Political Parties, Party System and Voting Behaviour

Political Parties and Party System in India

Political Parties: Meaning and Types

• Political parties are voluntary associations sharing political views, aiming to gain power through constitutional means, and promoting national interest.
• Four types of political parties exist in modern democratic states:
  • Reactionary parties: cling to old socio-economic and political institutions.
  • Conservative parties: believe in maintaining the status quo.
  • Liberal parties: aim to reform existing institutions.
  • Radical parties: seek to establish a new order by overthrowing existing institutions.
• Political scientists classify parties by ideology:
  • Radical parties: Left.
  • Liberal parties: Center.
  • Reactionary and conservative parties: Right.
• Examples in India:
  • CPI and CPM: Leftist parties.
  • Congress: Centrist party.
  • BJP: Rightist party.

Party Systems

• Three kinds of party systems exist:
  • One-party system: Only one ruling party exists, and no opposition is permitted (e.g., former communist countries like the USSR).
  • Two-party system: Two major parties exist (e.g., USA and Britain).
  • Multi-party system: Numerous political parties exist, leading to coalition governments (e.g., France, Switzerland, and Italy).

Functions of Political Parties

• Parties contest elections:
  • Elections are primarily fought among candidates nominated by political parties.
  • Candidate selection varies: In some countries like the USA, members choose candidates. In others like India, top leaders decide.
• Parties present different policies and programs:
  • Parties group similar opinions to provide a direction for government policies.
  • Parties reduce a vast array of opinions into basic positions.
  • Governments base policies on the ruling party's line.
• Parties play a decisive role in law-making:
  • Laws are debated and passed in the legislature.
  • Most members follow party leadership, regardless of personal opinions.
• Parties form and run governments:
  • Political executives from parties make big policy decisions.
  • Parties recruit, train, and appoint leaders as ministers.
• Opposition parties check the ruling party:
  • They voice different views and criticize government failures.
  • Opposition parties mobilize dissent.
• Parties shape public opinion:
  • They raise and highlight issues.
  • Parties have numerous members and activists nationwide.
  • They launch movements for problem resolution.
  • Opinions crystallize along party lines.
• Parties provide access to government machinery and welfare schemes:
  • Citizens find it easier to approach local party leaders than government officers.
  • Parties must be responsive to people's needs to avoid rejection in elections.

Recognition of National and State Parties

• The Election Commission registers parties and grants recognition based on poll performance.
• The recognized parties get privileges like:
  • Allocation of party symbols.
  • Time for political broadcasts.
  • Access to electoral rolls.
  • Need of only one proposer for filing the nomination.
  • Allowed to have forty “star campaigners” during the time of elections compared to twenty for registered-unrecognized parties.
  • Travel expenses of star campaigners are excluded from candidate election expenditure.
• National parties have exclusive symbols nationwide.
• State parties have exclusive symbols in their recognized states.
• Registered-unrecognized parties select from a list of free symbols.
• Commission specifies reserved symbols for recognized parties and free symbols for others.

Conditions for Recognition as a National Party

1. Secures 6% of valid votes in any four or more states in a general election to the Lok Sabha or legislative assembly; and wins four seats in the Lok Sabha from any state/states.
2. Wins 2% of seats in the Lok Sabha at a general election; and these candidates are elected from three states.
3. Recognized as a state party in four states.

Conditions for Recognition as a State Party

1. Secures 6% of valid votes in the state in a general election to the legislative assembly; and wins 2 seats in the assembly.
2. Secures 6% of valid votes in the state in a general election to the Lok Sabha; and wins 1 seat in the Lok Sabha.
3. Wins 3% of seats in the legislative assembly or 3 seats, whichever is more.
4. Wins 1 seat in the Lok Sabha for every 25 seats (or any fraction thereof) allotted to the state.
5. Secures 8% of the total valid votes in the state at a general election to the Lok Sabha or legislative assembly (added in 2011).

• The number of recognized parties changes based on general election performance.
• On the eve of the seventeenth Lok Sabha general elections (2019), there were 7 national parties, 52 state parties and 2354 registered-unrecognised parties.
• National and state parties are also known as all-India parties and regional parties, respectively.

Party System in India: Characteristic Features

1. One-Dominant Party System:
   • For a long period, the Congress dominated the Indian political scene.
   • Rajni Kothari called it a ‘one party dominance system’ or the ‘Congress system’.
   • The Congress's dominance declined since 1967 with the rise of regional and other national parties like Janata (1977), Janata Dal (1989) and the BJP (1991), leading to a competitive multi-party system.
2. End of the Era of One-Party Domination:
   • From independence until 1989, the Congress Party dominated.
   • Coalition governments emerged after 1989 because no single party secured a majority in the Lok Sabha.
   • For example, in 1989, V.P. Singh formed a government with external support from the BJP and other parties, but it was short-lived.
3. Multi-Party System:
   • India's size, diverse society, universal adult franchise, and political process have led to many parties.
   • India has the largest number of political parties in the world.
   • In 2019, there were 7 national parties, 52 state parties, and 2354 registered-unrecognised parties.
   • India has left, centrist, right, communal, and non-communal parties.
   • Hung Parliaments, hung assemblies, and coalition governments are common.
4. Lack of Clear Ideology:
   • Except for the BJP, CPI, and CPM, most parties lack a clear ideology.
   • They are ideologically similar, advocating democracy, secularism, socialism, and Gandhism.
   • Every party is primarily guided by power capture.
   • Politics has become issue-based, and pragmatism has replaced commitment to principles.
5. Personality Cult:
   • Parties are often organized around an eminent leader.
   • Parties are known by their leaders rather than their manifestos.
   • The Congress's popularity was mainly due to Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi.
   • AIADMK and TDP were identified with MG Ramachandran and NT Rama Rao, respectively.
   • Several parties bear the name of their leader (e.g., Biju Janata Dal).
   • There are political personalities rather than political parties in India.
6. Based on Traditional Factors:
   • In western countries, parties are formed on socio-economic programs.
   • In India, many parties are formed on religion, caste, language, culture, and race.
   • Examples include Shiv Sena, Muslim League, Hindu Maha Sabha, Akali Dal and others.
   • These parties promote communal and sectional interests, undermining public interest.
7. Emergence of Regional Parties:
   • A significant feature is the rise of regional parties and their growing role.
   • They have become ruling parties in states like Orissa (BJD), Tamil Nadu (DMK or AIADMK), and Punjab (Akali Dal).
   • Initially confined to regional politics, they now play a significant role in national politics due to coalition governments.
   • In 1984, the TDP was the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha.
8. Factions and Defections:
   • Factionalism, defections, splits, mergers, fragmentation, and polarization characterize Indian parties.
   • Lust for power and material gain cause politicians to switch parties or start new ones.
   • Defections increased after the fourth general elections (1967), causing political instability.
   • Examples: two Janata Dals, two TDPs, two DMKs, two Communist Parties, two Congress, three Akali Dals, and three Muslim Leagues.
9. Lack of Effective Opposition:
   • An effective opposition is essential for parliamentary democracy.
   • It checks autocratic tendencies and provides an alternative government.
   • In the last 50 years, a strong, organized, and viable national opposition has struggled to emerge.
   • Opposition parties often lack unity and adopt conflicting positions and have failed to play a constructive role.
10. Criminalization of Politics:
    • Violence to promote political interests is increasing.
    • Many politicians have been victims of violence, and leaders related to the communal world are members of legislative bodies.
    • Law-breakers become lawmakers, threatening parliamentary democracy.
    • The Election Commission has imposed restrictions, but complete success has not been achieved.
11. Politization of Castes:
    • Caste has gained support from government and politicians through job quotas and vote banks.
    • There are more than 3000 castes and sub-castes in India and the politicization of castes by political leaders for selfish motives is a destructive tendency.
    • Casteism harms social unity and causes confrontation in political life.
12. Politization of Religion:
    • Efforts to politicize religion continue, despite India being a secular state.
    • Exploiting religious sentiments to attract support during elections is politicization of religion.
    • The politicization of religion is as bad as of caste and both tendencies are opposed to the healthy growth of democracy in India.
13. Decline of Ideology:
    • Political parties compromise their ideologies for power and stay in power and ideology has been related to third or fourth place and only the interests' matters.
14. Electoral Alliances and Coalition Government:
    • There are neither permanent friends nor permanent enemies in Indian politics.
    • BJP and Congress Party are doing the election match that would lead to a winning coalition.
    • One out of every two voters vote for a party other than the two premier national parties BJP and INC.
    • Dozens of smaller parties joined pre-poll coalitions, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and many parties have switched allegiances since 2014.

Determinants of Voting Behaviour

• Indian society is highly diversified.
• Voting behavior is influenced by multiple factors:
  • Socio-economic factors.
  • Political factors.

Socio-Economic Factors

1. Caste:
   • Caste is an important factor. Rajni Kothari said “Indian politics is casteist, and caste is politicized”.
   • Political parties consider caste when formulating election strategies.
   • Votes are demanded in the name of caste.
   • Paul Brass notes that caste solidarity remains the most important factor in voting behavior at the local level.
   • Local factions and inter-caste coalitions also influence voting behavior.
   • Morris Jones states that politics is more important to caste and vice versa.
   • Caste is the main language of voters belonging to rural India.
   • Implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations testifies to caste's continued presence.
   • Caste has played out differently in the electoral politics in different states.
   • Gujarat experienced a mixed dominance of upper and middle castes in determining electoral outcomes.
   • Madhya Pradesh forged caste coalitions between the middle castes and the upper castes.
2. Religion:
   • Religion is another significant factor.
   • The establishment of a secular state has not prevented religion from being a determinant of political and voting behavior.
   • Political parties indulge in communal propaganda and exploit religious sentiments.
   • No political party ignores the influence of religion.
   • The existence of communal parties has further added to the politicization of religion.
   • Significant religion-based parties are Shiromani Akali Dal, All India Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha, Shiv Sena etc.
   • Religious pluralism influences the struggle for power.
   • The selection of candidates is done with an eye upon the presence of a religious majority in a particular constituency.
   • Candidates seek votes by playing the religious card with co-religious voters and the secular card with members of others religious communities.
   • The voters very often vote on religious consideration.
3. Class:
   • Class is reflected in economic issues such as employment, price rise, land reforms, subsidies, removal of poverty, etc.
   • The slogan of garibi hatao given by the congress in the 1971 Lok Sabha election in which the party won handsomely determined the voting behaviour in favor of the congress.
   • The middle-class voting pattern in Indian democracy that of a shifting nature and peasantry, working class and tribes have been voting as a class coalition.
   • In the electoral democracy of the 21st century India, the middle class has emerged as a determining force.
   • The pro-BJP swing of the middle class may well be articulated in terms of their economic dissatisfaction with the neo-liberal policies but other socio-economic sectional ties also played their role.
4. Gender:
   • Gender refers mainly to women’s role in voting.
   • Since 1990s the participation of women voting in election have increased.
   • Voting is a device which enable women’s empowerment.
   • In India, rural women and urban household women generally vote the party and candidates as their head of the families do.
   • Urban educated and professional women cast their votes as per their assessment of the issues.
   • Increasing women's participation is attributed to political parties using women as a political constituency and campaigners.
   • Participatory increase is also due to media and women organizations generating awareness about their voting rights.
   • Reservations for women in Panchayats and success of the Election Commission in conducting largely violence-free elections expanded their participatory electoral Space.
5. Language:
   • Linguistic considerations influence voting behavior.
   • Political parties arouse linguistic feelings.
   • The re-organization of states on a language basis reflects language's significance.
   • The rise of DMK in Tamil Nadu and TDP in Andhra Pradesh can be attributed to linguism.
6. Region:
   • Regionalism and sub-regionalism play an important role.
   • Parochial feelings of sub-nationalism led to the emergence and perpetuation of regional parties.
   • These regional parties appeal to the electorate on the ground of regional identities and regional sentiments.
7. Personality:
   • Charismatic personality of the party leader plays an important role.
   • The towering image of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Jay Prakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi has significantly influenced the electorate.
8. Money:
   • The role of money factor cannot be overlooked.
   • Voters seek money, liquor, or goods in exchange for votes.
   • Money can influence decisions in normal circumstances, not in wave election.
   • Paul Brass explains that “A wave election is one in which a clear tendency begins to develop among the electorate in a single direction and in favor of a national party or its leader."
9. Performance of the Ruling Party:
   • The electorate judges the ruling party based on its election manifesto.
   • The anti-incumbency factor influences voting behavior.
10. Party Identification:
    • Personal and emotional association with parties plays a role.
    • People who identify with a party will always vote for it.
    • Party identification was especially strong in the 1950s and 1960s, since the 1970s, there has been a decline in the number of strong party identifiers.
11. Ideology:
    • The political ideology influences decision-making.
    • Some people are committed to ideologies like communism, capitalism, democracy, and secularism.
12. Other Factors:
    • Political events preceding an election (e.g., war, murder of leader, corruption scandals).
    • Economic conditions at the time of election (e.g., inflation, food shortage, unemployment).
    • Factionalism
    • Age
    • Sex
    • Education