MP Board · Class 10 · Social Science · Civics: Political PartiesDiscuss the major challenges faced by political parties in India. Suggest possible reforms to strengthen political parties so that they can perform their functions effectively.

Introduction\nPolitical parties are the most visible face of democracy. Yet, across the world, including India, there is widespread dissatisfaction with the failure of political parties to perform their functions well. This is because political parties face several serious challenges in their internal functioning and external engagements.

Major Challenges Faced by Political Parties

• Lack of Internal Democracy:

  • Within parties, power is concentrated in the hands of 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.
  • Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information on what happens inside the party and have no means to influence the decisions.
  • Consequently, personal loyalty to the leader becomes more important than loyalty to party principles and policies.

• Dynastic Succession:

  • This is related to the lack of internal democracy. Since most political parties do not practice open and transparent procedures for their functioning, there are very few ways for an ordinary worker to rise to the top.
  • Leaders in power tend to unfairly favour their family members and close associates.
  • In many parties, top positions are invariably controlled by members of one single family, which is bad for democracy since people who do not have adequate experience or popular support come to occupy positions of power.

• Money and Muscle Power:

  • Elections are increasingly focused on winning at any cost. Parties tend to use short-cuts to win elections.
  • They tend to nominate those candidates who have or can raise lots of money.
  • Rich people and companies who give funds to the parties tend to influence the policies and decisions of the party.
  • In some cases, parties support criminals who can win elections, leading to the criminalisation of politics.

• Meaningful Choice:

  • In recent years, there has been a decline in the ideological differences among parties in most parts of the world, including India.
  • For example, the difference between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party in Britain is very little; they agree on fundamental aspects but differ only in details on how policies are implemented.
  • In India too, the major parties differ significantly on economic policies, but they all share a common broad consensus. Sometimes people cannot even elect significantly different leaders because the same set of leaders keeps shifting from one party to another.

Reforms to Strengthen Political Parties\nTo address these challenges, several legal and institutional reforms have been attempted or proposed in India:

• Anti-Defection Law: The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties (Defection). This was done because many elected representatives were indulging in defection in exchange for cash or ministerial berths. Now, if any MLA or MP changes parties, they will lose their seat in the legislature.
• Affidavit of Assets and Criminal Cases: The Supreme Court passed an order reducing the influence of money and criminals by making it mandatory for every candidate contesting elections to file an affidavit giving details of their property and criminal cases pending against them.
• Mandatory Organisational Elections: The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their income tax returns.

Suggestions for Further Reforms

• A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties, making it compulsory to maintain a register of members, follow its constitution, and hold independent judges for dispute resolution.
• It should be made mandatory for political parties to give a minimum ticket share (e.g., one-third) to women candidates.
• There should be state funding of elections, where the government gives parties money or paper to support their election expenses.

Conclusion\nPolitical parties can be reformed if citizens take active interest, pressurize parties through petitions, publicity, and agitations. If bad politicians are kept out, good citizens can enter politics to bring about positive democratic change.