INTRODUCTION : 
In all the democracies of the world we find political parties which shape up the public opinion and are in competion to gain political power. The political parties are considered as vehicals of federal sharing of political power and as negotiators of social divisions in the arena of democratic politics. The topic highlights the national and regional political parties their role in the politics and their importance. The problems related to the political parties and how the political parties can be made free from these problems. This topic begins with few basic questions like why do we need political parties? How many parties are good for a democracy? It also explain different systems which we have in different part of the world i.e. one party system, Bi-party system and multiparty system.

Important terms:
 ·     Political party: Agroup of people with similar policies and programmes, who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
 ·     Partisan: A person who is strongly committed to a party that runs the government.
 ·     Ruling party: A political party that runs government.
 ·     One - party system: In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These ae called one party system.
 ·     Two pary system: In some countries power usually changes between two major parties.
·      Multi - party system: If several parties compete for power, more than two parties have a reasonable chance of winning and coming to power either            on their own or through an alliance with other.
·      Alliance/front: When several parties join hands for the purpose of contesting elections or winning power.
 ·    Regional party: A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in an election to the legislative assembly of a state and wins at least 2 seats is              recognised as a regional party/state party.
·    National party: Those parties which are country -wde parties are called national parties.
·   Defection: Moving of a person from one party to another party for some personal benefit.
·  Affidavit: An affidavit is a signed document submitted to an officer, where a person makes a sworn statement regarding his / her personal information.

WhY do we need political parties?    
Political parties are easily one of the most visible institutions in a democracy. For most of the ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political parties.

Meaning
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.
Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to persuade people why their policies are better than others. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.
Thus, parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve partisanship. Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds.
A political party has three components:
 ·    the leaders
 ·    the active members
 ·    the followers

Functions
1. Parties contest elections. In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties. Parties select their              candidates in different ways. In some countries, such as the USA & India, members and supporters of a party choose its candidates.
2.  Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them. 
 Each of us may have different opinions and views on what policies are suitable for the society. But no     government can handle such a large variety of views. In a democracy, a large number of similar opinions have to be grouped together to provide a direction in which policies can be formulated by the governments. This is what the parties do.
A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions which it supports. 
A government is expected to base its policies on the line taken by the RULING PARTY.
3.    Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated and passed in the legislature. But since most of the members belong to a party, they go by the direction of the party leadership, irrespective of their personal opinions.
4.    Parties form and run governments. The big policy decisions are taken by political executive that comes from the political parties. Parties recruit leaders, trains them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want
5.    Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticising government for its failures or wrong policies. Opposition parties also mobilise opposition to the government.
6.    Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues. Many of the pressure groups are the extensions of political parties among different sections of society. Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people.
7.    Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. For an ordinary citizen it is easy to approach a local party leader than a government officer. That is why they feel close to parties even when they do not fully trust them. Parties have to be responsive to people’s needs and demands. Otherwise people can reject those parties in the next elections.

Necessity of Political Parties
    We need political parties because they perform all these functions. Why modern democracies cannot exist without political parties?
    We can understand the necessity of political parties by imagining a situation without parties.
    Every candidate in the elections will be independent. So no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.
   The government may be formed, but its utility will remain ever uncertain. Elected representative will be accountable to their constituency for what they      do in the locality. But no one will be responsible for how the country run.

We can also think about it by looking at the non-party based elections to the panchayat in many states. Although, the parties do not contest formally, it is generally noticed that the village gets split into more than one faction, each of which puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates. This is exactly what the party does. That is the reason we find political parties in almost all countries of the world, whether these countries are big or small, old or new, developed or developing.
The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies.
As societies became large and complex, they also need some agency to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government.
They needed some way to bring various representatives together so that a responsible government could be formed. They needed a mechanism to support or restrain the government, make policies, justify or oppose them. Political parties fulfill these needs that every representative government has.

Illustration 1
Why people tend to be very critical of political parties?
Solution
They tend to blame political parties for all that is wrong with our democracy and our political life.

Illustration 2
How political parties are formed?
Solution
Political parties are formed when a group of people agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good and come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.

INTRODUCTION : 
In all the democracies of the world we find political parties which shape up the public opinion and are in competion to gain political power. The political parties are considered as vehicals of federal sharing of political power and as negotiators of social divisions in the arena of democratic politics. The topic highlights the national and regional political parties their role in the politics and their importance. The problems related to the political parties and how the political parties can be made free from these problems. This topic begins with few basic questions like why do we need political parties? How many parties are good for a democracy? It also explain different systems which we have in different part of the world i.e. one party system, Bi-party system and multiparty system.

Important terms:
 ·     Political party: Agroup of people with similar policies and programmes, who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
 ·     Partisan: A person who is strongly committed to a party that runs the government.
 ·     Ruling party: A political party that runs government.
 ·     One - party system: In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These ae called one party system.
 ·     Two pary system: In some countries power usually changes between two major parties.
·      Multi - party system: If several parties compete for power, more than two parties have a reasonable chance of winning and coming to power either            on their own or through an alliance with other.
·      Alliance/front: When several parties join hands for the purpose of contesting elections or winning power.
 ·    Regional party: A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in an election to the legislative assembly of a state and wins at least 2 seats is              recognised as a regional party/state party.
·    National party: Those parties which are country -wde parties are called national parties.
·   Defection: Moving of a person from one party to another party for some personal benefit.
·  Affidavit: An affidavit is a signed document submitted to an officer, where a person makes a sworn statement regarding his / her personal information.

WhY do we need political parties?    
Political parties are easily one of the most visible institutions in a democracy. For most of the ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political parties.

Meaning
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.
Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to persuade people why their policies are better than others. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.
Thus, parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve partisanship. Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds.
A political party has three components:
 ·    the leaders
 ·    the active members
 ·    the followers

Functions
1. Parties contest elections. In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties. Parties select their              candidates in different ways. In some countries, such as the USA & India, members and supporters of a party choose its candidates.
2.  Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them. 
 Each of us may have different opinions and views on what policies are suitable for the society. But no     government can handle such a large variety of views. In a democracy, a large number of similar opinions have to be grouped together to provide a direction in which policies can be formulated by the governments. This is what the parties do.
A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions which it supports. 
A government is expected to base its policies on the line taken by the RULING PARTY.
3.    Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated and passed in the legislature. But since most of the members belong to a party, they go by the direction of the party leadership, irrespective of their personal opinions.
4.    Parties form and run governments. The big policy decisions are taken by political executive that comes from the political parties. Parties recruit leaders, trains them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want
5.    Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticising government for its failures or wrong policies. Opposition parties also mobilise opposition to the government.
6.    Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues. Many of the pressure groups are the extensions of political parties among different sections of society. Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people.
7.    Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. For an ordinary citizen it is easy to approach a local party leader than a government officer. That is why they feel close to parties even when they do not fully trust them. Parties have to be responsive to people’s needs and demands. Otherwise people can reject those parties in the next elections.

Necessity of Political Parties
    We need political parties because they perform all these functions. Why modern democracies cannot exist without political parties?
    We can understand the necessity of political parties by imagining a situation without parties.
    Every candidate in the elections will be independent. So no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.
   The government may be formed, but its utility will remain ever uncertain. Elected representative will be accountable to their constituency for what they      do in the locality. But no one will be responsible for how the country run.

We can also think about it by looking at the non-party based elections to the panchayat in many states. Although, the parties do not contest formally, it is generally noticed that the village gets split into more than one faction, each of which puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates. This is exactly what the party does. That is the reason we find political parties in almost all countries of the world, whether these countries are big or small, old or new, developed or developing.
The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies.
As societies became large and complex, they also need some agency to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government.
They needed some way to bring various representatives together so that a responsible government could be formed. They needed a mechanism to support or restrain the government, make policies, justify or oppose them. Political parties fulfill these needs that every representative government has.

Illustration 1
Why people tend to be very critical of political parties?
Solution
They tend to blame political parties for all that is wrong with our democracy and our political life.

Illustration 2
How political parties are formed?
Solution
Political parties are formed when a group of people agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good and come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.

INTRODUCTION : 
In all the democracies of the world we find political parties which shape up the public opinion and are in competion to gain political power. The political parties are considered as vehicals of federal sharing of political power and as negotiators of social divisions in the arena of democratic politics. The topic highlights the national and regional political parties their role in the politics and their importance. The problems related to the political parties and how the political parties can be made free from these problems. This topic begins with few basic questions like why do we need political parties? How many parties are good for a democracy? It also explain different systems which we have in different part of the world i.e. one party system, Bi-party system and multiparty system.

Important terms:
 ·     Political party: Agroup of people with similar policies and programmes, who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
 ·     Partisan: A person who is strongly committed to a party that runs the government.
 ·     Ruling party: A political party that runs government.
 ·     One - party system: In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These ae called one party system.
 ·     Two pary system: In some countries power usually changes between two major parties.
·      Multi - party system: If several parties compete for power, more than two parties have a reasonable chance of winning and coming to power either            on their own or through an alliance with other.
·      Alliance/front: When several parties join hands for the purpose of contesting elections or winning power.
 ·    Regional party: A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in an election to the legislative assembly of a state and wins at least 2 seats is              recognised as a regional party/state party.
·    National party: Those parties which are country -wde parties are called national parties.
·   Defection: Moving of a person from one party to another party for some personal benefit.
·  Affidavit: An affidavit is a signed document submitted to an officer, where a person makes a sworn statement regarding his / her personal information.

WhY do we need political parties?    
Political parties are easily one of the most visible institutions in a democracy. For most of the ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political parties.

Meaning
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.
Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to persuade people why their policies are better than others. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.
Thus, parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve partisanship. Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds.
A political party has three components:
 ·    the leaders
 ·    the active members
 ·    the followers

Functions
1. Parties contest elections. In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties. Parties select their              candidates in different ways. In some countries, such as the USA & India, members and supporters of a party choose its candidates.
2.  Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them. 
 Each of us may have different opinions and views on what policies are suitable for the society. But no     government can handle such a large variety of views. In a democracy, a large number of similar opinions have to be grouped together to provide a direction in which policies can be formulated by the governments. This is what the parties do.
A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions which it supports. 
A government is expected to base its policies on the line taken by the RULING PARTY.
3.    Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated and passed in the legislature. But since most of the members belong to a party, they go by the direction of the party leadership, irrespective of their personal opinions.
4.    Parties form and run governments. The big policy decisions are taken by political executive that comes from the political parties. Parties recruit leaders, trains them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want
5.    Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticising government for its failures or wrong policies. Opposition parties also mobilise opposition to the government.
6.    Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues. Many of the pressure groups are the extensions of political parties among different sections of society. Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people.
7.    Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. For an ordinary citizen it is easy to approach a local party leader than a government officer. That is why they feel close to parties even when they do not fully trust them. Parties have to be responsive to people’s needs and demands. Otherwise people can reject those parties in the next elections.

Necessity of Political Parties
    We need political parties because they perform all these functions. Why modern democracies cannot exist without political parties?
    We can understand the necessity of political parties by imagining a situation without parties.
    Every candidate in the elections will be independent. So no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.
   The government may be formed, but its utility will remain ever uncertain. Elected representative will be accountable to their constituency for what they      do in the locality. But no one will be responsible for how the country run.

We can also think about it by looking at the non-party based elections to the panchayat in many states. Although, the parties do not contest formally, it is generally noticed that the village gets split into more than one faction, each of which puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates. This is exactly what the party does. That is the reason we find political parties in almost all countries of the world, whether these countries are big or small, old or new, developed or developing.
The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies.
As societies became large and complex, they also need some agency to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government.
They needed some way to bring various representatives together so that a responsible government could be formed. They needed a mechanism to support or restrain the government, make policies, justify or oppose them. Political parties fulfill these needs that every representative government has.

Illustration 1
Why people tend to be very critical of political parties?
Solution
They tend to blame political parties for all that is wrong with our democracy and our political life.

Illustration 2
How political parties are formed?
Solution
Political parties are formed when a group of people agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good and come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.

INTRODUCTION : 
In all the democracies of the world we find political parties which shape up the public opinion and are in competion to gain political power. The political parties are considered as vehicals of federal sharing of political power and as negotiators of social divisions in the arena of democratic politics. The topic highlights the national and regional political parties their role in the politics and their importance. The problems related to the political parties and how the political parties can be made free from these problems. This topic begins with few basic questions like why do we need political parties? How many parties are good for a democracy? It also explain different systems which we have in different part of the world i.e. one party system, Bi-party system and multiparty system.

Important terms:
 ·     Political party: Agroup of people with similar policies and programmes, who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
 ·     Partisan: A person who is strongly committed to a party that runs the government.
 ·     Ruling party: A political party that runs government.
 ·     One - party system: In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These ae called one party system.
 ·     Two pary system: In some countries power usually changes between two major parties.
·      Multi - party system: If several parties compete for power, more than two parties have a reasonable chance of winning and coming to power either            on their own or through an alliance with other.
·      Alliance/front: When several parties join hands for the purpose of contesting elections or winning power.
 ·    Regional party: A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in an election to the legislative assembly of a state and wins at least 2 seats is              recognised as a regional party/state party.
·    National party: Those parties which are country -wde parties are called national parties.
·   Defection: Moving of a person from one party to another party for some personal benefit.
·  Affidavit: An affidavit is a signed document submitted to an officer, where a person makes a sworn statement regarding his / her personal information.

WhY do we need political parties?    
Political parties are easily one of the most visible institutions in a democracy. For most of the ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political parties.

Meaning
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.
Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to persuade people why their policies are better than others. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.
Thus, parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve partisanship. Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds.
A political party has three components:
 ·    the leaders
 ·    the active members
 ·    the followers

Functions
1. Parties contest elections. In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties. Parties select their              candidates in different ways. In some countries, such as the USA & India, members and supporters of a party choose its candidates.
2.  Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them. 
 Each of us may have different opinions and views on what policies are suitable for the society. But no     government can handle such a large variety of views. In a democracy, a large number of similar opinions have to be grouped together to provide a direction in which policies can be formulated by the governments. This is what the parties do.
A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions which it supports. 
A government is expected to base its policies on the line taken by the RULING PARTY.
3.    Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated and passed in the legislature. But since most of the members belong to a party, they go by the direction of the party leadership, irrespective of their personal opinions.
4.    Parties form and run governments. The big policy decisions are taken by political executive that comes from the political parties. Parties recruit leaders, trains them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want
5.    Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticising government for its failures or wrong policies. Opposition parties also mobilise opposition to the government.
6.    Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues. Many of the pressure groups are the extensions of political parties among different sections of society. Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people.
7.    Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. For an ordinary citizen it is easy to approach a local party leader than a government officer. That is why they feel close to parties even when they do not fully trust them. Parties have to be responsive to people’s needs and demands. Otherwise people can reject those parties in the next elections.

Necessity of Political Parties
    We need political parties because they perform all these functions. Why modern democracies cannot exist without political parties?
    We can understand the necessity of political parties by imagining a situation without parties.
    Every candidate in the elections will be independent. So no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.
   The government may be formed, but its utility will remain ever uncertain. Elected representative will be accountable to their constituency for what they      do in the locality. But no one will be responsible for how the country run.

We can also think about it by looking at the non-party based elections to the panchayat in many states. Although, the parties do not contest formally, it is generally noticed that the village gets split into more than one faction, each of which puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates. This is exactly what the party does. That is the reason we find political parties in almost all countries of the world, whether these countries are big or small, old or new, developed or developing.
The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies.
As societies became large and complex, they also need some agency to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government.
They needed some way to bring various representatives together so that a responsible government could be formed. They needed a mechanism to support or restrain the government, make policies, justify or oppose them. Political parties fulfill these needs that every representative government has.

Illustration 1
Why people tend to be very critical of political parties?
Solution
They tend to blame political parties for all that is wrong with our democracy and our political life.

Illustration 2
How political parties are formed?
Solution
Political parties are formed when a group of people agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good and come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.

INTRODUCTION : 
In all the democracies of the world we find political parties which shape up the public opinion and are in competion to gain political power. The political parties are considered as vehicals of federal sharing of political power and as negotiators of social divisions in the arena of democratic politics. The topic highlights the national and regional political parties their role in the politics and their importance. The problems related to the political parties and how the political parties can be made free from these problems. This topic begins with few basic questions like why do we need political parties? How many parties are good for a democracy? It also explain different systems which we have in different part of the world i.e. one party system, Bi-party system and multiparty system.

Important terms:
 ·     Political party: Agroup of people with similar policies and programmes, who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
 ·     Partisan: A person who is strongly committed to a party that runs the government.
 ·     Ruling party: A political party that runs government.
 ·     One - party system: In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These ae called one party system.
 ·     Two pary system: In some countries power usually changes between two major parties.
·      Multi - party system: If several parties compete for power, more than two parties have a reasonable chance of winning and coming to power either            on their own or through an alliance with other.
·      Alliance/front: When several parties join hands for the purpose of contesting elections or winning power.
 ·    Regional party: A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in an election to the legislative assembly of a state and wins at least 2 seats is              recognised as a regional party/state party.
·    National party: Those parties which are country -wde parties are called national parties.
·   Defection: Moving of a person from one party to another party for some personal benefit.
·  Affidavit: An affidavit is a signed document submitted to an officer, where a person makes a sworn statement regarding his / her personal information.

WhY do we need political parties?    
Political parties are easily one of the most visible institutions in a democracy. For most of the ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political parties.

Meaning
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.
Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to persuade people why their policies are better than others. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.
Thus, parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve partisanship. Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds.
A political party has three components:
 ·    the leaders
 ·    the active members
 ·    the followers

Functions
1. Parties contest elections. In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties. Parties select their              candidates in different ways. In some countries, such as the USA & India, members and supporters of a party choose its candidates.
2.  Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them. 
 Each of us may have different opinions and views on what policies are suitable for the society. But no     government can handle such a large variety of views. In a democracy, a large number of similar opinions have to be grouped together to provide a direction in which policies can be formulated by the governments. This is what the parties do.
A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions which it supports. 
A government is expected to base its policies on the line taken by the RULING PARTY.
3.    Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated and passed in the legislature. But since most of the members belong to a party, they go by the direction of the party leadership, irrespective of their personal opinions.
4.    Parties form and run governments. The big policy decisions are taken by political executive that comes from the political parties. Parties recruit leaders, trains them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want
5.    Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticising government for its failures or wrong policies. Opposition parties also mobilise opposition to the government.
6.    Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues. Many of the pressure groups are the extensions of political parties among different sections of society. Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people.
7.    Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. For an ordinary citizen it is easy to approach a local party leader than a government officer. That is why they feel close to parties even when they do not fully trust them. Parties have to be responsive to people’s needs and demands. Otherwise people can reject those parties in the next elections.

Necessity of Political Parties
    We need political parties because they perform all these functions. Why modern democracies cannot exist without political parties?
    We can understand the necessity of political parties by imagining a situation without parties.
    Every candidate in the elections will be independent. So no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.
   The government may be formed, but its utility will remain ever uncertain. Elected representative will be accountable to their constituency for what they      do in the locality. But no one will be responsible for how the country run.

We can also think about it by looking at the non-party based elections to the panchayat in many states. Although, the parties do not contest formally, it is generally noticed that the village gets split into more than one faction, each of which puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates. This is exactly what the party does. That is the reason we find political parties in almost all countries of the world, whether these countries are big or small, old or new, developed or developing.
The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies.
As societies became large and complex, they also need some agency to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government.
They needed some way to bring various representatives together so that a responsible government could be formed. They needed a mechanism to support or restrain the government, make policies, justify or oppose them. Political parties fulfill these needs that every representative government has.

Illustration 1
Why people tend to be very critical of political parties?
Solution
They tend to blame political parties for all that is wrong with our democracy and our political life.

Illustration 2
How political parties are formed?
Solution
Political parties are formed when a group of people agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good and come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.

INTRODUCTION : 
In all the democracies of the world we find political parties which shape up the public opinion and are in competion to gain political power. The political parties are considered as vehicals of federal sharing of political power and as negotiators of social divisions in the arena of democratic politics. The topic highlights the national and regional political parties their role in the politics and their importance. The problems related to the political parties and how the political parties can be made free from these problems. This topic begins with few basic questions like why do we need political parties? How many parties are good for a democracy? It also explain different systems which we have in different part of the world i.e. one party system, Bi-party system and multiparty system.

Important terms:
 ·     Political party: Agroup of people with similar policies and programmes, who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
 ·     Partisan: A person who is strongly committed to a party that runs the government.
 ·     Ruling party: A political party that runs government.
 ·     One - party system: In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These ae called one party system.
 ·     Two pary system: In some countries power usually changes between two major parties.
·      Multi - party system: If several parties compete for power, more than two parties have a reasonable chance of winning and coming to power either            on their own or through an alliance with other.
·      Alliance/front: When several parties join hands for the purpose of contesting elections or winning power.
 ·    Regional party: A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in an election to the legislative assembly of a state and wins at least 2 seats is              recognised as a regional party/state party.
·    National party: Those parties which are country -wde parties are called national parties.
·   Defection: Moving of a person from one party to another party for some personal benefit.
·  Affidavit: An affidavit is a signed document submitted to an officer, where a person makes a sworn statement regarding his / her personal information.

WhY do we need political parties?    
Political parties are easily one of the most visible institutions in a democracy. For most of the ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political parties.

Meaning
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.
Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to persuade people why their policies are better than others. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.
Thus, parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve partisanship. Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds.
A political party has three components:
 ·    the leaders
 ·    the active members
 ·    the followers

Functions
1. Parties contest elections. In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties. Parties select their              candidates in different ways. In some countries, such as the USA & India, members and supporters of a party choose its candidates.
2.  Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them. 
 Each of us may have different opinions and views on what policies are suitable for the society. But no     government can handle such a large variety of views. In a democracy, a large number of similar opinions have to be grouped together to provide a direction in which policies can be formulated by the governments. This is what the parties do.
A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions which it supports. 
A government is expected to base its policies on the line taken by the RULING PARTY.
3.    Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated and passed in the legislature. But since most of the members belong to a party, they go by the direction of the party leadership, irrespective of their personal opinions.
4.    Parties form and run governments. The big policy decisions are taken by political executive that comes from the political parties. Parties recruit leaders, trains them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want
5.    Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticising government for its failures or wrong policies. Opposition parties also mobilise opposition to the government.
6.    Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues. Many of the pressure groups are the extensions of political parties among different sections of society. Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people.
7.    Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. For an ordinary citizen it is easy to approach a local party leader than a government officer. That is why they feel close to parties even when they do not fully trust them. Parties have to be responsive to people’s needs and demands. Otherwise people can reject those parties in the next elections.

Necessity of Political Parties
    We need political parties because they perform all these functions. Why modern democracies cannot exist without political parties?
    We can understand the necessity of political parties by imagining a situation without parties.
    Every candidate in the elections will be independent. So no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.
   The government may be formed, but its utility will remain ever uncertain. Elected representative will be accountable to their constituency for what they      do in the locality. But no one will be responsible for how the country run.

We can also think about it by looking at the non-party based elections to the panchayat in many states. Although, the parties do not contest formally, it is generally noticed that the village gets split into more than one faction, each of which puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates. This is exactly what the party does. That is the reason we find political parties in almost all countries of the world, whether these countries are big or small, old or new, developed or developing.
The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies.
As societies became large and complex, they also need some agency to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government.
They needed some way to bring various representatives together so that a responsible government could be formed. They needed a mechanism to support or restrain the government, make policies, justify or oppose them. Political parties fulfill these needs that every representative government has.

Illustration 1
Why people tend to be very critical of political parties?
Solution
They tend to blame political parties for all that is wrong with our democracy and our political life.

Illustration 2
How political parties are formed?
Solution
Political parties are formed when a group of people agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good and come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.

INTRODUCTION : 
In all the democracies of the world we find political parties which shape up the public opinion and are in competion to gain political power. The political parties are considered as vehicals of federal sharing of political power and as negotiators of social divisions in the arena of democratic politics. The topic highlights the national and regional political parties their role in the politics and their importance. The problems related to the political parties and how the political parties can be made free from these problems. This topic begins with few basic questions like why do we need political parties? How many parties are good for a democracy? It also explain different systems which we have in different part of the world i.e. one party system, Bi-party system and multiparty system.

Important terms:
 ·     Political party: Agroup of people with similar policies and programmes, who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
 ·     Partisan: A person who is strongly committed to a party that runs the government.
 ·     Ruling party: A political party that runs government.
 ·     One - party system: In some countries only one party is allowed to control and run the government. These ae called one party system.
 ·     Two pary system: In some countries power usually changes between two major parties.
·      Multi - party system: If several parties compete for power, more than two parties have a reasonable chance of winning and coming to power either            on their own or through an alliance with other.
·      Alliance/front: When several parties join hands for the purpose of contesting elections or winning power.
 ·    Regional party: A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in an election to the legislative assembly of a state and wins at least 2 seats is              recognised as a regional party/state party.
·    National party: Those parties which are country -wde parties are called national parties.
·   Defection: Moving of a person from one party to another party for some personal benefit.
·  Affidavit: An affidavit is a signed document submitted to an officer, where a person makes a sworn statement regarding his / her personal information.

WhY do we need political parties?    
Political parties are easily one of the most visible institutions in a democracy. For most of the ordinary citizens, democracy is equal to political parties.

Meaning
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.
Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to persuade people why their policies are better than others. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.
Thus, parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve partisanship. Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds.
A political party has three components:
 ·    the leaders
 ·    the active members
 ·    the followers

Functions
1. Parties contest elections. In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties. Parties select their              candidates in different ways. In some countries, such as the USA & India, members and supporters of a party choose its candidates.
2.  Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them. 
 Each of us may have different opinions and views on what policies are suitable for the society. But no     government can handle such a large variety of views. In a democracy, a large number of similar opinions have to be grouped together to provide a direction in which policies can be formulated by the governments. This is what the parties do.
A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions which it supports. 
A government is expected to base its policies on the line taken by the RULING PARTY.
3.    Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated and passed in the legislature. But since most of the members belong to a party, they go by the direction of the party leadership, irrespective of their personal opinions.
4.    Parties form and run governments. The big policy decisions are taken by political executive that comes from the political parties. Parties recruit leaders, trains them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want
5.    Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticising government for its failures or wrong policies. Opposition parties also mobilise opposition to the government.
6.    Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues. Many of the pressure groups are the extensions of political parties among different sections of society. Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people.
7.    Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. For an ordinary citizen it is easy to approach a local party leader than a government officer. That is why they feel close to parties even when they do not fully trust them. Parties have to be responsive to people’s needs and demands. Otherwise people can reject those parties in the next elections.

Necessity of Political Parties
    We need political parties because they perform all these functions. Why modern democracies cannot exist without political parties?
    We can understand the necessity of political parties by imagining a situation without parties.
    Every candidate in the elections will be independent. So no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.
   The government may be formed, but its utility will remain ever uncertain. Elected representative will be accountable to their constituency for what they      do in the locality. But no one will be responsible for how the country run.

We can also think about it by looking at the non-party based elections to the panchayat in many states. Although, the parties do not contest formally, it is generally noticed that the village gets split into more than one faction, each of which puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates. This is exactly what the party does. That is the reason we find political parties in almost all countries of the world, whether these countries are big or small, old or new, developed or developing.
The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies.
As societies became large and complex, they also need some agency to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government.
They needed some way to bring various representatives together so that a responsible government could be formed. They needed a mechanism to support or restrain the government, make policies, justify or oppose them. Political parties fulfill these needs that every representative government has.

Illustration 1
Why people tend to be very critical of political parties?
Solution
They tend to blame political parties for all that is wrong with our democracy and our political life.

Illustration 2
How political parties are formed?
Solution
Political parties are formed when a group of people agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good and come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.