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EXPLAIN POLITICAL PARTIES
A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good. They seek to implement their policies by winning popular support through elections.
characteristics:
i. All political parties have a symbol allotted by the Election Commission.
ii. They have some programmes and policies regarding the formation of a government.
iii. All political parties are registered and have large number of supporters with a leader.
iv. Normally they contest in the elections.
Functions
i.Parties contest elections . In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties. In some countries, such as the USA, members and supporters of a party choose its candidates. In other countries like India, top party leaders choose candidates for contesting elections.
ii.Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them. A party reduces a vast multitude of opinions into a few basic positions which it supports. A government is expected to base its policies on the line taken by the ruling party.
iii.Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated and passed in the legislature. Since most of the members belong to a party, they go by the direction of the party leadership, irrespective of their personal opinions.
iv.Parties form and run governments . Parties recruit leaders, trains them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want.
v.Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticizing government for its failures or wrong policies.
vi.Parties shape public opinion . They raise and highlight issues. Parties have lakhs of members and activists spread all over the country. Many of the pressure groups are the extensions of political parties among different sections of society. Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution of problems faced by people. Often opinions in the society crystallize on the lines parties take.
vii.Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments. For an ordinary citizen it is easy to approach a local party leader than a government officer. That is why they feel close to parties even when they do not fully trust them. Parties have to be responsive to people’s needs and demands.Otherwise people can reject those parties in the next elections.


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