Political Parties

Why this chapter matters for UPSC: This is NCERT's Chapter 4 in the rationalised Reprint 2026-27 (the site keeps its old number, 6, after the dropped "Democracy and Diversity" and "Popular Struggles and Movements"). Earlier chapters treated parties as "vehicles of federal sharing of political power and as negotiators of social divisions"; this one looks at parties themselves: what they are, why democracy cannot do without them, how many are good for it, how the Election Commission classifies them, and what is wrong with them. GS2 asks about the same things in its own words: the party system, national and regional parties, the anti-defection law, money in elections and party reform.

Contemporary hook: In the 2024 Lok Sabha election the BJP won 240 seats with 36.56% of all votes counted and the Congress 99 with 21.19% (ECI results); the ECI put the six national parties together at 63.35% "of Total Valid Votes" (PIB, 26 December 2024), a different basis from the party shares (Table 4). The BJP fell short of the 272 seats needed for a majority on its own and continues to lead the NDA government, as NCERT's Reprint 2026-27 also says. In August 2025 the Election Commission counted 6 national parties, 67 State parties and 2,854 registered unrecognised parties, and delisted 334 of the last group (PIB, 9 August 2025). The chapter's first challenge, internal democracy, came before the Commission in 2023-24, when it decided which faction of the Shiv Sena and of the NCP was the real party.

🧠 First Principles — Read This First

A party is a team that seeks power through elections. NCERT's definition: "A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government." Its members agree on policies and programmes "with a view to promote the collective good", and try to persuade voters that their policies are better than others'. A party has three components: "the leaders, the active members and the followers".

Partisanship is part of the design. A party is a part of society, so it is partisan by nature: it takes one side of a question. NCERT draws this from the definition itself: parties "reflect fundamental political divisions in a society" and "are about a part of the society". The test is whether parties compete fairly for the people's support, not whether they disagree.

Democracy needs parties; the trouble lies in how they work. Without parties "no one will be responsible for how the country will be run", so "parties are a necessary condition for a democracy". Distrust of parties is real, and reform is hard because those who would pass a reform law are themselves party leaders.

PART 1 — Quick Reference

Table 1: The seven functions of a political party (NCERT)

Source: NCERT, Democratic Politics II, Class X, ch. 4 "Political Parties", Reprint 2026-27, pp. 3-4.

Table 2: Party systems

Source: NCERT, Democratic Politics II, ch. 4, Reprint 2026-27, pp. 5-6.

Table 3: Recognition by the Election Commission

Source: NCERT ch. 4, p. 8; Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, paras 6A-6C, in an older consolidated copy (as amended to 2000) on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer, Puducherry, for the 2%-of-seats route and the State-party seats route; the State-party-in-four-States route from the ECI order of 10 April 2023 as quoted by The Tribune, 10 April 2023; PIB, 9 August 2025. Continued recognition depends on meeting the conditions again at the next general election (para 6C).

Table 4: The six national parties: NCERT's 2019 figures and the 2024 result

Source: NCERT ch. 4, pp. 9-10 (2019 figures); 2024 figures from the ECI party-wise results as compiled in Wikipedia's "Results of the 2024 Indian general election" table, whose shares are of all 64.54 crore votes counted, NOTA's 0.99% included; the six shares sum to 62.72%. The ECI gives the six together as 63.35% "of Total Valid Votes" (PIB, 26 December 2024): the table's vote counts for the six come to that figure once NOTA's 63,71,839 votes are left out of the total (our arithmetic), so the two agree on the votes and differ only in basis. All six were still listed as recognised national parties in August 2025 (PIB, 25 August 2025).

Table 5: NCERT lines that have dated, and the record now

Source: NCERT ch. 4, pp. 8-10; ECI order of 10 April 2023 (The Tribune, 10 April 2023); PIB, 9 August 2025 and 25 August 2025; Prime Minister's Office, former Prime Ministers page; News On AIR, 9 February 2025.

Table 6: Reforming parties: what has been done, what is suggested

Source: NCERT ch. 4, pp. 15-16.

PART 2 — Concepts & Narrative

What is a political party?

Parties are "easily one of the most visible institutions in a democracy", and "For most ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political parties". Visibility is not popularity: NCERT notes that people across the world blame parties for what is wrong with democracy. About a hundred years ago few countries had parties at all; now few do not.

A party is known by the part of society it stands for, the policies it supports and the interests it upholds. NCERT also notes a small rule of electoral conduct from Tamil Nadu: the Election Commission "has officially banned wall writing by parties during election times".

Functions of parties

Parties "fill political offices and exercise political power", in seven ways (Table 1). Two are easy to forget in an exam: making laws, and giving people access to government machinery and welfare schemes.

Why do we need political parties?

Imagine a democracy without parties. Every candidate would be independent; nobody could promise major policy changes, and the government would be uncertain of its support. Elected representatives would be accountable to their constituencies but not for the country as a whole. NCERT's real-world test is the non-party panchayat election: even there villagers divide into factions, and each puts up a 'panel' of candidates, which is what a party does.

"The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies." Large societies need some agency to gather views on issues and present them to the government, and parties are that agency.

How many parties are good for democracy?

"More than 750 parties are registered with the Election Commission of India", says NCERT, but only a few are serious contenders for power. Table 2 sets out the systems, from one-party China to India's multiparty system run through alliances.

NCERT does not rank the systems. "Party system is not something any country can choose." A party system grows out of the nature of society, its social and regional divisions, its history and its electoral system. India's diversity explains its many parties. Hence: "No system is ideal for all countries and all situations."

National parties

Every party in India has to register with the Election Commission. The Commission treats all parties equally but offers some special facilities to large and established parties, chiefly "a unique symbol" that only the party's official candidates may use. Parties that receive these privileges are called recognised political parties, either State parties or national parties, by the conditions in Table 3.

NCERT profiles six national parties (Table 4): AAP, the BSP, the BJP, the CPI(M), the Congress and the NPP. The two newest entries in the book are AAP, which became a national party in 2023, and the NPP, founded in 2013. NCERT's line on the BJP, that it "Currently leads the ruling NDA government at the Centre", still holds after 2024, though the party no longer has a majority of its own.

State parties

The parties that are not national are State parties, though some, NCERT says, are all-India in ambition, such as the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, while others, such as the Biju Janata Dal, the Sikkim Democratic Front, the Mizo National Front and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (listed by the Commission as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in August 2025), are conscious of their State identity. (NCERT introduces this list with "Other than these seven parties", although it has just described six national parties: read it as six.)

Over the last three decades State parties have grown in number and strength, which made the Lok Sabha more diverse. In NCERT's words, "No one national party is able to secure on its own a majority in the Lok Sabha, until 2014", and "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, NCERT argues, has strengthened federalism and democracy.

Challenges to political parties

NCERT groups the problems into "four problem areas".

1. Lack of internal democracy. Power concentrates in one or a few leaders at the top. Parties keep no membership registers, do not hold organisational meetings and do not conduct internal elections regularly. Ordinary members get little information on what happens inside the party, and "personal loyalty to the leader becomes more important" than loyalty to party principles. Those who disagree with the leadership find it hard to continue.

2. Dynastic succession. Because few parties follow open procedures, those who reach the top can favour family and friends: "In many parties, the top positions are always controlled by members of one family." This is unfair to other members and is bad for democracy, since people without the experience or popular support come to hold power. NCERT adds that the problem is present to some degree all over the world, including in older democracies.

3. Money and muscle power. Parties focus on winning elections and so nominate candidates who have, or can raise, a lot of money. Rich people and companies who fund parties tend to influence policy. "In some cases, parties support criminals who can win elections." NCERT's cartoon box on Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy and one of its top businessmen, leader of Forza Italia (founded in 1993), whose company owned TV channels, the most important publishing company, a football club (AC Milan) and a bank, shows business wealth, media and party leadership in one person.

4. No meaningful choice. Parties "do not seem to offer a meaningful choice to the voters". In Britain the Labour and Conservative parties differ very little; in India, too, the differences between major parties on economic policies have narrowed. And "the same set of leaders keep shifting from one party to another".

How can parties be reformed?

NCERT starts with a question rather than a list: "Are political parties willing to reform?" In a democracy the final decisions are made by party leaders, and people can replace them only with another set of party leaders. Three recent efforts are in Table 6.

1. The anti-defection amendment. Many elected representatives changed parties to become ministers or for cash rewards. The Constitution was amended so that "if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose the seat in the legislature". The law "helped bring defection down", but it also "made any dissent even more difficult. MPs and MLAs have to accept whatever the party leaders decide."

2. The Supreme Court's affidavit order. "The Supreme Court passed an order to reduce the influence of money and criminals": every candidate must file an affidavit giving details of property and pending criminal cases. A lot of information is now public, but "there is no system to check if the information given by the candidates is true", and it is not yet known whether the influence of the rich and of criminals has declined.

3. The Election Commission's order. Parties must hold organisational elections and file income tax returns. They have started doing so, but "sometimes it is mere formality", and it is not clear that internal democracy has grown.

NCERT then lists suggestions (a law on internal affairs; "a minimum number of tickets, about one-third, to women candidates"; state funding) and adds: "These suggestions have not yet been accepted by political parties." It warns against legal fixes for political problems, since over-regulation would push parties to find ways to cheat the law, and parties will not pass laws they dislike. Its two preferred routes are public pressure and participation: if parties fear losing support they will take reform seriously, and if those who want reform join parties, politics can improve from inside. "The problem of bad politics can be solved by more and better politics."

What the pre-2023 edition said (removed in the rationalisation)

In the 2020-21 edition this was Chapter 6. It said "there were seven recognised national parties in the country in 2018" and profiled the Trinamool Congress, the CPI and the NCP alongside the four that remain; the current book replaces those three with AAP and the NPP, following the Commission's 2023 notification. The old chapter also carried an imaginary narrative inspired by Kishen Patnaik (1930-2004), "also known as Kishenji", elected to the Lok Sabha from Sambalpur, Odisha, in 1962, in which a group of activists debate whether people's movements should form "an alternative political formation". That narrative was removed. The reform section, the four challenges and the exercises are unchanged in substance.

Source: NCERT, Democratic Politics II, Class X, ch. 6, 2020-21 edition (reprint January 2020), pp. 6 and 9, as archived by the Wayback Machine, 9 October 2021.

PART 3 — UPSC Integration

Frames for Mains Answers

1. Are political parties necessary for democracy? Start with NCERT's thought experiment (no parties: independents, no responsibility for the country as a whole) and the panchayat 'panel'. Then the seven functions (Table 1), then the four problem areas. Conclude with NCERT's line that bad politics is cured by more and better politics, not by abolishing parties.

2. National parties and centralisation, regional parties and State autonomy. Use NCERT's history: no national party won a Lok Sabha majority on its own "until 2014", State parties in national coalitions since 1996, and NCERT's verdict that this strengthened federalism. Then the 2024 result (BJP 240, short of 272) and the coalition it produced. Qualify the premise: national parties win States too, and State parties in coalitions also bargain for central funds and posts rather than only for autonomy.

3. The anti-defection law: success and cost. NCERT's two sentences carry the answer: it brought defection down, and it made dissent harder. Add the Constitution's text (merger needs two-thirds of the legislature party; the one-third split exception was removed from 2004) and the 2023-24 disputes, in which the Election Commission decided which faction was the real party (in the NCP case by the test of legislative majority).

4. Reforming political parties. Three tiers from NCERT: what has been done (anti-defection, affidavits, the Commission's order on internal elections and tax returns), what is suggested (internal-affairs law, one-third tickets for women, state funding), and the caution against over-regulation. Bring in the dated evidence: ADR's 2024 figures, the end of electoral bonds in February 2024, the 334 parties delisted in August 2025.

Exam Strategy

Prelims fact-traps:

• NCERT lists seven functions of parties, including making laws and access to government machinery and welfare schemes.
• The three components of a party are leaders, active members and followers.
• The Commission recognised six national parties under its 2023 notification; NCERT's "seven parties" two pages later is NCERT's slip. The six: AAP, BSP, BJP, CPI(M), INC, NPP. The Trinamool Congress, NCP and CPI lost national status on 10 April 2023.
• AAP became national as a State party in four States, which is one of three routes; NCERT gives only the 6%-of-votes route.
• The UPA governed from 2004 to 2014, not 2019 as NCERT prints.
• The anti-defection merger exception needs two-thirds of the legislature party, not of the party organisation.
• The candidate affidavit on assets and criminal cases came from a Supreme Court order; the order on organisational elections and income tax returns came from the Election Commission.
• NPP (July 2013, P.A. Sangma) is the first national party from the North-East; AAP was formed on 26 November 2012.
• BSP won no Lok Sabha seat in 2024 but was still a recognised national party in August 2025.

Practice Questions

Questions 1-4 are NCERT exercises 7-10. Practice (UPSC-pattern, not past papers): questions 5-9.

1. Match List I (organisations and struggles) with List II: 1. Congress Party, 2. Bharatiya Janata Party, 3. Communist Party of India (Marxist), 4. Telugu Desam Party; A. National Democratic Alliance, B. State party, C. United Progressive Alliance, D. Left Front.
(a) C A B D
(b) C D A B
(c) C A D B
(d) D C A B

Answer: (c). Congress led the UPA, the BJP leads the NDA, the CPI(M) leads the Left Front, and the TDP is a State party.

2. Who among the following is the founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party?
(a) Kanshi Ram
(b) Sahu Maharaj
(c) B.R. Ambedkar
(d) Jotiba Phule

Answer: (a). NCERT: the BSP was formed in 1984 under the leadership of Kanshi Ram.

3. What is the guiding philosophy of the Bharatiya Janata Party?
(a) Bahujan Samaj
(b) Revolutionary democracy
(c) Integral humanism
(d) Modernity

Answer: (c). NCERT names integral humanism and Antyodaya, from Deendayal Upadhyaya.

4. Consider the following statements on parties. A. Political parties do not enjoy much trust among the people. B. Parties are often rocked by scandals involving top party leaders. C. Parties are not necessary to run governments. Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) A, B and C
(b) A and B
(c) B and C
(d) A and C

Answer: (b). C contradicts the chapter: parties are a necessary condition for a democracy.

5. Consider the following statements about recognition of parties under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968:
1. A party recognised as a State party in four States qualifies as a national party.
2. Winning Lok Sabha seats from at least 2% of all constituencies, from at least three States, is one route to national-party status.
3. Recognition, once granted, is permanent.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (b). Under para 6C, continued recognition depends on meeting the conditions at the next general election.

6. Under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, a member is protected from disqualification on a merger of the original political party if the merger is agreed to by:
(a) two-thirds of the members of the original political party
(b) two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned
(c) one-third of the members of the legislature party
(d) a simple majority of the party's national executive

Answer: (b). Paragraph 4(2). The one-third split exception (paragraph 3) was omitted from 1 January 2004.

7. With reference to the Election Commission's data of August 2025, consider the following statements:
1. There were six recognised national parties.
2. The All India Trinamool Congress was a recognised national party.
3. The Commission delisted 334 registered unrecognised political parties.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (c). The Trinamool Congress lost national status on 10 April 2023 and is listed as a recognised State party.

8. Which of the following are, in NCERT's account, suggestions for party reform that parties have not yet accepted?
1. A law to regulate the internal affairs of parties
2. About one-third of tickets for women candidates
3. State funding of elections
4. Affidavits on candidates' property and criminal cases
Select the correct answer:
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer: (a). The affidavit requirement is already in force, through a Supreme Court order.

9. The anti-defection law brought defection down but made dissent more difficult. Examine this statement with reference to the working of Parliament and the party splits of 2023-24. (250 words)

NCERT exercises (short answer): the functions of parties in a democracy; the challenges they face; reforms to strengthen them; what a party is and its characteristics; the fill-in (a group that contests elections and holds power is a "political party"); and the passage on Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist who, with the Grameen Bank, received the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 and in February 2007 decided to launch a party, Nagarik Shakti (Citizens' Power): was it the right decision, and how should a new party be organised to differ from the old ones?

📦 Revision Capsule

Sources

• NCERT, Democratic Politics II, Textbook in Political Science for Class X, ch. 4 "Political Parties", Reprint 2026-27 — ncert.nic.in PDF.
• NCERT, Democratic Politics II, ch. 6, 2020-21 edition (file jess406.pdf in the whole-book zip), as archived on 9 October 2021 — Wayback Machine.
• SDSA Team, State of Democracy in South Asia, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2007 (as cited by NCERT).
• Election Commission of India data on the 2024 general election, PIB, 26 December 2024 — PIB 2088064.
• Results of the 2024 Indian general election, party-wise table compiled from ECI results — Wikipedia.
• Election Commission, "Cleaning up the Electoral System: ECI Delists 334 RUPPs", PIB, 9 August 2025 — PIB 2154665.
• Election Commission, "ECI's extensive structured interaction with Political Parties continues", PIB, 25 August 2025 — PIB 2160577.
• The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, copy on the Chief Electoral Officer, Puducherry website — ceopuducherry.py.gov.in PDF.
• The Tribune, "EC accords national party status to AAP; Trinamool, Nationalist Congress Party, CPI lose tag", 10 April 2023 — tribuneindia.com.
• Business Today, on the Election Commission's Shiv Sena order, 17 February 2023 — businesstoday.in.
• ThePrint, "EC recognises Ajit Pawar-faction as official NCP on basis of 'legislative majority', allots symbol", 6 February 2024 — theprint.in.
• News On AIR, BJP wins the Delhi Assembly election, 9 February 2025 — newsonair.gov.in.
• Prime Minister's Office, Former Prime Ministers: Dr. Manmohan Singh — pmindia.gov.in.
• Constitution of India, Articles 102 and 191 and the Tenth Schedule — legislative.gov.in.
• Association for Democratic Reforms, analysis of the winners of Lok Sabha 2024 — adrindia.org.
• Supreme Court of India, Association for Democratic Reforms v Union of India (electoral bonds), judgment of 15 February 2024, 2024 INSC 113.