3. Political Parties

• (a) Government
• (b) Society
• ✓ (c) Political parties
• (d) Social organisations

Answer: When people come together and participate in electoral process, to acquire political power, such organisations are called Political parties.

• (a) Odisha
• (b) Assam
• (c) Bihar
• ✓ (d) Jammu and Kashmir

Answer: National Conference is a party in Jammu and Kashmir.

• (a) Assam Gan Parishad
• (b) Shivsena
• ✓ (c) Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam
• (d) Jammu and Kashmir National Conference

Answer: Justice Party - a non-Brahmin movement was transformed into Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam Political Party.

Answer: True

• Political parties communicate the demands and complaints of the people to the government.
• The government tries to get the support of the people for its policies and programmes through political parties.

Answer: True

• Just like active groups, institutions, and movements in society, political parties are also a kind of social organisation.
• However, there is a difference in their goals and style of working. When people form organisations with the specific objective of achieving political power and participating in the electoral process, they are called political parties.

Answer: False

Reason: Coalition governments have become stable in India, as both the BJP and the Congress have successfully run coalition governments.

Answer: False

Reason: Shiromani Akali Dal is a regional party of Punjab, not a national party.

• In India, people speak different languages, have different traditions, and belong to different cultural and geographical regions.
• The feeling of affinity developed about one's language and region gradually turns into identity consciousness, which finally gives rise to regionalism.
• People start thinking primarily about the interest and development of their own region. They start feeling proud of their language, literature, traditions, and history.
• When linguistic, regional, and cultural identities get connected, regional consciousness emerges as a stronger feeling, often giving rise to independent political parties or movements aiming to protect regional interests.

• A national party is a political party that has widespread influence across the country and is officially recognized by the Election Commission based on specific criteria.
• To get recognition as a national party, a political party must secure a minimum of 6% of the valid votes in four or more States in the earlier Lok Sabha or State Assembly elections, and a minimum of 4 members must be elected to the Lok Sabha from any state or states.
• Alternatively, candidates of the party should be elected from a minimum of 2% constituencies out of the total Lok Sabha constituencies and from a minimum of 3 states.
• Examples of national parties in India include the Indian National Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, and Communist Party of India.

The important characteristics of political parties are as follows:

• To be in power: Achieving power through elections is the main objective of political parties, so they compete with each other fairly to get power.
• To pursue an ideology: Every political party has some policies and world views, which together make up the party ideology. The social support received by a party based on this ideology is called its 'mass base'.
• To have a Party Agenda: Political parties prepare their agenda based on their ideology. They implement the agenda after they get political power or use it to gather support if they don't.
• To Establish a Government: The political party which gets a majority in elections forms the government and governs the nation, while the parties without a majority act as the opposition.
• To act as a link: Political parties act as a link between the government and the people by communicating the demands of the people to the government and garnering support for government policies.

The nature of the political party system in India has seen the following changes:

• Single dominant party system: In the post-independence period, the Congress was a strong political party with a majority at the Centre and in most States. Indian politics was controlled heavily by the Congress Party.
• Challenge to the single party: In 1977, the non-Congress parties came together and successfully challenged this 'Single dominant party system'.
• Rise of coalition governments: After the 1989 Lok Sabha Elections, the system of one party emerging as the dominant party came to an end. Since then, different parties began to come together to form coalition governments at the national level.
• Stability of coalitions: Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress Party successfully experimented with establishing coalition governments, proving that the coalition government system has stabilised in India.