What a political party is and why democracies need parties

Detail

1. Meaning of a political party

• Political party: a group of people who come together to fight elections and hold power in government.
• Its members agree on some policies and programmes for the society, aimed at the collective good.
• It tries to convince people that its policies are better than those of other parties.

• If it wins, it tries to carry out those policies through the government.

• How we know a party: by three things:

• which part of society it stands for;
• which policies it supports;

• whose interests it protects.

• Three parts of a party:

Part	Who they are	Role
Leaders	A small group at the top	Make policy and contest elections
Active members	Workers on the ground	Run the organisation and campaign
Followers	Supporters and voters	Give votes and support

2. Legal meaning in India

• In law, a political party is a group of Indian citizens that calls itself a political party and is registered with the Election Commission of India (ECI) under Section 29A, Representation of the People Act, 1951 [2].

• Registration comes under Part IV-A of the RP Act, 1951. Only a group that wants to use this Part must register [2].

• Steps to register:

• Step 1: Apply to the ECI within 30 days of the party's formation, following the ECI's guidelines [2][3].
• Step 2: Publish the proposed name in two national and two local daily newspapers, on two days [3].
• Step 3: Anyone may send objections to the ECI within 30 days of that publication [3].

• Step 4: The ECI decides. The party must report any later change in its name, address or office-bearers without delay [2].

• Three classes of party with the ECI: National Party, State Party and Registered Unrecognised Political Party (RUPP), which is registered but has not won enough votes or seats to be recognised. Recognition is covered in Section 6.

• Data (2025): 6 National Parties, 67 State Parties and 2,854 RUPPs were registered [4].
• The ECI delisted 334 RUPPs that had not contested even one election in the six years since 2019 and whose offices could not be found at their addresses. This left 2,520 RUPPs [4][5].
• The ECI calls this part of a continuing drive to "clean up" the electoral system [4].

3. Partisanship: why parties are "partial"

• Partisanship: a strong commitment to one side, which makes a balanced view hard to take.
• A party is a part of society. So it reflects the basic social divisions in that society and is partisan by nature.
• The NCERT cartoon jokes that parties are "partial, partisan and lead to partitions."
• Visible but not popular:
• Parties are the most visible institution in a democracy. For most people, democracy means parties.
• Visibility is not popularity. People blame parties for much of what goes wrong in democracy: division, corruption and power-seeking.

4. Why democracies need parties

• History: a hundred years ago, few countries had political parties. Today, few countries are without them.
• Link to representative democracy: a large, complex society cannot govern itself directly. It needs an agency that will:
• collect different views on different issues;
• bring representatives together so that a responsible government can be formed (a government that must answer to the elected house and the people);

• support or restrain that government: make policies, defend them, or oppose them.

• Thought experiment: a democracy with only independents (candidates who belong to no party):

• No candidate could promise major policy changes, because no one person can carry them out alone.
• Governments would be formed, but their future would be uncertain, since support would shift from day to day.
• No one would answer for how the country is run.

• Each MP would answer only to their own constituency, so no one would look after the nation as a whole.

• Even non-party elections divide into groups: panchayat elections are officially fought without parties. Even so, villages split into rival factions, or "panels", which put up candidates. This works like a party system at village level.

• Role in elections: voters learn about candidates, policies and visions mainly through parties. Parties provide:
• governance: they form and run governments;
• accountability: someone can be blamed or rewarded at the next election;
• representation: different groups get a voice;
• public engagement: they draw citizens into politics.

5. Types of parties

• Maurice Duverger was a French political scientist. His book Political Parties (1951) is still respected, both for classifying parties and for linking party systems with electoral systems [6].
• Cadre-based party: a small, disciplined group of members, trained in the party's ideology. Communist parties are the usual example.
• Historically, these parties grew in 19th-century Europe and America. Small elite groups of activists ran them [7].

• They had relatively few members and relied on a few big donors, such as corporations and wealthy individuals [7].

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

• It can unite hundreds of thousands, even millions of followers. It tries to enrol any citizen willing to join, not just influential people [7].
• It raises small sums from many members, usually paid monthly or yearly, instead of large sums from a few people [7].

Basis	Cadre-based party	Mass-based party
Membership	Small, selected	Large, open to all
Discipline / ideology	High; members trained in doctrine	Looser; broad appeal
Funding	A few big donors [7]	Many small contributions [7]
Example	Communist parties	Most mass parties of the 20th century

• Other ways to classify parties:
• Ideological party: built around a clear doctrine, such as communist or religious-nationalist parties.
• Catch-all or "umbrella" party: brings together many groups and ideas under one roof. The early Congress, during the period of one-party dominance (the "Congress system"), is the classic Indian example.
• Leader- or family-centred party: a party built around one leader or one family.
• National vs state party: based on ECI recognition (Section 6).

6. Case study: how the type of organisation shapes democracy

• Before 1969: the Congress was a federal, faction-accommodating organisation.
• It had strong state units and powerful regional leaders.

• Rival groups bargained with one another inside the party.

• The 1969 split: Indira Gandhi defeated the old party bosses (the "Syndicate"). Her Congress then came to depend on one supreme leader.

• Power moved from state units to the leader at the top.

• Internal elections and bargaining between groups weakened.

• Sudipta Kaviraj's view: the Congress as an organisation "died" at the very moment of its victory.

• Lesson: the way a party is organised matters for democracy.
• A party with internal debate and strong local units absorbs conflict.
• A party built around one leader may win elections but loses that ability. Parties become weaker channels between citizens and the state.

Prelims Hooks

• Section 29A of the RP Act, 1951 deals with registration of political parties with the ECI. Registration falls under Part IV-A of the Act [2].
• A new party must apply to the ECI within 30 days of its formation [2][3].
• The proposed party name is published in 2 national + 2 local dailies, and objections are invited within 30 days [3].
• In 2025, the ECI listed 6 National Parties, 67 State Parties and 2,854 RUPPs. It delisted 334 RUPPs for not contesting any election since 2019 [4].
• Maurice Duverger's Political Parties (1951) classified parties and linked party systems to electoral systems [6].
• Cadre party = small, disciplined, ideologically trained core (e.g. communist parties). Mass party = wide membership and funding from many small dues [7].
• The three components of a party are leaders, active members and followers. Trap: "voters" or "office-bearers" alone is not the answer.
• Partisanship = a strong commitment to one side and an inability to take a balanced view. Trap: it is a feature of every party, not a legal offence.
• Panchayat polls are formally non-party, but villages still split into factional "panels".

Mains Points

• Parties are needed despite their flaws. Without parties, a representative democracy would have no one to promise and deliver policy, unstable governments and no collective accountability. The real choice is between better and worse parties, not between parties and no parties. (GS-II)
• Regulation focuses on registration, not inner democracy. The ECI registers parties under Section 29A of the RP Act, 1951 [2] and delisted 334 inactive RUPPs in 2025 [4]. But Indian law does not require internal party elections or transparent finances. Reform demands include a law on internal party democracy and audited accounts. (GS-II)
• How a party is organised shapes democracy. The Congress moved from a federal, faction-accommodating party to a leader-centred one after 1969, and Kaviraj says the organisation "died". Many family-run and leader-centred parties today raise the same concern: weak internal debate, nominated candidates, and loyalty to a leader rather than to a programme. (GS-I/GS-II)
• Partisanship is a trade-off. Parties must take sides to offer real choices. Too much partisanship deepens social divisions ("partial, partisan and lead to partitions"). A healthy party system channels divisions into peaceful competition. (GS-II)