12 Class Political Science – II Chapter 5 Parties and Party System in India Notes
| Textbook | NCERT |
| Class | Class 12 |
| Subject | Political Science 2nd book |
| Chapter | Chapter 5 |
| Chapter Name | Parties and Party System in India |
| Category | Political Science |
| Medium | English |
Class 12th Political Science – II Chapter 5 Parties and Party System in India Notes here we will be learn about One Party Dominance, Bi-Party System, Multi-Party Coalition System etc.
Formation of Election Commission : –
🔹 Our constitution was signed and adopted on 26 November 1949 , and came into effect on 26th Jana 1950. At that time the country was being ruled by an interim government. it was now necessary to form the first democratically elected government of the country. The election commission of India was set up in January 1950 and Sukumar Sen became the first chief election commissioner.
Challenges of Election Commission : –
- To hold a free and fair election.
- Drawing the boundaries of the electoral constituencies.
- Preparing the electoral roll.
- Training of over 300000 officers and polling staff to conduct the elections.
- To Think about a different technique of voting suitable for illiterate voters.
First General Election : –
🔹 The first general elections were held from October 1951 to February 1952. This election is referred to as the 1952 elections since most parts of the country voted in January 1952.
🔹 In the first general election of 1952 , Congress party won The Communist Party of India came next in terms of seats and won only 16 seats. State elections were also held with the Lok Sabha elections.
🔹 Congress scored big victory in state elections as well It won a majority of seats in most of the states except Travancore – Cochin , Madras and Odisha.
🔹 The Congress maintained the same position in second and third general election held in 1957 and 1962 respectively.
Congress System : –
🔹 There was the dominance of Indian National Congress in first three general elections i.e , 1952 , 1957 and 1962. This was was known as Congress System. Congress acted both as the ruling party as well as the opposition. Therefore . This period of Indian politics has been described as the ” CONGRESS SYSTEM “.
One Party dominance in India and in other countries : –
🔹 In most of the cases the dominance of one party was ensured by compromising democracy. In some countries like China , Cuba and Syria the constitution permits only a single party to rule the country. While in some other like Myanmar , Belarus , Egypt are effectively one party States due to legal and military measures / reasons.
Reasons of Congress Dominance in the first three General Election : –
- Important role in the National Movement.
- Only party to have an organisation spread all over the country.
- Most popular and charismatic leaders.
- The coalitional nature of the Congress party tolerated and encouraged various factions.
Emergence of Opposition Parties : –
🔹 India had a larger number of diverse and vibrant opposition parties than many other multi – party democracies. The root of all the non – Congress parties that exist now be traced to 1950s. All these opposition parties have has only a token representation in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies , but their presence played a crucial role in maintaining the democratic character of the system.
Role of Opposition Parties : –
🔹 The opposition parties offered a sustained and principled criticism of the policies and practices of the Congress party. They kept the Congress under check and influenced the balance of power within the Congress party.
Opposition Party : –
🔶 Socialist Party : –
🔹 Socialist Party was formed in 1934 by Acharya Narendra Dev. Later on , it was separated to form Socialist Party in 1948 with ideology of democratic socialism and criticised capitalism.
🔹 Jayaprakash Narayan , Achyut Patwardhan , Asoka Mehta , Acharya Narendra Dev , Rammanohar Lohia and SM Joshi were among the leaders of the socialist parties. Many parties in contemporary India , like the Samajwadi Party , the Rashtriya Janata Dal , Janata Dal ( United ) and the Janata Dal ( Secular ) trace their origins to the Socialist Party.
🔶 Bharatiya Jana Sangh : –
🔹 It was formed in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee with the ideology of one country , one culture and one nation and called for a reunion of India and Pakistan in Akhand Bharat.
🔹 The party was a consistent advocate of India developing nuclear weapons especially after China carried out its atomic tests in 1964. The party’s leaders included Shyama Prasad Mukherjee , Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Balraj Madhok.
🔶 Communist Party of India : –
🔹 The Communist Party of India was primarily secular , modern and authoritarian. From 1935 , the Communists worked mainly from within the fold the Indian National Congress.
🔹 AK Gopalan , SA Dange , EMS Namboodiripad , PC Joshi. Ajay Ghosh and P Sundarraya were among the notable leaders of the CPI.
🔹 The party went through a major split in 1964 following the ideological rift between Soviet Union and China. The pro – Soviet faction remained as the CPI , while the opponents formed the CPI ( Marxist ). Both these parties continue to exist to this day.
🔶 Swatantra Party : –
🔹 Swatantra Party was formed in August 1959 after the Nagpur Resolution of the Congress which called for land ceilings. Its important leaders were C Rajagopalachari , KM Munshi , NG Ranga , and Minoo Masani. Its ideology . emphasised on the free economy and less involvement of government in controlling the economy and advocated closer relations with the USA. The Swatantra Party was against land ceilings in agriculture and opposed cooperative farming and state trading.
1960 as Dangerous Decade : –
🔹 because Unresolved Problems like :
- Poverty
- Inequality
- Communal and regional divisions
- The decade is also called dangerous because during this time India faced two Wars , 1962 ( India China War ) and 1965 ( India Pakistan War ).
- Could lead to the failure of the democratic project or even the distintergration of the country.
Challenges of Political Succession : –
- After the death of Jawaharlal Nehru in May 1964 , Lal Bahadur Shastri , who was Prime Minister of the country till January 1966 , died in Tashkent on January 10 , 1966.
- After the death of Shastri , the struggle for political successor between Morarji Desai and Indira Gandhi started , and Indira Gandhi was made the Prime Minister.
- The Syndicate supported Indira Gandhi to become the Prime Minister despite being inexperienced , assuming that she would depend on the Syndicate for direction.
- Despite Intense competition for leadership , a peaceful transition of power was seen as a sign of maturity of India’s democracy.
During the tenure of Lal Bahadur Shastri challenges faced by India : –
- During the tenure of Lal Bahadur Shastri , ( Prime Minister from 1964 to 1966 the country faced two challenges :
- Indo – Pak War of 1965
- Food Crisis ( Monsoon failure , )
🔹 Shastri ji gave the slogan of ” Jai Jawan Jai Kisan ” to face these challenges . The Tashkent Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan in Tashkent , ( Soviet Union ) in 1966. The Tashkent Agreement was signed by Lal Bahadur Shastri on behalf of India and Mohammed Ayub Khan on behalf of Pakistan.
Grave Economic Crisis Due to : –
- Failure of Monsoon.
- Depletion of foreign exchange reserves
- A decline in Agricultural production
- Sharp rise in military expenditure ,
- Drop in industrial production and exports
- Widespread Drought in the country ,
Problems during the 1967 Elections : –
🔹 The year 1967 is regarded as a landmark year in India’s electoral and political history. The country during 1967 elections experienced major changes. These are as follows : –
- Two Prime Ministers had died in quick succession and the new Prime Minister ( Indira Gandhi ) , who had been in office for less than a year was regarded as politically amateur.
- This period was characterised by serious economic crises because of several factors.
- The devaluation of Indian Rupee was also undertaken by Indira government.
- Economic situation caused price rise in the country.
- The government treated protest , strike , dharna as a law and order problem , not as expressions of the people’s problems.
- The communist and socialist parties launched struggles for greater equality. Communist Party of India ( Marxist – Leninist ) led armed agrarian struggles and organised peasant agitations.
- This period also witnessed some of the worst Hindu – Muslim riots since Independence.
Fourth General Election 1967 Known as Political Earthquake : –
🔹 Opposition parties started mobilizing the public. The result of elections has been termed as political earthquake because the Congress lost the election for the first time , with lowest tally of seats received and share of votes.
🔹 Congress could not form government in 9 states i.e.- Uttar Pradesh , Bihar , Madhya Pradesh , Madras , West Bengal , Orissa , Punjab , Kerala and Haryana.
Presidential Election 1969 : –
🔹 Following Dr Zakir Hussain death the post of President of India fell vacant that year. Despite Mrs Gandhi’s reservations , the Syndicate managed to nominate her longtime opponent the then speaker of the Lok Sabha N. Sanjeeva Reddy as the official Congress candidate for the ensuring presidential elections. Indira Gandhi retaliated by encouraging the then vice president VV Glri to file his nomination as an independent candidate.
🔹 Indira Gandhi openly called for a conscious vote which meant that use MP and MLA from the Congress should be free to vote the way they wanted in this election. This ulitmetely resulted in the victory of VV Girl the independent candidate and the defeat of Sanjeeva Reddy the official Congress candidate.
Split in the Congress : –
🔹The defeat of the official Congress candidate formalized the split in the party. The differences between Syndicate and Indira and Indira Gandhi supported candidates in the presidential election With the victory of VV Giri and the defeat of Congress’s official candidate N. Sanjeeva Reddy , the Congress had to face the challenge of partition in 1969 and the Congress got divided into
- Congress ( 0 ) ( Syndicate supported group ) and
- Congress ( R ) ( Indira supported group ).
🔹 Indira Gandhi projected the split as an ideological divide between socialists and conservatives , between the pre poor and the pro rich.
Reasons of split of Congress : –
- Differences between the then Finance Minister Morarji Desai on issues like Privy Purse.
- Differences among Syndicate and young Turks.
- Indira Gandhi’s expiilsion from Congress.
- Indira Gandhi not giving importance to Syndicate.
- discord on right and left wing
Defection : –
🔹 When a public representative wins the election symbol of a particular party and after winning the election joins other party leaving that part , it is called defection.
🔹 Gaya Lal , a Congress MIA from Haryana , changed the party three times in a fortnight after the elections of 1967. This became related to the concept of defections.
SYNDICATE : –
🔹 The influential and powerful leaders in the Congress were called SYNDICATE.
| LEADERS OF SYNDICATE | NAME OF STATE |
|---|---|
| K.Kamraj | Madras |
| SK Patil | Bombay city |
| KS Nijalingappa | Mysore ( Karnataka ) |
| Atulya Ghosh | West Bengal |
| N.Sanjiv Reddy | Andhra Pradesh |
🔹 These leaders had control over the party’s organization.
PRIVY PURSE : –
🔹 The integration of the princely states was preceded by an assurance that after the dissolution of princely rule the then rulers families would be allowed to retain certain private property and given a grant in heredity or government allowance measured on the basis of the extent , revenue and potential of the merging state. This grant was called PRIVY PURSE.
1971 Election : –
🔹 Party In 1971 , all the major non communist , non Congress opposition parties formed an electoral alliance known as the GRAND ALLIANCE. The SSP , PSP , Bhartiya Jan Sangh , Swatantra party and the Bhartiya Kranti Dal came together under this umbrella. The ruling party had an alliance with the CPI.
🔹 Indira Gandhi put forward a positive program captured in the famous slogan Garibi Hatao ( remove poverty ). She focused on the growth of the public sector , the imposition of a ceiling on rural land holdings and urban property , removal of disparities in income and opportunity and abolition of princely privileges.
Conclusion of 1971 Election : –
🔹 In the 1971 elections , Indira Gandhi reclaimed the lost land of her base and re – established the Congress with the slogan ” Remove Poverty ” Socialist leader Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia named this strategy as NON CONGRESS.
🔶 1971 Election results : –
| Name of Party / Coalition | Number of Seats |
|---|---|
| Congress R and CPI | 375 |
| Coalition | 352 Congress R + 23 CPI |
| Congress O | 16 |
| The Grand Alliance | Less than 40 |
Restoration of the congress system : –
🔹 In the 1971 general elections , Indira Gandhi attempted to bring the Congress to power with an absolute majority , for which Indira Gandhi initiated various public welfare programs , resulting in the Congress coming to power with an absolute majority in the elections.
Reasons of the polpularity of Indira Gandhi in 1971 Election : –
- Mrs Gandhi’s miraculous leadership
- Socialist policies
- Indira Gandhi’s grip on Congress party
- Polarization of votes
- Weak opposition
- Slogan of ‘ Garibi Hatao ‘
Non – Congressism : –
🔹 This situation was also affected from ongoing party politics in the country. Opposition parties were in the forefront of organising public protests and pressurising the government. Non – Congress political parties realised that the division of their votes kept the Congress in power.
🔹 The parties that were entirely different and desperate in their ideology and programmes came together to form anti – Congress front in some state and also entered seat sharing arrangement in other. They thought that the inexperience of Indira Gandhi and internal factionalism within the Congress will help them to collapse the Congress . Ram Manohar Lohiya , a socialist leader called this strategy ‘ non – Congressism ‘.
Politics of ‘ Garibi Hatao ‘ : –
🔹 Through ‘ Garibi Hatao ‘ Indira Gandhi tried to generate a support base among the disadvantaged especially among the landless labourers , Dalits and adivasis , minorities , women and the unemployed youth.
🔹 The slogan of garibi hatao and the programs that followed it were part of Indira Gandhi’s political strategy of building an independent nation wide political support base.
🔹 As a result Indira Gandhi got a complete majority in 1971 elections. The Congress – R and CPI alliance won more seats and votes than the Congress had ever won in the first four general elections.
Party System : –
🔹 Party system refers to the typical structure of parties within a political system. It describes the number of parties that compete effectively in a political culture.
🔹 There are majorly three types of party systems that are : –
- One – party System : – It refers to a political framework where one or single political party forms and runs the government.
- Bi – party System : – It refers to a political framework where two major parties dominate voting at all levels of government. For example , the United States.
- Multi – party System : – A multi – party system is where many parties compete for power and government will often pass between coalitions formed by different combinations of parties. India is an example of Multi – party coalition system.
Multi – Party Coalition System : –
🔹 The elections of 1967 brought the phenomenon of multi – party coalitions. As no single party got majority , various non – Congress parties came together to form non – Congress governments. In most of these cases , the coalition partners were ideologically opposite to each other.
🔹 The concept of Alliance politics also emerged after the fifth general elections of 1971 , as Congress ( R ) – CPI alliance won more seats.
🔹 The Congress ( R ) and CPI together won 375 seats in the Lok Sabha and secured 48.4 % vote share and Indira’s Congress ( R ) itself won 352 seats with 44 % vote share.
Related Chapters
Challenges of nation building
Era of one party Dominance
Politics of Planned Development
India’s External Relations
Challenges to and restoration of the congress system
The Crisis of Democratic Order
Rise of Popular Movements ( Deleted )
Regional Aspirations
Recent Developments in Indian Politics