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National parties, Federal Democracies all over the world have two kinds of political parties, ‘national parties’ : Parties that are present in several or all units of the federation.. These parties have their units in, various states. All these units follow the same policies, programmes and strategy that is decided at the national level., State Parties : Parties that are present in only one of the federal units., Every party in the country has to register with the Election Commission., Large and established parties are offered some special facilities , these parties are given a unique symbol – only the, official candidates of that party can use that election symbol. Parties that get this privilege and some other special, facilities are ‘recognised’ by the Election Commission for this purpose. That is why these parties are called, ‘recognised, political parties’., The Election Commission has laid down detailed criteria of the proportion of votes and seats that a party must get in, order to be a recognised party., For a national party, A party that secures at least six per cent of the total votes in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly elections in four States, Wins at least four seats in the Lok Sabha, For a State party, A party must secures atleast six per cent of the total votes in an election to the Legislative Assembly of a State and wins, at least two seats., , Challenges to political parties, Since parties are the most visible face of democracy, it is natural that people blame parties for whatever is wrong with, the working of democracy., Popular dissatisfaction and criticism has focussed on four problem areas in the working of political parties., i). Lack of internal democracy within parties : 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. They do not have the means or the connections needed to influence the, decisions. Those who disagree with the leadership find it difficult to continue in the party., ii).Dynastic succession : Those who happen to be the leaders are in a position of unfair advantage to favour people close, to them or even their family members. In many parties, the top positions are always controlled by members of one, family. This is unfair to other members of that party. This is also bad for democracy, since people who do not have, adequate experience or popular support come to occupy positions of power., iii).Growing role of money and muscle power : Since parties are focussed only on winning elections, they 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 have influence on the policies and decisions of the party., iv).Parties do not offer a meaningful choice to the voters : there has been a decline in the ideological differences, among parties in most parts of the world. For example, the difference between the Labour Party and the Conservative, Party in Britain is very little. They agree on more fundamental aspects but differ only in details on how policies are to be, framed and implemented. In our country too, the differences among all the major parties on the economic policies have, reduced. Those who want really different policies have no option available to them. Sometimes people cannot even, elect very different leaders either, because the same set of leaders keep shifting from one party to another.
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How can parties be reformed?, Some of the recent efforts and suggestions in our country to reform political parties and its leaders:, Efforts, a). Anti Defection Law : the law says that if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose the seat in the legislature., 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. At the same, time MPs and MLAs have to accept whatever the party leaders decide., b). The Supreme Court passed an order to reduce the influence of money and criminals. Now, it is mandatory for every, candidate who contests elections to file an AFFIDAVIT giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against, him. The new system has made a lot of information available to the public. But there is no system of check if the, information given by the candidates is true., c). The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational, elections and file their income tax returns. The parties have started doing so but sometimes it is mere formality. It is not, clear if this step has led to greater internal democracy in political parties., Suggestions, 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 maintain a register of its members, to follow its own constitution, to have an independent authority, to, act as a judge in case of party disputes, to hold open elections to the highest posts., It should be made mandatory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets, about one-third, to women, candidates. Similarly, there should be a quota for women in the decision making bodies of the party., There should be state funding of elections. The government should give parties money to support their election, expenses. This support could be given in kind: petrol, paper, telephone etc. Or it could be given in cash on the basis, of the votes secured by the party in the last election., , There are two other ways in which political parties can be reformed., , , , , One, people can put pressure on political parties. This can be done through petitions, publicity and agitations., Ordinary citizens, pressure groups and movements and the media can play an important role in this. If political, parties feel that they would lose public support by not taking up reforms, they would become more serious about, reforms., Two, political parties can improve if those who want this join political parties., , The quality of democracy depends on the degree of public participation.
