47 Topics.
0 of 17 Concepts Done
What to Study: What makes a group of people a political party? Understand the elements of the definition. Be clear how gaining power through constitutional means sets a party apart from other ways of seeking power.
What to Study: What are the four types of parties in modern democracies, and how does each treat the existing institutions? Understand how political scientists place these types on the left, centre and right. Remember an Indian example for each position.
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 1996
What to Study: What are the three kinds of party systems, and what marks each one? Remember country examples for each, including the two main parties of the USA and of Britain.
What to Study: Why does India have so many parties? You should be able to explain how each factor (size, diversity, universal adult franchise) adds to this. Know the range of party categories that exist. Understand what so many parties mean for the makeup of legislatures and for forming governments.
What to Study: Which political analyst described the Indian party system in a special way because one party led for so long, and what two labels did he use? Understand how this dominance existed alongside many parties. Remember when it began to decline and which parties rose afterwards.
What to Study: Which parties are seen as having a clear ideology? Why are the others seen as close to one another? Understand the ideals most parties share and the view that power is every party's main aim. This is an opinion about Indian parties, not a legal or settled fact.
What to Study: How do parties come to be organised around a leader? Understand what this does to the importance of the party and its manifesto. Remember the well-known saying about political personalities and political parties in India.
What to Study: On what basis are parties formed in western countries, and on what basis are many parties formed in India? Understand how the Indian basis affects the general public interest.
What to Study: How did regional parties grow from ruling in states to playing a role in national politics? You should be able to explain what coalition governments at the Centre had to do with it.
What to Study: After which general election did defections become much more common? Understand why politicians leave their parties and the forms this takes, such as splits and mergers. Explain the effect on stability at the Centre and in the states. The anti-defection law is a separate topic.
What to Study: What does an effective Opposition do in a parliamentary democracy? Explain why India has largely lacked one, and how the Opposition parties' own conduct has weakened it.
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2024
What to Study: Remember the founders and founding years of the older and all-India parties (INC, CPI, BJP, BSP, AITC, NCP, AAP, NPP) and of the major regional parties (DMK, AIADMK, TDP, AGP, BJD, TRS, YSRCP). Know the order in which parties were formed. What is the TRS now called? Note that the CPI's founder and founding year are disputed.
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2001
What to Study: Under which law are parties registered with the Election Commission? On what basis does it recognise a party as a national or a state party, and what are the other parties called? Does a party lose recognition after one poor election? Understand the 2016 rule on continued recognition. What other names are used for national and state parties?
What to Study: Which privileges does recognition give a party? Understand how reserved symbols differ from free symbols. Be clear which kind of party gets which, and where a reserved symbol can be used.
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 1995UPSC 2001
What to Study: Remember the three conditions for recognition as a national party, with their figures for votes, seats and states. Must a party meet all three? Know which legal instrument lays them down, and whether it is the Constitution itself.
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 1995
What to Study: Remember the five conditions for recognition as a state party, with their figures: those combining votes and seats, those based on seats alone, and the one based on votes alone. Understand how this test differs from the one for a national party.
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2001
What to Study: How many national parties and state parties were there at the first general elections in 1952, and how many on the eve of the 2019 elections? Remember which parties were national parties in 2019. Which parties are national parties now, after the Election Commission's 2023 order? Understand why these numbers keep changing.