Political process

Theoretical overview

Political party

A political party basically, is a group of people. These people come together to contest elections in order to hold power in the government. They agrees on some polices and programmes for the society with a view to promote collective good. 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. every political party must have three key components: Leader, Active member and Followers.

Function of political parties

• 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. On the other hand, in countries like India, the candidates are chosen by top party leaders.
• Every party has different policies and programmes. Voters make a choice in accordance with the policies and programmes liked by them. In a democratic country, a large group of people that has certain similar opinions group together and form a party. Then then, give a direction to the policies adopted by the government.
• Parties play a decisive role in making laws of the country formally laws are debated and passed in legislature but most of the members belong to party.
• Parties form and run government, parties recruit leaders , train the, and then make them ministers to run the government in the way want.
• The parties that looses the election plays the role of opposition to the parties in the power by voicing different views and criticizing government for its failure.
• Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare scheme.

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.

Pressure groups

Pressure groups are found with the intention of meeting a certain demand. The member of pressure groups are either exclusive or selective. Pressure groups impact the government and its policies in indirect manner. According to Alan R. Ball “… Pressure groups are firmly part of the political process and that they attempt to reinforce or change the direction of government policy, but do not wish, as pressure groups, to become the government.”

Features of pressure groups:

• It plays a vital role in establishing public relations with the government. Through all these groups, the people’s scarcity and grievances and demands are brought to the notice of the government.
• It keeps a close watch on the activities of the government. Any disruption to the government’s decisions and actions, it comes to the attention of the groups and the campaign is widely publicized.
• pressure groups play a vital role in political socialization. Presently, each pressure group is governed and controlled by the sponsorship of any one political party. Opportunities and possibilities are created to transmit certain types of political values within the masses.
• Pressure groups are always careful about government decisions, policies, and laws. This is because the main goal of all these groups is to influence the government as much as possible to bring government decisions and laws in favour of the group.

Techniques of pressure groups:

pressure groups usually use several techniques which they believe will serve their purpose effectively.

• Lobbying
• Strike
• Bandh
• Gherao

Trends in political parties

After 1980 India has witnessed 5 major developments that changes the complete scenario of national politics

• The defat of the most successful congress party in the election held in 1989
• Rise of ‘Mandal Commission’ in national politics.
• The economic policy followed by various government.
• Bari Masjid demolition at Ayodhya in December1992.

Decline of congress: during the last sixties the superiority of the congress party was questioned but the party re-established its predominant position under the leadership of Indra Gandhi. In the 1989 election India initiated an era of coalition government at the centre in which regional parties played a crucial role in forming ruling alliances.

Political rise of other backward classes : many backward caste have declined support for congress this create space for non-congress parties to get their support. In many part of India Dalit politics and OBC politics have developed independently and often in competition with each other.  

Mandal commission:  many parties during 1980s-90s sought better opportunities for OBCs in education and employment and also raised question of the share of power enjoyed by the OBCs. Mandal commission was setup to look into the extent of education and employment and social backwardness among various sections of Indian Society. The commission recommended reservation of 27% of seats in education institutions and government jobs foe these groups.

Emergence of a new consensus: since the 1989 election the votes polled by the two-parties congress and BJP did not cross more than 50%. The political competition during nineties was divided b/w the coalition led by BJP and coalition led by the congress.

Lok Sabha election 2004: in 2004 election the coalition led by BJP National Democratic Alliance was defeated and a new coalition led by the congress known as the United Progressive Alliance came to power.

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.

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. Eg India 

National parties

there were several recognised national parties in the country in 2019:

• All India Trinamool Congress(AITC)
• Bahujan Samaj Part (BSP)
• Communist Party of India (CPI)
• Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)
• Communist Part of India-Marxist(CPI-M)
• Indian National Congress(INC)
• Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)

Points to remember

1. A political party basically, is a group of people. These people come together to contest elections in order to hold power in the government. They agrees on some polices and programmes for the society with a view to promote.
2. pressure groups are found with the intention of meeting a certain demand. The member of pressure groups are either exclusive or selective. Pressure groups impact the government and its policies in indirect manner.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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