Question

State the various functions political parties perform in a democracy.

Answer 1

Hint: Democracy is simply defined as the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Political parties are the basis of any democracy since they form the government.

Complete step by step answer:
Political Party is a group of individuals/people who believe in the same ideology of how a society should be. A political party is a representative body in Democracy that raises the issues of people and work for their welfare. The political parties contest for the power of making decisions within Democracy. They prepare a manifesto mentioning welfare policies and guarantee to follow it if elected to rule. The political parties are the most important in shaping public opinions and forming policies. If the political parties are not in power they influence the government as being in opposition. They continuously provide an alternative option for voters. Even besides elections and running for power, the political parties are involved in society and they provide many free services in the society like cleaning public spaces, looking after the vulnerable sections in the society and providing them essential commodities etc.

Note: There are many forms of government that do not have a “party system” such as Monarchy, Dictatorship etc. The party system has three major classifications i.e. “one-party system” followed by China, “two-party system” seen in the U.S. and “multi-party system” as in India.