apart of course, from the other causes in the working of the
political system as a whole?
Political
parties and the party system in India have been greatly influenced by cultural diversity, social, ethnic, caste,
community and religious pluralism, traditions
of the nationalist movement, contrasting style of party leadership, and clashing ideological perspectives. The two major categories of political parties
in India are National and State, and are so recognized by the Election Commission of India on the basis of certain specified criteria.
As of today , there are six national parties (seven
after the split in the Janata Dal in August 1999)
and 38 regional parties recognized as such by the Election Commission of India.
The National
parties are Indian National Congress , Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party
of India (Marxist), Bahujan Semaj Party,
and Janata Dal. As per the latest notification (June 29, 2000) the Election Commission has decided to de-recognize
seven regional parties in some Sates based
on their poll performance. These are Haryana Vikas Party, NTR-TDP (Lakshmi Parvati), Rastriya Janata Dal in
Manipur, Shiv Sena in Dadar, Nagar and
Haveli, United Minority Party in Assam, Samajwadi Janata Party in Chandigarh and Samta
Party in
Haryana. Meanwhile, the CPI (M) and the Republican
Party of India have been served
notices of de-recognition.
Constitutional And Legal Position
The legal and constitutional position of political parties
varies from country to country. In
most democratic countries, however, there is neither any direc constitutional provision regulating the
functioning of political parties, nor any legal
sanction establishing political parties as a necessary governmental institution, although there are some governmental systems which try to prescribe some conditions for the
operation of party system. A very good example
is furnished by the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic, which prescribes that Parliament (The French
National Assembly) cannot make a law that
may abridge the right of the political parties to carry on their activities freely.
This is perhaps
a tacit recognition of the existence
of political parties
as a sine qua non of a democratic system. Similarly, the basic law
of Germany's Constitution includes
political parties in its purview. Art. 21 of the Law guarantees the legitimacy of parties and their right to exist,
if they accept the principle of
democratic government. The Federal Government of Germany has thoroughly institutionalized the structure
of political parties, by introducing the 5%
clause, which makes it extremely difficult for minority or splinter parties to form and flourish.
The Canadian practice of Registration of Party or Party
foundation is very comprehensive.
Parties are registered on certain conditions and party leaders are selected through a national leadership
convention composed of provincial party delegates
voting as individuals rather than as
a bloc. (See para 7.3.8)
Closer home, Nepalese Constitution (Art.12) provides freedom
to form union and association, which
has been enshrined as a fundamental right, and Art. 112 deals specifically with the prohibition to ban political
parties. Any law, arrangement or
decision which allows for participation or involvement of only a single political organization or party
or persons having a single political ideology
in the elections or in the political system of the country shall be inconsistent with the Constitution. And
there are conditions for registration of political
parties for contesting elections; (a) they should adhere to the norms of democracy within the party (b) there must
be provisions for election of the office
bearers in the Constitution of the party at least once every five years (c) political parties must field at least 5%
women candidates for election. (d) those parties
which get at least three per cent of total votes cast in elections are qualified for registration as political
parties. A member of parliament cannot change
his party loyalty or abandon the party of which he was a candidate at the election. If he does so, he loses his seat
in the House [Art. 49, Clause (1) (f)].
However,
all the parliamentarians from a party which received less than three percent of the cast votes in the
election to the House of Representatives are
treated as Independents.
Political parties do not as such find any direct
mention in the Constitution of India.
However, there is one provision in the Constitution which is directly relevant to the functioning of political
parties: the Tenth Schedule. The Tenth Schedule
of the Constitution was added by the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, 1985. It deals with the disqualification of a person
for being a member of either
Literature Review:-
The
survey of literature plays a significant role in establishing the backdrop for any research work in social sciences. To
analyze any field of study, it is vitally important
to go through and discuss, various books and articles written by many eminent scholars and writers who have
vividly and sagaciously studied and analyzed
with their perception. So an attempt is made to review important work. William
in his book The Meaning
of Democratic Participation (1975) mentioned ten
types of activities in political participation. Biju M. R., in his 3work Parliamentary Democracy and Political Change in India (1999) mentioned that there has been a
perceptible change in the status of women in
India in the last few decades. Palmer in his book Elections and
Political Development (1976) opines
that political participation is granted in a modern society than in traditional society; it is greater in a
developed society than in developing
societies. This study indicates a higher degree of political participation on the part of Indians. 84
percent of the Indian electorates engage themselves
in more than one of the political activities including voting and almost half of the Indian electorate
participate in politics in one or more ways other
than voting. Hadimani in her article The Politics of Poverty (1987) reports that though the scheduled castes have
seats constitutionally reserved for them in
local village Panchayats to enable them to function on equal footing
with others in decision
making process, either they are absent or do not talk nor do they give
their signature endorsing their consent simply for small gifts like petty cash or few
measures of grains
.Singh finds younger
age group more politically conscious compared to older
age group.
However,
political participation on the part of scheduled castes is more a group activity than an individual.
activity. Dr. Madhav Godbole (2011) “India’s Parliamentary
Democracy on Trial” Dr. Godbole has
in his book under reference critically reviewed the Indian parliamentary democracy in vogue and analyzed the issue
critically and provided a few
suggestions which go a long way in improving the present system. Because of the various high positions that he had held
in the government the book can well be treated
as authentic. Md. Manzurul Karim
mentioned in his article on ?White paper on Political system of India: An example of a Sustainable Democracy,
pointed out the current problems face by the political system and sustainable aspect of democracy.
Dr.
B. L. Fadia: (2011) Book titled Indian “Government and Politics” In the first section the author has take an
overview of the Indian political system. The
author has discussed the nature of the party system prevailing in India.
This needs to be understood to know
the importance of mechanism of the Electioneering.
In a democratic set up Political parties assume greater importance. Although the political parties informally express
and form the public opinion. They
influence the electorate greatly. The political parties mobilize the
electorate.
In the parliamentary system any political party which secures highest seats becomes
the ruling party and the party which
gets minority votes becomes the opposition party.
And therefore, to decide which party
has the
support
of maximum electors the mechanism used is that of election India After Gandhi: The History of the World's
Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha explains
the magisterial account of the pains, the struggles, the humiliations, and the glories of the world's largest and
least likely democracy, Ramachandra Guha's
India After Gandhi is a breath-taking chronicle of the brutal conflicts that have rocked a giant nation and the
extraordinary factors that have held it together.
Indian Government and Politics has been written by Hoveyda Abbas and a detailed study of Indian government
and politics in 2010 A History Of Political
Theory by George H. Sbine has discussed the history of political theory. Public Administration has been
written by M. Laxmikanth and published
by Tata McGraw Hill; explain the bureaucratic and administration structure of the country. Pradeep Chhibber
(March 2013). "Dynastic parties Organization,
finance and impact". Party Politics by Sage Journals mentioned the parties‘ organization and its dynastic
character. Prakash Chander and Prem Arora
has authored a book on "Nature of Party System in India". Comparative Politics
& International Relations. Cosmos Bookhive; explained the party system in
India and throw light on its comparative politics. Basu, Amrita; Chandra (Editor), Kanchan (2016) has
written Democratic Dynasties: State, Party and Family in Contemporary Indian
Politics (1 ed.). Cambridge, UK:-
Cambridge
University Press, opinions on the issues relating to the Contemporary Indian politics. Shively,
W.
Phillips:
Power and Choice: An Introduction to Political Science— Parliamentary Government in
India.
McGraw
Hill Higher Education, discussed on parliamentary government in India.
Arun Shourie has written
The
Parliamentary System and mentioned in it ?What we have made of it, what we can make of it? A careful review
of literature reviews that sixteen factors
were identified by researchers as factors that influence electoral behaviour. They are caste, Rudolph and
Rudolph (1967), Ram Sagar Singh (1969),
Ramashray
Roy (1970), Chhibber, P.K. (1999), Zoya Hasan (2001), Lcia Michelutti (2004), Muneshwar Yadav
(2004),
Sandeep Shastri and Harish Ramaswamy (2004), Verma, A. K. (2004), Chandra,
Kanchan (2004),
Sandeep
Shastri and Padmavathi, B. S. (2009), Rahul Verma (2009), Suri, K.C., Narasimha Rao, P. and Anji
Reddy,
V. (2009) and Ghanshyam Shah (2010). Caste and Party, Kothari (1964),
Andre Betelle (1970) and
Rajeswari
Desh Pande and Nitin Binnal (2009). Religion, Blair, H.W. (1979), Maria
Do Ceo Rodrigues, Prabhat
Kumar,
Wiliam Joe, and Soland Da Silva (2004) and Mohd Sanjeer Alam (2009).
Education and Performance,
Madhu Varshney, Y.C. Nigam (2000) and Elkins,
David, L. (1975).
Chaptalization –
The entire research work will
run in to research chapters the first one on
Introduction brings out importance of study second one is rational
behand this research paper anther one
is aim and objective and research to show the
importance of subjects it also include statement of research problem
History of research subject . another
one chapter will content previews reviews anther one is state that hypothesis of research a quick on subject well
being we also being carried out with
chapter anther chapter will be methodological part of study and scope of research significance of
research and research methodology is to be done
in next chapter finding collusion for further research will presented in last chapter
followed by bibliography and reference .
Conclusion
Politics
in India is much rougher and much more corrupt that in the democracies of Europe and North America.
Assassination is not uncommon: the revered Mahatma
Gandhi in 1948, the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984, and the Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 were
all murdered, although it has to be noted
that these were not really political assassinations which happen more at local level. Communal, caste and regional
tensions continue to haunt Indian politics,
sometimes threatening its long-standing democratic and secular ethos. The language used by political candidates
about each other is often vivid. One key
question will be the influence on the new government of the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the vast conservative
Hindu revivalist organisation where new
Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his career as an activist. The RSS was heavily involved in the 2014 election
and Modi and many other senior officials of the BJP, which is independent of the RSS though ideologically close,
are still members of the organisation. Recent years have seen the emergence of so-called RTI activists -
tens of thousands of citizens, often poor, sometimes
almost illiterate, frequently highly motivated - who use the Right To Information legislation of 2005 to promote transparency and attack corruption
in public institutions. In the first five years of the legislation, over
a million RTI requests were filed
and so threatening to authority have some of the RTI activists become that a number of have been murdered. More
recently than the RTI movement, there
has been a related - if rather different in caste and class terms - movement around the demand for an
anti-corruption agency (called Lokpal).
This movement has been led by the hunger-striker Anna Hazare and draws most of its support from the growing
Indian middle-class which feels alienated from politics since the votes are to be found in
poor, rural communities while the power is to
be found in rich, urban
elites. In spite of all its problems, India remains a vibrant
and functioning democracy that is a beacon
to democrats in many surrounding states. The study observed that the country and its culture, parameters,
postulates, governing norms, and others political
dimensions goes on changing and affecting the political systems and new kind of political diversity has been
evolved over the period of time. The study
found the specific cardinal factors which directly facilitated India to preserve their democratic government in
the last decades like, Panchayati Raj system,
Federalism, electoral practices, Multi-party system, written
constitutions and Independence of courts and supreme court, and loyalty
of Military to government. The Panchayat system
of ancient India helps the people of India to cope with the culture of
democracy.
Panchayat
means a council of five and it
usually refers to a village council which may or may not have five members- which has a great deal to say
about the life of people of village in social,
religious, economic and political matters. Officially speaking, the Panchayat is today the lowest and in a
sense the most basic- unit of self government
in India. In India, the centre largely depends on the states for implementing many of public policies which encourages decentralization
process. The term ?federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution.
Instead,
Article 1 of the Constitution describes India as a ?Union of States‘. The Constitution establishes a dual polity
consisting of the Union at the Centre and the
states at the periphery. Each is endowed with sovereign powers to be exercised
in the field assigned
to them respectively by the Constitution.
Federalism helps the Indians to handle the problems of multi-culture,
multi- language and different
religions successfully and strengthen the democracy of India. India ensured the voting right of people of India by the
Constitution of the India which is
supreme law of the country. The framers of the Constitution of India described about election of India
in the Part XV, Articles 324 to 329 of the
Constitution. The article 326 says that elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assemblies of
States to be on the basis of adult suffrage.
Thus, since the independence of India the participation of the people is
always growing. India is known for
its multi party system. There are many parties in India ranging from 6 National Political parties and more than 48
state parties and many registered
regional parties. The multiparty system in India make unique in the world. In Indian political system one can find the
rightist, centrist, leftist,
regional, even local political parties to deal with the political issues. The Constitution is not only a written
document but also the lengthiest Constitution
of the world. Originally, it contained a Preamble, 395 Articles (divided
into 22 Parts) and 8 Schedules. At
present (2013), it consists of a Preamble, about 465 Articles (divided into 25 Parts) and 12 Schedules. It specifies
the structure, organisation, powers
and functions of both the Central and state governments and prescribes the limits within
which they must operate. Thus, it avoids the
misunderstandings and disagreements between the two. This constitution clearly describes
about the nature of the Republic, the organization and powers and mutual relations of the Centre and the
States, the Fundamental rights of the citizens
(Articles: 13 to 35), the directive principles of State policy (Articles: 36 to 51), and so on. This constitution
spells out almost all pros and cons of functions
of the country.
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Article Information
A Descriptive Study Of Position Of Political Parties In India Democracy (By-Prajakta Vilas Shinde)
Authors: Prajakta Vilas Shinde
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2022/07/29
- Volume 2
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
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