A study on the changing political ideologies of parties in India

  • Unique Paper ID: 169242
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue: 12
  • PageNo: 290-295
  • Abstract:
  • In recent years, India has witnessed a succession of unstable governments, and the reason for such a recurring phenomenon is said to be the archaic and chaotic functioning of political parties. Political parties are indispensable to any democratic system and play the most crucial role in the electoral process in setting up candidates and conducting election campaigns. Alliances and coalitions are made between political parties, broken and changed at whim and fancy and the residual powers are held not by those at the Union level, but by minor parties on the fringes. There is no doubt that Indian political parties have fragmented over the years. Frequent party splits, mergers and counter splits have dramatically increased the number of parties that now contest elections. In 1952, seventy four parties contested elections, while in recent years, this number has increased to more than 177 and has been consistently increasing since 1989. The research question which needs to be answered is the instability at the Union level or in the States be attributed solely to the growing number of parties or the malaise with which, the political system suffers today lies in the functioning and the dynamics of the party system in India, apart from of course, the other causes in the working of the political system as a whole. Political parties and the party system in India have been greatly influenced by cultural diversity, social, ethnic, caste, community and religious pluralism, traditions of the nationalist movement, contrasting style of party leadership and clashing ideological perspectives. The two major categories of political parties in India are National and State and are so recognized by the Election Commission of India on the basis of certain specified criteria. As of today, there are six national parties (seven after the split in the Janata Dal in August 1999) and 38 regional parties recognized as such by the Election Commission of India. Each political party will have its own manifesto to face the elections. This paper attempts to make a comparative analysis of the election manifestos of different political parties.

Cite This Article

  • ISSN: 2349-6002
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue: 12
  • PageNo: 290-295

A study on the changing political ideologies of parties in India

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