Haryana State Board HBSE 10th Class Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 6 Political Parties Notes
Haryana Board 10th Class Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 6 Political Parties
- In this chapter, we shall study the role of political parties in the rise of democracies, in electoral politics, and in the making and working of the government.
Class 10 Civics Chapter 6 Notes HBSE
→ Why Do We Need Political Parties?
- Political parties are one of the most visible institutions in a democracy; for ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political parties. It is important to know the nature and workings of political parties.
→ Meaning of Political Parties
- A political party is an organized group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
- Political parties reflect fundamental political divisions in society.
- A political party has three components:
(i) The leaders
(ii) The active members
(iii) The followers and supporters.
→ Functions of Political Parties
- Political parties contest elections.
- Political parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose the desired ones from among them.
- Political parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country.
- Political parties form and run governments.
- The losing parties in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power.
- Political parties shape public opinion.
- Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments.
Class 10th Civics Chapter 6 Notes HBSE
→ Necessity of Political Parties
- Without political parties, every candidate in the elections will be independent. So, no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.
- The rise of political parties is linked to the emergence of representative democracies.
- As societies became large and complex they also needed some agency to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government. This need is fulfilled by the political parties.
→ How Many Parties Should We Have?
- More than 750 parties are registered with the Election Commission of India.
- In some countries, only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These are called one-party systems, e.g. China.
- In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties. Such a party system is called two-party system, e.g. The United States of America (USA).
- If several parties compete for power and more than two parties have a reasonable chance of coining to power either on their own strength or by alliance with others, we call it a multi-party system, e.g. India.
- We have a multi-party system because this system allows a variety of interests and opinions to enjoy political representation.
→ National Parties
- A party that secures at least six per cent of the 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.
- There were seven national recognised parties in the country in the year 2018:
(i) Indian National Congress (INC) is one of the oldest parties of the world. It was founded in 1885.
(ii) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was founded in 1980 by reviving the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
(iii) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was formed in 1984 under the leadership of Kanshi Ram.
(iv) Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) was founded in 1964 and believes in Marxism-Leninism.
(v) Communist Party of India (CPI) was formed in 1925 and believes in Marxism-Leninism, secularism and democracy.
(vi) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was formed in 1999, following a split in the Congress party.
(vii) All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) was formed in 1998 under the leadership of Mamata Baneijee. - All the national parties have been allotted well-known and permanent symbols by the Election Commission of India.
Chapter 6 Political Science Class 10 Notes HBSE
→ State Parties
- A party, that secures at least six per cent of the total votes in an election to the Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least two seats is recognised as a State Party.
- Other than these seven parties, most of the major parties of the country are classified as state parties.
- Some of these parties are Samajwadi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Janata Dal (U), Biju Janata Dal, Sikkim Democratic Front, Shiv Sena, DMK, ADMK, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, etc.
→ Challenges to Political Parties
- The first challenge is lack of internal democracy within parties.
- The second challenge is that most political parties do not practise open and transparent procedures for their functioning. There are very few ways for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in a party.
- The third challenge is about the growing role of money and muscle power in parties, especially during elections.
- The fourth challenge is that very often, parties do not seem to offer a meaningful choice to the voters.
→ How can Parties be reformed?
- The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties. If any MLA or MP changes parties after election, he or she will lose the seat in the legislature.
- This new law has helped to bring down defection.
- Now, it is mandatory for every candidate who contests elections to file an affidavit giving details of their property and criminal cases pending against them.
- This has made a lot of information available to the public.
- The Election Commission passed an order, making it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their income tax returns.
- Besides these, many suggestions are often made to reform political parties:
- A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties.
- It should be made compulsory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets, about one-third to women candidates.
- There should be state funding of elections.
- People can put pressure on political parties through petitions, publicity, and agitations.
Civics Class 10 Chapter 6 Notes HBSE
→ Important Terms
1. Political Party: An organized group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
2. Partisan: A person who is strongly committed to a party, group or faction.
3. Partisanship: It is marked by a tendency to take a side and an inability to take a balanced view on an issue.
4. Ruling Party: A political party that runs the government.
5. Regional Party: A political party whose political activities are limited to a region.
6. Opposition: The political party or a group of parties that is a main part of the legislature but not a part of the government. It is opposed to the government.
7. Election Commission: An independent authority provided by the Constitution, to ensure free and fair elections in the country.
8. Single-Party System: In some countries, only one party is allowed to control and run the government. This is also called the one-party system.
9. Two-Party System: A system where two parties prevail in a country.
10. Multi-Party System: A political condition, in which many parties make a bid for power and have some chance of being successful.
11. Alliance: A political condition in a multi-party system, when several parties join hands for the purpose of contesting elections and winning power.
Civics Chapter 6 Class 10 HBSE
12. National Party: A party that has a wide base in a large part of the country is called a national party.
13. Rightist Party: Party is rigid in its approach to the past glory of the country and supporter of ethics and morals.
14. Leftist Party: Party ideologically radical and conservative.
15. State Party: A political party whose political activities are limited to a region. It is also called a regional party.
16. Defection: Changing party allegiance from the party under which a person got elected (to a legislative body) to a different party.
17. M.P.: Member of Parliament.
18. M.L.A.: Member of Legislative Assembly.
19. Affidavit: A signed document, submitted to an office where a person makes a sworn statement regarding his/her personal information.