Political Parties, Party Systems and Anti-defection

1. What a political party is and why democracies need parties

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• Political party: a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in government. They agree on policies for the collective good and try to convince people that their policies are better (Class 10, Political Parties).
• It has three parts: leaders, active members and followers.
• Partisanship means a strong commitment to one side, and with it an inability to take a balanced view. Parties stand for a part of society, so they are partisan. The textbook's cartoon jokes that parties are "partial, partisan and lead to partitions".
• Parties are the most visible part of a democracy, but being visible does not make them popular. People blame parties for what goes wrong.
• Why we need them. If every candidate stood as an independent, no one could promise big policy changes and no one would answer for how the country is run. Large societies need an agency that collects views, forms a responsible government and supports or restrains it. Even in non-party panchayat polls, villages split into rival "panels".
• Types (Duverger, 1951):
• Cadre-based party: a small, disciplined core of members trained in the party's ideology, as in communist parties.

• Mass-based party: a wide membership across social groups with a broad organisation.

• Case study: after 1969, Indira Gandhi's Congress came to depend on one supreme leader. Sudipta Kaviraj says the party as an organisation "died" at the moment of its victory (Class 12).

2. Functions of political parties, and parties vs pressure groups

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• The functions of political parties (Class 10 lists seven): 1. Contest elections. In the USA a primary election lets party members and supporters choose the candidates. In India, top leaders choose them. 2. Put forward policies. Parties reduce "a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions". An election manifesto is the party's published programme. Part VIII of the Model Code of Conduct (2014) says a manifesto must explain why each promise is made and how it will be paid for. 3. Make laws. Members vote as the leadership directs, which is the root of the whip (Section 8). 4. Form and run governments. Parties recruit and train leaders and make them ministers. 5. Act as the opposition. The opposition is the parties that lost the election. They voice different views, criticise the government's failures and mobilise dissent. A Leader of Opposition is recognised under the 1977 Salary and Allowances Act. By convention the party needs 10% of the seats, so the Lok Sabha had no LoP from 2014 to 2024. 6. Shape public opinion. Parties raise issues and launch movements. 7. Give access to government machinery and welfare. A local party leader is easier to reach than a government officer.

• Parties vs pressure groups:

	Parties	Pressure groups
Aim	Win state power by contesting elections	Influence policy without contesting
Interests	Combine broad interests	Speak for narrower interests
Answer to	Voters	Their own members

• The two overlap. Some trade unions are party wings (INTUC with the Congress, CITU with the CPI(M), AITUC with the CPI), and some movements become parties (AAP grew out of the 2011 anti-corruption movement). Details are in civil-society-pressure-groups.

3. Party systems: one-party, two-party, multi-party and alliances

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• A party system is the pattern of how many parties seriously compete for power in a country.
• One-party system: only one party may rule, as the Communist Party does in China. It is not a democratic option because there is no free competition for power.
• Two-party system: two big parties take turns in power, as in the USA and UK (the UK now has strong third parties too). First-past-the-post (FPTP) voting tends to produce two parties (Duverger's law).
• Multi-party system: more than two parties can win power, alone or in coalitions. India has one because of its linguistic, religious and regional diversity (Class 9, Elections).
• Alliance (or front): parties that join together to contest elections and win power. In 2004 there were three: the NDA, the UPA and the Left Front. The INDIA bloc replaced the UPA in July 2023.
• Class 10 says "which system is better" is "not a very good question". A party system grows out of a country's society, history and electoral system.
• India's path:
• 1952–67: Congress dominance.
• 1967: Congress lost power in nine states, and Samyukt Vidhayak Dal (SVD) coalitions took over, driven by Lohia's non-Congressism.
• 1977: the Janata government, the first non-Congress government at the Centre.
• 1989–2014: the coalition era, including the UPA from 2004 to 2014 (NCERT wrongly says "2004 to 2019").
• 2014 and 2019: BJP majorities (282, then 303 seats).

• 2024: the BJP won 240 and governs through the NDA (293).

• Since 1996 almost every state party has shared power at the Centre, which has strengthened federalism.

4. Popular participation and the challenges parties face

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• SDSA survey (2007):
• In South Asia, more people say they have little or no trust in parties than say they have some or great trust. Parties are among the least trusted institutions worldwide.
• Yet more Indians report party membership than people in Canada, Japan, Spain or South Korea.

• Both membership and feeling "close to a party" have risen over three decades.

• The four challenges (Class 10):

• Lack of internal democracy. Power sits with one or a few leaders. Parties keep no membership registers and hold no regular meetings or internal elections. Loyalty to the leader counts for more than principles, so dissenters leave.
• Dynastic succession. Top posts stay within one family. This is unfair to ordinary workers and puts people without experience or popular support in power.
• Money and muscle power. Rich candidates and those who can raise money get tickets, donors influence policy, and parties back criminals who can win. Details are in electoral-reforms.

• Lack of meaningful choice. Parties differ little in ideology, especially on the economy, and the same leaders keep switching parties.

• Indian examples:

• Under Indira Gandhi the Congress "high command" chose Chief Ministers, a sign of a centralised party.
• The counter-example is 1966, when she beat Morarji Desai in a secret ballot of Congress MPs (Class 12).
• Women were only about 10% of Lok Sabha candidates in 2024 (verify).

5. Registration, deregistration and delisting of parties

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• Registration of political parties is done under s.29A of the RPA 1951 (added in 1989).
• A group applies to the ECI within 30 days of forming.

• Its constitution must declare true faith and allegiance to the Constitution and to socialism, secularism and democracy, and a commitment to India's sovereignty, unity and integrity.

• What registration brings:

• the right to accept contributions (s.29B);
• income-tax exemption (verify the current section);
• a common free symbol on request (para 10B of the Symbols Order);

• up to 20 star campaigners.

• A registered unrecognised political party (RUPP) is registered under s.29A but not recognised as a national or state party.

• Class 9 is wrong to say that "only registered parties can contest". Independents can stand freely.

• Deregistration of political parties: the ECI has no general power to cancel a registration. INC v. Institute of Social Welfare (2002) held that registration is a quasi-judicial act. It can be undone only in three cases: 1. registration was obtained by fraud; 2. the party gives up its s.29A allegiance; 3. the government declares the party unlawful. The ECI has asked for wider powers since 1998, and the Law Commission backed this in its 255th report (2015).

• Delisting of registered unrecognised parties removes a party from the ECI's list but does not deregister it. It targets parties that have not contested for six years or cannot be found at their address.

• 9 August 2025: 334 RUPPs delisted (RUPPs fell from 2,854 to 2,520).
• 18 September 2025: 474 more delisted, a total of 808.

• A third round issued notices to 359 RUPPs that had not filed accounts (verify current totals).

• NCERT's figure of "more than 750 registered parties" is outdated.

6. Recognition: national and state parties

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• The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968 is an ECI order issued under Art. 324. It recognises parties, reserves and allots symbols, and settles disputes. Sadiq Ali (1971) upheld it.
• A recognised political party gets:
• a reserved symbol;
• one proposer for nominations instead of ten;
• free copies of electoral rolls;
• free broadcast time on Doordarshan and AIR;

• up to 40 star campaigners.

• A state party (para 6A) must meet any one of these tests:

• 6% of assembly votes plus 2 MLAs;
• 6% of the state's Lok Sabha votes plus 1 MP;
• 3% of assembly seats or 3 seats, whichever is more;
• 1 Lok Sabha seat for every 25 seats allotted to the state;

• 8% of votes (added in 2011).

• A national party (para 6B) must meet any one of these tests:

• 6% of votes in four or more states plus 4 Lok Sabha seats;
• 2% of Lok Sabha seats (11) from at least three states;

• recognition as a state party in four states.

• Since a 2016 amendment, status is reviewed after two successive elections (verify).

• Six national parties after the ECI's order of 10 April 2023: AAP gained national status, while the TMC, NCP and CPI lost it (verify after any post-2024 review).

Party	Key facts
Indian National Congress	Founded 1885; centrist; led the UPA 2004–14; 99 seats in 2024
BJP	Founded 1980 from the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (1951); integral humanism; 240 seats in 2024
BSP	Founded 1984 by Kanshi Ram; 0 seats in 2024 (NCERT: 10 in 2019)
CPI(M)	Founded 1964; ruled West Bengal for 34 years
AAP	Founded 2012; governs Punjab; lost Delhi in February 2025
NPP	Founded 2013 by P.A. Sangma; first national party from the North-East

• NCERT slips: its "seven parties" should be six, and the TRS is now the BRS.

7. Symbols and symbol disputes

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• A reserved symbol belongs only to a recognised party, across India for a national party or within its state for a state party. Examples are the lotus and the hand.
• A free symbol is taken from the ECI's list. Returning officers give free symbols to independents and RUPP candidates. A RUPP can get one common free symbol for all its candidates (para 10B; verify the threshold).
• The ECI can freeze a symbol while a dispute is pending.
• Symbol dispute (para 15): the ECI decides which rival group is the party, and the decision binds the groups.
• Sadiq Ali v. ECI (1971) upheld this power and set the tests the ECI uses:
• the party's aims and objectives;
• its constitution;

• majority support in its organisational and legislative wings.

• The 1969 Congress split (Class 12):

• Party president Nijalingappa issued a whip to vote for N. Sanjiva Reddy in the presidential election. Indira Gandhi called for a "conscience vote", and V.V. Giri won.

• The party then split into Congress (O) and Congress (R). The ECI treated Indira's group as the real Congress.

• Recent disputes:

• Shiv Sena (ECI, 17 February 2023): the name and bow-and-arrow went to Eknath Shinde's faction. The ECI relied on legislative majority because the party's 2018 constitution was undemocratic.
• NCP (6 February 2024): Ajit Pawar's faction won.

• Critics say a legislative-majority test rewards defectors.

• Paragraph 16A of the Symbols Order: the ECI can suspend or withdraw a party's recognition if it breaks the Model Code of Conduct or ignores the ECI's lawful directions.

8. Defection and the Tenth Schedule

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• Defection means leaving the party on whose ticket a legislator was elected, or voting or abstaining against its direction. Class 9 gives two views of it:
• opportunism, in exchange for ministerial posts or cash;

• acting on conscience.

• "Aya Ram, Gaya Ram": in 1967 Haryana MLA Gaya Lal changed parties three times in a fortnight. After 1967, defectors brought down Congress governments in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (Class 12).

• The 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1985 added the Tenth Schedule, the anti-defection law. It also amended Arts. 101, 102(2), 190 and 191(2).
• Grounds for disqualification:
• Para 2(1)(a): voluntarily giving up party membership. Ravi S. Naik (1994) held this can be judged from conduct, such as openly working for another party; no formal resignation is needed. An expelled member still counts as belonging to the party (G. Viswanathan, 1996).
• Para 2(1)(b): defying the party whip, the party's direction on how to vote, unless the party condones it within 15 days. It covers votes inside the House, so cross-voting in a Rajya Sabha election is not a ground.

• Independent and nominated members (paras 2(2) and 2(3)): an independent is disqualified for joining any party. A nominated member is disqualified for joining one more than six months after taking the seat.

• Presiding officer's exemption (para 5): a Speaker, Chairman or deputy may give up party membership for the term of office and rejoin afterwards without disqualification.

• Para 6: the Speaker or Chairman decides disqualification cases.
• Legislature party: the party's members in the House. It is different from the party organisation.
• Effect: defections fell, but dissent became harder because MPs and MLAs "have to accept whatever the party leaders decide" (Class 10).

9. The anti-defection law in practice: the 91st Amendment and the courts

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• Split (anti-defection): para 3 used to protect a breakaway group of one-third of a legislature party. This turned single defections into group defections.
• The 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003:
• deleted the split exception;
• capped the Council of Ministers at 15% of the House (Arts. 75(1A), 164(1A); at least 12 in states);

• barred disqualified defectors from becoming ministers (Arts. 75(1B), 164(1B)) or holding paid political posts (Art. 361B).

• Merger exception (para 4): there is no disqualification if at least two-thirds of the legislature party agree to merge with another party. It has been used in Goa (2019 and 2022) and Rajasthan (2019) (verify).

• Kihoto Hollohan (1992, 3:2):
• upheld the Tenth Schedule;
• struck down para 7, which barred courts, because states had not ratified it under Art. 368(2);

• held that the Speaker acts as a tribunal whose decisions courts can review on limited grounds.

• Later cases:

• Rajendra Singh Rana (2007): rejected a claimed split; a Speaker's failure to decide can be reviewed.
• Nabam Rebia (2016): a Speaker facing a removal notice cannot decide disqualification cases; referred to a seven-judge bench (verify).
• Keisham Meghachandra Singh (2020): decide petitions within about three months; Parliament should consider an independent tribunal.
• Subhash Desai (2023): the political party, not the legislature party, appoints the whip; the Governor wrongly called a floor test; Uddhav Thackeray's government, which had resigned, could not be restored.

• Padi Kaushik Reddy (31 July 2025): the Telangana Speaker must decide the cases against 10 BRS MLAs within three months.

• Reform ideas:

• an independent tribunal, or the President or Governor deciding on the ECI's advice;
• binding time limits;
• limiting whips to confidence and money votes.

10. Reforming parties: internal democracy, transparency and RTI

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• What has been tried (Class 10):
• the anti-defection law;
• affidavits on candidates' assets and criminal cases, though no one checks whether they are true;

• an ECI order to hold organisational elections and file tax returns, which is "sometimes mere formality".

• Internal party democracy means parties run themselves democratically, with regular internal elections and open decisions.

• Class 9 says the ECI "ensures" this, which overstates it. The ECI has no legal power to enforce internal elections.

• Suggested reforms:

• a law to regulate parties' internal affairs: membership registers, following their own constitution, an independent authority for disputes, and open elections to top posts;
• about one-third of tickets for women;
• state funding of elections.
• The Law Commission's 170th report (1999) drafted such provisions.

• Germany's Basic Law (Art. 21) requires parties to be internally democratic.

• Caution (Class 10): over-regulation makes parties cheat the law, and parties will not pass laws they dislike.

• Political parties under RTI:
• The CIC (3 June 2013) held six national parties to be public authorities under s.2(h) of the RTI Act, because they receive indirect public funding and do public work.

• The parties did not comply, and the matter is pending in the Supreme Court (verify).

• Other routes: citizen pressure through petitions, publicity and agitation, and good people joining parties, because "bad politics can be solved by more and better politics".

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Exam angles

Prelims — high-yield facts and traps

• Tenth Schedule paragraphs:
• 2(1)(a): voluntarily giving up membership;
• 2(1)(b): defying the whip, condonable within 15 days;
• 2(2): independents;
• 2(3): nominated members after six months;
• 3: split (deleted in 2003);
• 4: merger by two-thirds;
• 5: presiding officers;
• 6: the Speaker or Chairman decides;

• 7: bar on courts (struck down in Kihoto).

• 52nd (1985) vs 91st (2003) Amendments: the 52nd added the Tenth Schedule. The 91st brought the 15% cap on ministers, the bars in Arts. 75(1B), 164(1B) and 361B, and deleted the split exception.

• Recognition tests:
• National party: 6% in four states plus 4 Lok Sabha seats; or 2% of seats from three states; or state party in four states.
• State party: five alternative tests, including 8% of votes.

• There are six national parties; the TMC, NCP and CPI were de-recognised in April 2023.

• Registration and delisting:

• Registration is under s.29A (1989), with allegiance to socialism, secularism and democracy.
• The ECI can deregister only on three grounds (INC v. Institute of Social Welfare, 2002).

• 808 RUPPs were delisted in August–September 2025.

• Case–principle pairs:

• Sadiq Ali: symbol disputes and majority tests.
• Kihoto: the Speaker acts as a tribunal, with limited court review.
• Ravi S. Naik: conduct can show a member has left the party.
• G. Viswanathan: an expelled member stays bound by the party.
• Keisham: three months, and the tribunal idea.
• Subhash Desai: the party organisation appoints the whip.

• Padi Kaushik Reddy: three-month direction to the Telangana Speaker.

• The Symbols Order comes from Art. 324 and is not a statute. Para 15 covers disputes; para 16A covers suspension for Model Code violations.

• Party founding dates: INC 1885, BJS 1951, CPI(M) 1964, BJP 1980, BSP 1984 (Kanshi Ram), AAP 2012, NPP 2013.
• Statement traps:
• "Rajya Sabha cross-voting attracts disqualification": FALSE.
• "A nominated member joining a party within six months is disqualified": FALSE.
• "The ECI can enforce internal party elections": FALSE.
• "Only registered parties' candidates can contest": FALSE.
• "The CIC's 2013 RTI order has been implemented": FALSE.

Mains — GS-II themes

1. Why parties are essential yet distrusted: their functions set against the four challenges, with Indian examples.
2. The anti-defection law: stable government vs dissent and debate; Speakers' bias and delay (Kihoto to Padi Kaushik Reddy); reform options.
3. Internal democracy and dynastic politics: the case for a law regulating parties vs the risk of over-regulation; Law Commission 170th report; the German model.
4. Transparency: whether RTI should cover parties, how funding is disclosed, and the ECI's lack of power to deregister.
5. The multi-party system: the rise of state parties, coalition federalism since 1996, and the effects of FPTP.
6. The ECI as the regulator of parties: recognition reviews and symbol disputes after splits (Shiv Sena, NCP).
7. Parties vs pressure groups: how they work together, how parties capture groups, and how movements become parties.

Current-affairs hooks

• Disqualification cases pending before Speakers; follow-up to the Telangana ruling; the seven-judge reference on Nabam Rebia.
• ECI recognition reviews after elections; further RUPP delisting rounds.
• Splits, mergers and symbol disputes in state parties; governments changed through mass resignations.
• Supreme Court hearings on bringing parties under RTI; calls for a law on internal party democracy.
• Seat-sharing and alliance-building in the NDA and the INDIA bloc.