Question Answers Political Parties Class-X-Social Science
Q1. What do you mean by a political party?
Answer: Political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and to hold power in the government.
Q2. What are the three main components of a political party?
Answer:
The three components of a political party are as follows:
The leaders:
A political party consists of leaders, who contest elections and if they win the elections, they perform the
administrative jobs.
The Active Members:
They are the ones who work actively for the party. They are the assistants of the leaders and implement
the plans and ideologies of the political party.
The Followers:
They are the ardent followers of the parties and their leaders and support them in the elections.
Q3. Why do we need political parties? Explain.
Or
Describe any five major functions performed by political
parties.
Answer:
To fill political offices and exercise political power, political parties are needed to perform a series of functions, which are the
following:
1. Contest elections:-
Elections are fought mainly among candidates put up by political parties.In India, top party leaders choose candidates for contesting elections.
2. Policies and Programmes:-
Political parties in a democracy group together similar opinions, to provide a direction in which government policies can be formulated.
3. To Make Laws:-
Parties make laws for a country. Laws are debated and passed in the legislature.
4. Role of Opposition:- Parties that lose elections play the role of the opposition. Opposition parties voice their views by criticizing government for its failure or wrong policies.
5. Shape Public Opinion:-
They raise and highlight issues and resolve people’s problems. Many pressure groups are the extensions of political parties.
6. Form and Run the Government:-
The big decisions are taken by political executive that comes from political parties.
Q4. “Political parties are a necessary condition for a democracy”. Analyse the statement with examples.
Or
Why modern democracies cannot exist without political parties?
Or
What would happen if there would be no political party?
Answer:
“Political parties are a necessary condition for a democracy” in the following ways:
1. Without political parties democracies cannot exist. If we do not have political parties, every candidate in elections will be independent.
2. No one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.
3. The government may be formed but its utility will remain uncertain.
4. Elected representatives will be accountable to their constituency, for what they do in their locality but no one will be responsible for how the country will run.
5. As societies become large and complex they also needed some agencies to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government, that’s why political parties are needed.
Q5. Describe the various party system existing in various countries.
Answer:
One party system:-
a) In some countries, only one party is allowed to control and run the government. it is called one party system. For example in China, only the Communist Party of China is allowed to rule.
b) we cannot consider one party system as a good option because this is not a democratic option at least two parties must be allowed to
Two Party System:-
a) In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties.
b) Here only the two main parties have a serious chance of winning majority seats to form the government for example: USA, UK.
Multi Party System:-
In this system several parties complete for power for example: India. The government is formed by various parties coming together in a coalition.
Q6. What are the various challenges faced by political parties?
Answer:
Lack of internal democracy:-
a) Concentration of power in one or few leaders at the top.
b) Parties do not keep the membership registers.
c) They do not hold organisational meetings.
d) They do not conduct internal elections regularly.
e) Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information on what happens inside the
Dynastic Succession:-
A) The top leaders of the parties or their founder try to keep the power in hands of their family
B) Only the top most position in the parties is always controlled by the members of one family.
C) It is unfair for the other members of that party.
Money and Muscle Power:-
A) Parties tend to nominate those candidates who have or can raise a lot of money.
B) Rich people and companies who give funds to the parties influence the functioning and decision making of the parties.
Lack of Meaningful Choice:-
A) Political parties do not provide a meaningful choice to voters. There is no ideological differences among the
political parties.
B) In India differences among all the major parties on the economic policies have reduced.
C) Sometimes people cannot even select different Leaders because the same set of leaders keep shifting from one party to another party.
Q7. Suggest some reforms to strengthen parties so that they
perform their functions well.
Answer:- Some of the reforms that one can think of to improve the functioning of political party are given below:
1. Bring in internal democracy within the political party.
2. Political parties should avoid concentrating complete powers in the hands of few leaders.
3. The succession of leadership simply based on dynasty should be discarded.
4. There needs to be regular organisation meetings for the party workers.
5. There should be a free and transparent flow of information to all the party workers.
6. There needs to be a system which rewards honest workers in the party.
7. In a free, fair and transparent manner candidates should be nominated for contesting elections.
8. The decisions should be taken in consultation with party workers but not based on a few individuals.
9. Criminals should not be entertained and should not be allowed to contest elections.
10. Rising muscle power and money should be curbed.
Q8. Distinguish between National party and Regional party.
Answer:
| National Party | Regional Party |
| 1. A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in the Lok Sabha elections for assembly elections in four states. | 1. A party that secures 6% of the total votes in an election |
| 2. A party that wins at least four seats in the Lok Sabha is recognised as a national party. | 2. A party that wins at least two seats in legislative elections is recognised as a state party. |
| 3. They operate at the national level. | 3. They operate at the regional level. |
| 4. There is national issues. | 4. Various regional issues. |
| 5. For example BJP, INC , BSP etc. | 5. For example Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, Shivsena in Maharashtra. |
Q9. Mention the constitutional reforms made to strngthen the working og political parties.
Answer: Five suggestions made to reform the political parties:
1. Regulating Internal affairs:
Law to regulate the internal affairs of political parties like maintaining a register of its members, to follow its own constitution, to have independent authority, to act as judge in case of party dispute, to hold open elections to the highest post.
2. Women Participation:
It should be mandatory for political parties to give one-third tickets to women candidates. Also there should be quota for women on the decision-making bodies of the party.
3. State Funding:
There should be state funding of elections. The government should give money to parties to support their election expenses in kind (petrol, paper, telephone, etc.) or in cash on the basis of votes secured by the party in the previous election.
4. Fix Educational Parametres For Candidates:
The candidate should be educated, so that he can solve and understand people’s problems. His previous record should be cleared. He should be honest and there should be no criminal case against him.
5. Public Participation:
Citizens can reform politics if they take part directly and join political parties. People can put pressure on political parties through petitions, publicity in media, agitations etc.
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Solutions Class 10 SST Civics (Political Science): Democratic Politics-II
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. Chapter 2 – Federalism
. Chapter 3 – Gender, Religion and Caste
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