Question

Suggest and explain any five measures to reform political parties.

Answer 1

Hint: A political party is an organised group of individuals who share the same ideology and contest elections at the local, state or national level. One of the most dominant features of Indian democracy is the multi-party system which means that there are a large number of parties competing to attain power both at the national and state level.

Complete Step by Step answer: Some effective measures to reform and ensure efficient working and transparency of political parties in India are:
-There is a need for a law to regulate the internal affairs of political parties.
-It should be made mandatory for political parties to maintain a register of its members and to give a minimum number of tickets.
-Women are severely under-represented in politics and thus there should be a quota of about 1/3rd tickets for women candidates within all national parties.
-Through state funding of elections, the government should give parties money to support their election expenses in kind or cash.
-Data regarding caste, religion, minority status should not be utilised to mobilise support during election campaigning or otherwise.

Note: For a party to be recognised as a national party in India, it has to one of the following conditions: It should win at least 2% of seats in the Lok Sabha from at least 3 different states or the party should poll 6% of votes in any four or more states during the Lok Sabha general elections and also, it wins four Lok Sabha seats or a party should be recognised as a state party in four states.