Political Parties - CBSE Sample Questions, Class 10 SST

Political Parties - CBSE Sample Questions, Class 10 SST

Q.1: What are the main functions of a political party?  [Long question 3-5 Marks]                     

Main functions of a political party are:

1. To contest elections

In democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by different political parties. Parties select their candidates in different ways. in India top party leaders choose candidates for contesting elections.

2. Forming policies and programmes

Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them.

3. Making laws

When parties come into power, they make laws for the country. Formally laws are debated and passed in the Legislature. Members of the ruling party follow the directions of the party leaders, irrespective of their personal opinions.

4. Parties form and run government

Parties recruit leaders, train them and then make them ministers to run government in the way they want.

5. Role of opposition

Parties that lose in elections, play the role of opposition to the parties in power by criticizing the government for its failure or wrong policies.

Q.2: What are the obstructions and challenges faced by political parties? [Long question 3-5 Marks]  

1.  Lack of Internal Democracy

a.  All over the world there is a tendency of political parties towards concentration of power in one or few leaders at the top.

b.  Not keeping membership register.

c.  They do not hold regular organizational meetings.

d.  They do not conduct internal elections regularly.

e.  Ordinary members of the party do not have sufficient access or information about the party affairs.

2.  Absence of Transparency

a.  Since most of the parties do not practice transparent procedures for their function, it becomes very difficult for ordinary members to rise to the top in the party.

b.  Leaders in such parties take undue advantage to favour people close to them or even their family members.

c.  In many such parties, the top positions are generally controlled by members of one family. This is bad for democracy since people without adequate experience or electoral support come to occupy positions of power.

3.  Money and Muscle Power

a.  Since parties are focused only on winning elections, they resolve to unethical methods to win elections.

b.  Parties tend to nominate those candidates who have or can raise lot of money.

c.  Rich people or organizations who provide funds to the parties tend to influence on policies and decision making of the party.

4.  Meaningful Choices

a.  In order to offer meaningful choice, parties must be significantly different.

b.  In absence of the above, those who really want different policies have no option available to them.

c. Sometimes, people cannot elect actually different people since the same set of candidates keep shifting from one party to another.                    

Q.3: Why do we need political parties? OR,

       What is the necessity of a political party in a democracy? OR

       Why modern democracies cannot exist without political parties?  

Political parties can be easily seen as one of the most visible institutions in democracies all over the world. The need of political parties lies in the facts –

1. It brings different representatives together so that a responsible government can be formed.

2. They act as a mechanism to restrict the government from framing any unjust policies or laws.

3. For most ordinary citizens, democracy means political parties. It happens because political parties fulfill the needs and aspirations of the people.

So, political parties are in fact, a necessary condition in modern democracies.       

Q.4: Mention some characteristics of political parties that distinguish them from other groups (parties).

A political party is a group of people with common ideology who come together to contest elections and hold power in the Government.

The characteristics that distinguish political parties from other groups are -

=> They agree on policies and programmes for the society from which the common people will be benefitted.

=> Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to persuade people why and how their policies are better than others.

=> They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.

=> A party is known by what it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds.

=> A party runs with help of its leaders, active members and supporters.      

Q.5: Differentiate between a National and a Regional / State party.    

The differences between a National and a Regional / State party are as follows:

1. A party that secures at least 6% of total votes in an election to the Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least 2 seats is recognized as a State party e.g. Akali Dal of Punjab, Sikkim Democratic Front, Biju Janta Dal, Telugu Desam of AP etc.

2. A party that secures at least 6% of total votes in Lok Sabha or Assembly elections in four States and wins at least 4 seats in the Lok Sabha is recognized as a National party e.g. Indian National Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI - M), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) etc.

3. The national parties take interest in National as well as State issues whereas Regional / State parties are interested in promoting regional or sate interests only.        

Q.6: What is the role of ‘Opposition’ in democracy?

The various roles of the opposition parties in a democracy are listed as follows –

(a) It acts like a watchdog of democracy. It keeps a check on the role of the Government (Ruling Party) and restricts them from misusing the power.

(b) It provides to the people alternative policies and keeps them aware of the failure of the Government in performing their duties or making wrong policies.

(c) The opposition is always a viable alternative to the ruling government. 

Q.7: What is meant by ‘Defection’?

Defection is an act of changing party allegiance from the party on which a person got elected (to a Legislative body) to a different party. Earlier it has been an important cause for the formation as well as fall of government. MLAs and MPs were indulging in defection in order to become ministers or for cash rewards. Later on the Constitution was amended and defection has been banned by passing ‘Anti Defection Law’.

Q.8: What are the components of a political party?

A political party has three components –

1. Its leaders

2. Its active members and

3. Its followers. 

Q.9: How do the political parties put forward and implement different policies and programmes?

=> In a democracy there is a large number of similar opinions regarding what to be done for the people. Government needs to evolve a policy out of these. This work is done by the parties.

=> It reduces a vast number of opinions into a few basic ones which it supports. In this way government makes its policies based on the line taken by the ruling party.

=> Political parties implement their policies and programmes by winning elections or gaining popularity in the elections.

Q.10: Explain the terms - (a) Affidavit (b) Partisan and Partisanship (c) Election Commission (d) Opposition Party (e) Ruling Party

 (a) Affidavit - Affidavit is a signed document submitted to an officer, where a person makes a sworn statement regarding his/her personal information.

(b)  Partisan and Partisanship - In politics, ‘Partisan’ is referred to a person who is strongly committed to a party, group or a faction. Parties are a part of the society and thus, involve partisanship. Partisanship is marked by a tendency to take a side or inability to take balanced views.

(c) Election Commission - It is an independent multi-member body which is constituted for the superintendence, direction and conduct of elections.

(d) Opposition Party - The party that forms part of a legislature but is not in the Government is known s Opposition Party. Its main function is to check the activities of the Government.

(e) Ruling Party - The party which wins election with majority and rules the Government is called ‘Ruling Party’.