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The following are the two institutional amendments made by different institutions to reform political parties and their leaders.

• Anti-defection law: The anti-defection law was passed to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing their parties. It was seen that many MLAs and MPs were changing their parties for personal gains. Now, according to the law, if any MLA or MP changes his/her party, his/her seat in the legislature will be lost. Also, MLAs and MPs have to accept whatever the party leaders decide.
• Affidavit: To reduce the influence of money and muscle power (criminals), an order has been passed by the Supreme Court making it mandatory for every candidate contesting election to file an affidavit giving details of his/her property and criminal records. This system has helped in making a lot of information available to the public. But, we cannot say that this amendment has been successful as it cannot be said that information provided by the candidates is true.
• Mandatory organisational meeting and filing of ITR: An order has been passed by the Election Commission making it mandatory for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their income tax returns. The parties have started doing this, but sometimes it is only a formality. It is not clear if this step has brought some reform or not.

The challenge of dynastic succession is undoubtedly a major challenge for political parties in India. 

The following points explain this.

• Usually, an ordinary worker does not rise to the top positions in a party because the functioning of most political parties is not transparent.
• Most of the top leaders favour and choose members of their families. This is unfair to other members. 
• The top positions are always controlled by members of one family. This is unhealthy for democracy. 
• People who are at top levels usually do no have adequate experience, education or popular support. 
• The challenge of dynastic succession is related to the challenge of lack of internal democracy. Non-deserving leaders exercise paramount power and make decisions. Those who disagree with the leadership find it difficult to continue in the party.

(i) It promotes equality among citizens.

(ii) It enhances the dignity of the individual

Democratic government is better.

Most of political parties are dependent on money given by big business houses. That's why the poor and middle classes do not agree to participate in electoral process. Hence, a majority of people keep away from politics and have little voice in politics.

The democratic governments are better than other forms of governments because:

(i) Democratic governments have formal Constitution, while it is not the case in other form of governments.

(ii) They hold regular elections, while it is not the case in other form of governments.

(iii) They have political parties, whereas there is no such thing in other form of governments.

(iv) They guarantee rights to citizens, while it is not the case in the other form of governments.

(v) Such governments allow room to correct mistakes, while it is not there in the other form of government.

(vi) Such government accommodates social diversities, while no such thing in other form of government.

(i) Right to the citizens to choose their leaders and keep check on them.

(ii) If required people can participate in decision making either directly or through indirectly or through representatives.

(iii) It produces accountable, responsible and legitimate government.

Democratic governments in practice are accountable because:

(i) It is right to expect democracy to form a government that follows procedures and is accountable to the people.

(ii) It is also expected that the democratic government develops mechanisms for citizens to take part in decision making whenever they think it as fit.

(iii) The democratic government is accountable to the people. If it ignores the will of the people they will not elect their ruler in the next general election.

(iv) The procedures and decision making process should be transparent for democratic government to be accountable to the people.

In an accountable government, people have the right to elect the leaders to form a government and if possible they participated in decision-making process.

A democratic government can be made accountable by:

(i) Conducting discussions and negotiations.

(ii) Ensuring transparency.

(iii) Holding regular, free and fair elections.

(iv) Having open public debates.

A democratic government has to be responsive to the needs of its citizens.

(i) Through pressure groups, and public protests, the democratic government can check the popularity of its decisions and mechanism of administering justice.

(ii) A government which is able to respond to grievances faster is able to avoid confrontation and provide good governance.

(a) The Election commission

(b) Common interest

Single-party system is found in China

1. Political parties

2. Election Commission 

3. citizen, the policy makers 

4. unrecognised 

5. Cabinet ministe

An electoral symbol is a standardised symbol allocated to a political party. They play an important role in elections.

1. iii 

2. iv 

3. ii 

4. i

In earlier times, the king was the supreme head of the Legislative, Executive and Judiciary branches.

(d) All the above.

If our party comes to power, we would 

1. Take measures to give a corruption free Government.

2. Agriculture sector would be given prior importance.

3. Students will be taught technical skills at school which would enhance their scope for employment. 

4. Free and quality medical care would be made available to all the needy people.

The supreme court of India has made it mandatory for every candidate who contests elections to file affidavit giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him/her.

• The ruling party did not undertake any work for the welfare of farmers. Therefore all the opposition parties decided to trap the government on this issue. 
• The opposition parties have kept aside their differences and come together for this cause.
• It is the duty of the opposition party to question the negligence of the government. 
• This news makes us aware of the line of action taken by the opposition. 
• Opposition parties held a meeting in Mumbai to resist the Ruling party. Will take up the issue of farmers? 
• Ruling party organised ‘Samvad Yatra’ in rural areas.

The regional political parties predominant in: 

• Sikkim—Sikkim Democratic Front, symbol: an umbrella 
• Nagaland—Nagaland People’s Front, symbol: a cock 
• Manipur—Manipur People’s Party, symbol: a cycle

A political party is a group of people who follow an ideology and thus come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.

Characteristics of a political party are:
The presence of a central ideology which defines what it stands for.
Policies arising from this ideology; the party promises to implement these if it is voted to power.
The presence of a leader, the party workers and supporters.

Three components of a political party are:

(i) Leaders

(ii) Active members

(iii) Followers

A political party is a group of people come together to contest elections to hold power in the government.

The political party that runs the government.

"Democracy accommodates social diversities":

(i) Democracies develop a procedure to conduct their competition. This reduces the possibility of these tensions becoming explosive or violent.

(ii) No society can fully and permanently resolve conflicts among different groups. But we can certainly learn to respect these differences and can evolve a mechanism to negotiate these differences.

(iii) Ability to handle social differences, divisions and conflicts is thus a definite plus point of democratic regimes

(iv) Example: Belgium - has successfully negotiated differences among its ethnic population. This reduces the possibility of tensions.

1. ii 

2. iii 

3. i

In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties. Several other parties may exist, contest elections and win a few seats in the national legislatures. But only two main parties have a serious chance of winning majority of seats to form government. Such a party system is called bi-party or two party system. For example, the United States of America, The United Kingdom.

The system in which only one party is allowed to control and run the government is called one-party system. For example, China.

Yes, political parties educate people by organising public rallies, meetings, press conference on important issues. Common people are made aware of the economic, social and political condition of the country.

Yunus made a right decision to launch a political party and contest in the parliamentary elections. It’s a human tendency when a competitor comes in front of anybody, people look for excuses to quit the person out of the field. When there are more than one parties in the country people have a choice to make between good and bad. The new party should promote proper leadership, good governance and should be capable of bringing about new healthy political culture. Last but not least it should be democratic from the grassroots level.

Functions performed by political parties in a democracy:
Group together a large number of similar opinions, thereby providing a direction in which policies can be formulated
Contest elections, providing the voters a choice between different policies
Winning party forms and runs the government
Losing parties form the opposition, and keep a check on the working of the government
Play a decisive role in making laws, especially by debating them in the legislature.
Shape public opinion by raising and highlighting issues
Provide people a way to access government machinery and welfare schemes

Corruption of government:

(i) Democracies often frustrate the needs of people and often ignore the demands of the majority.

(ii) The routine tales of corruption are enough to convince us that democracy is not free from this evil.

(iii) But a democratic government is people's own government and pays heed to their demands.

(iv) People have believed that democracy will be attentive and make policies that will free the country from corruption.

A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good.

Partisanship is marked by a tendency to take a side and inability to take a balanced view on an issue.

Partisan- A person who strongly supporting a person, group of ideas and committed to a party without considering it carefully. 

Partisanship - a term used when a politician supports their official party policies and refuses to be engage with the opposition policies.

The political parties are the face of democracy. They are the one who regulates the nation, so for any wrong doing in our society, the parties are ultimately blamed.

a. The parties frame policies and agendas that are for the welfare of the entire nation. Any policy is not just directed towards a single person, but for all.

b. They promote their ideas for the national goods during the election and when they win they work towards it.

c. They put forward programmes that are for the upliftment of backward communities.

The political parties have to register themselves with the Election Commission.

a. The commission treats every party equally.

b. It gives the parties a specific symbol.

c. The EC has made norms like the minimum number of votes the party has to secure in the assembly election in order to get the status of a recognized party.

d. A party has to get minimum 6% of total votes in Lok Sabha or state assembly elections in four states and win atleast 4 seats in the Lok Sabha, is recognized as a national party.

Yes, it is necessary for a political party to file an income tax returns.

The Election Commission has made it compulsory to file the income tax returns, for the political parties. Any political party as per Section 13A is required to furnish return of income under Section 139(4B) if its income exceeds maximum amount not chargeable to tax.

The political parties are the face of democracy. They are the one who regulates the nation, so for any wrongdoing in our society, the parties are ultimately blamed.

The political parties throughout the world face several problems, the first being the lack of internal democracy within the parties:

a. The powers of the political parties are generally held with only a few people. Not every member of the party gets the chance to be the leader.

b. The workers of the parties do not get the chance to rise up since any internal elections or rewards are not given.

c. The next challenge isthe criminalization of parties. The rich and powerful acquire the membership of the parties through money power and misuse their powers.

The Supreme Court passed an order that every candidate had to give details of personal information and any cases pending against them, to reduce the criminalization of politics.

These details are filed in an Affidavit, that contains the details like the properties of the candidate or any pending cases against him/her in the court.

‘Defection’ in politics means moving of a person from one party to another party for some personal benefit. It means changing party allegiance from the party on which a person got elected to a different party. It happens when a legislature, after having been elected from a particular party leaves it and joins in other party.

Measures adopted to prevent this practice: 

(i) The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties. This was done because many elected representatives were indulging in defection, in order to become ministers or for cash rewards. 

(ii) Now, the law says that if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose seat in the legislature. 

(iii) The new law has brought defection down and has made dissent even more difficult. Now MLAs and MPs have to accept whatever party leaders say.

State parties seeking national-level coalition:

Before general election of 2014, in three general elections, no one national party was able to secure on its own a majority in Lok Sabha. With the result, the national parties were compelled to form alliances with state or regional parties. Since 1996, nearly every one of the state parties has got an opportunity to be a part of one or the other national level coalition government. This has contributed to the strengthening of federalism and democracy.

The political parties are the pillars of a democracy. In a large country like India, it is difficult for any one party to accumulate majority votes. They need to form alliances with other parties.

Hence the government formed with the alliance of several parties is called asa coalition government.

Example: The Bhartiya Janta Party was founded in 1980. The party came into power in 1998, with the support of various regional political parties. The alliance of BJP with various state parties was named as National Democratic Alliance.

Defection means changing the membership from a party. A person who gets elected to the legislative assembly from a party leaves that party and acquire membership of another party.

This is a negative action because the members change the party in the lure of becoming a minister or for cash rewards. The parties influence the members with monetary power.

The measures are taken to curb defection are:

a. The Parliament made changes in the Constitution and added a schedule (the 10th schedule) referred to as Anti defection law.

b. The Constitution was amended, and changing party was made punishable as this would make the member lose their seat in the legislature. MPs and MLAs have to accept whatever the party leader decides.

c. The member of the house becomes disqualified if he gives up his membership voluntarily.

d. He is disqualified if he votes or abstains from voting against the direction of his political party.

The provisions were made so that once a member joins a party must remain loyal to it and obey party direction.

A political party is a group of people who come together to contest in elections and hold power in the government. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good.

A political party has three components:

(i) The Leaders: Every political party has some prominent leaders who formulate policies and programmes of the party and choose candidates for contesting elections.

(ii) The Active Members: They are involved in different committees of the party and participate directly in their activity.

(iii) The Followers: They believe in the party’s ideology and support the party by casting their votes in favour of the party at the time of election.

Political Party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.

Three components of political parties are:

(i) The leaders

(ii) The active members

(iii) The followers