We have provided you with Extra and Important Questions from Class 10 Social Science Civics Chapter 6 Political Parties. This Extra and Important Questions will help you to score 100% in your Board Exams. These extra questions will be helpful to revise the important topics and concepts.

Political Parties Class 10 Important Questions with Answers Civics Chapter 6

Extra Questions for Class 10 Civics Chapter 6 Very Short Answer Type

Question: What is the concept of political parties in rural areas?

Answer: If we travel to remote parts of our country and speak to the less educated citizens, we could come across people who may not know anything about our constitution or about the nature of our government. But chances are that they would know something about our political parties.

Question: What do you understand by partisan?

Answer: A person who is strongly committed to a party, group or faction.

Question: What do you understand by ‘Partisanship’?

Answer: It is marked by a tendency to take a side and inability to take a balanced view on an issue.

Question: How do parties run the government of a country?

Answer: Parties recruit leaders, train them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want.

Question: What is the role of opposition in a democracy?

Answer: Opposition parties voice different views and criticise the government for its failures or wrong policies.

Question: At what level, there are non-party based elections in our country?

Answer: Non-party based elections are held in panchayats of many states in India.

Question: How does it affect the Panchayat system?

Answer: Although, the parties do not contest formally, it is generally noticed that the village gets split into more than one faction, each of which puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates.

Question: What is one-party system?

Answer: In some countries, only one party is allowed to control and run the government. It is called one party system. E.g., China.

Question: What is a Bi-party system?

Answer: In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties. Such a party system is called bi-party system. E.g., UK and USA.

Question: What is a multi-party system?

Answer: If several parties compete to power and more than two parties have a reasonable chance of coming to power either on their own strength or in alliance with others, we call it a multi-party system.

Question: Give one merit of multi-party system.

Answer: This system allows a variety of interests and opinions to enjoy political representation.

Question: Give one demerit of multi-party system.

Answer: The multi-party system often appears very messy and leads to a political instability.

Question: How does a country choose a party system?

Answer: It evolves over a long time, depending on the nature of a society, its social and regional divisions, its history of politics and its system of elections.

Extra Questions for Class 10 Geography Chapter 6 Short Answer Type

Question: What is meant by dynastic succession in politics?

Answer: A rule in which the family’s generation rules. Lack of internal democracy and elections leads to dynastic succession in leadership. Nepotism arises as top leaders prefer to have their family members as successors, thereby the members who work at the grassroots are neglected.

Question: What are the major differences between the policies of CPI(M) and CPI?

Answer:

Question: How do parties perform the job of making laws for the country?

Answer: Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally, laws are debated in the form of first, second and third readings and then by popular voting, the bill is passed. But since most of the members belong to a party, they follow what their leader says, irrespective of their personal opinions.

Question: How is a government of alliances formed?

Answer: When several parties in a multi-party system join hands for the purpose of contesting elections and winning power, it is called an alliance or front. In India, there were three major alliances in 2004 parliamentary elections.

These were the National Democratic Alliance or NDA formed by BJP and its allies. Then the United Progressive Alliance or UPA led by Congress and its allies. The third one was the Left Front, which is formed by Communists or their parties like CPI and CPI(M).

Question: In what way lack of internal democracy is seen in the political parties?

Answer: All over the world, there is a tendency of political parties towards the concentration of power in one or few leaders at the top. Parties do not keep membership register. They do not regularly hold organisational meetings. They do not conduct interval elections regularly. Ordinary members of the party do not have sufficient information as to what happens inside the party. As a result, the leaders assume greater power to make decisions in the name of the party.

Question: Suggest any five effective measures to reform political parties. [CBSE (AI) 2016]

Answer: A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties. It should be made compulsory for political parties to maintain a register of its members, to follow its own constitution, to act as a judge in case of party disputes and to hold open elections to the highest post. It should be made mandatory for political parties to give minimum number of tickets, about one-third to the women candidates.

There should be state funding of elections. The government should give parties money to support their election expenses. This support can be given in a way like; petrol, paper, telephone, etc. Or, it could be given in cash on the basis of votes, secured by the party in the last elections. It should be mandatory to hold their organisational elections.

People can put pressure on political parties through petitions, publicity and agitation. Parties should reduce the influence of money and criminals. The parties should select candidates for contesting elections who have good record.

Question: “Nearly every one of the state parties wants to get an opportunity to be a part of one or the other national level coalition.” Support the statement with arguments. [CBSE Delhi 2016]

Answer: State parties seeking National level coalition: Before general election of 2014, in three general elections, no one national party was able to secure on its own a majority in Lok Sabha. With the result, the national parties were compelled to form alliances with state or regional parties. Since 1996, nearly every one of the state parties has got an opportunity to be a part of one or the other national level coalition government. This has contributed to the strengthening of federalism and democracy.

Question: What is a political party? State any two points of the ideology of Bhartiya Janata Party. [CBSE (F) 2016]

Answer: 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 ideology of BJP:

• Wants full territorial and political integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India.
• A uniform civil code for all people living in the country irrespective of religion.
• Cultural nationalism.

Question: What is meant by regional political party? State the conditions required to be recognised as a ‘regional political party’. [CBSE (AI) 2016]

Answer: A regional Party is a party that is present only in some states.Conditions required for a party to be recognised as a regional political party are:

• A party that secures at least six per cent of the total votes in an election to the legislative Assembly of a state.
• Party should win atleast two seats in the Legislative Assembly

Question: What is meant by a ‘national political party’? State the conditions required to be a national political party. [CBSE Delhi 2016]

Answer: National Political Party have units in the various states, they follow the same policies, programmes and strategy that is decided at the national level.Conditions required:

• A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in general elections of Lok Sabha or assembly elections in four states.
• Wins at least 4 seats in Lok Sabha.

Question: The first challenge faced by political parties is lack of internal democracy within parties. What do you understand by the statement? Explain. [CBSE Sample Paper 2016]

Answer:

• All over the world there is a tendency in political parties towards the concentration of power in one or few leaders at the top.
• Parties do not keep membership registers, do not hold organisational meetings, and do not conduct internal elections regularly.
• Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information on what happens inside the party.
• They do not have the means or the connections needed to influence the decisions. As a result, the leaders assume greater power to make decisions in the name of the party.
• Since one or few leaders exercise paramount power in the party, those who disagree with the leadership find it difficult to continue in the party.More than loyalty to party principles and policies, personal loyalty to the leader becomes more important.

Extra Questions for Class 10 Civics Chapter 6 Long Answer Type

Question: Why does modern democracies could not exist without political parties?

Answer: (i) We can understand the necessity of political parties by imagining a situation without parties. Every candidate in the elections will be independent. So no one will be able to make any promises to the people about any major policy changes.

(ii) Elected representatives will be accountable to their constituencies for what they do in the locality. But no one will be responsible for how the country runs.

(iii) India also has non-party based elections to the panchayats in many states. Although parties do not contest formally, it is generally noticed that the village splits into more than one faction, each of which puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates. This is exactly what the party does. That is why, we have political parties in almost all the countries in the world.

(iv) The rise of political parties is directly linked to the emergence of representative democracies. Large-scale societies need representative democracy. Large societies need some way to bring various representatives together so that a responsible government can be formed.

Thus we can say that parties are a necessary condition for a democracy.

Question: What are recognised political parties?

Answer: (i) National parties are some countrywide parties and almost follow similar policies and programmes at the national level.

(ii) Every party in the country has to register with the Election Commission. The Commission offers some special facilities to the large and established parties. These parties are given a unique symbol—only the official candidates of that party can use that election symbol.

(iii) Parties that get this privilege and some other special facilities are ‘recognised’ by the Election Commission for this purpose. That is why these parties are called ‘Recognised Political Parties’.

(iv) The Election Commission has laid down detailed criteria of the proportion of votes and seats that a party must get in order to be a recognised party.

Question: What are the main policies of Indian National Congress?

Answer: (i) It was founded in 1885 and played a dominant role in Indian politics at the national and state level for several decades after India’s independence.

(ii) A centrist party in its ideology, it favours secularism and welfare of weaker sections and minorities. It supports new economic reforms but with a human face.

(iii) It emerged as the largest party with 145 members in the Lok Sabha elections held in 2004. It led the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government at the Centre.

(iv) It lost elections in 2014 and secured 44 seats. Currently, it is the principal opposition party in Lok Sabha.

Question: What are the main features of BJP manifesto?

Answer: (i) It was founded in 1980 by reviving Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

(ii) It wants to build a strong and modern India by drawing inspiration from India’s ancient culture and values. Cultural nationalism is an important element of its manifesto.

(iii) It wants full territorial and political integration of Jammu & Kashmir with India.

(iv) It also promotes a Uniform Civil Code for all people living in the country, irrespective of religion and ban on religious conversions.

Question: Who formed BSP? What are its main policies?

Answer:

• BSP was formed in 1984 under the leadership of Shri Kanshi Ram.
• It seeks to represent and secure power for the bahujan samaj which includes dalits, adivasis, OBCs and religious minorities.
• It draws inspiration from the ideas and teachings of Sahu Maharaj, Mahatma Phule, Periyar, Ramaswami Naiker and Babasaheb Ambedkar.It stands for the cause of securing the interests and welfare of the dalits and oppressed people.
• It has its main base in UP and substantial presence in neighbouring states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Punjab.
• It formed government in UP several times by taking the support of different parties at different times.

Question: What is the status of regional parties in India?

Answer: Some of the regional parties have succeeded only in some states. Parties like the Samajwadi Party, Samata Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal have national level political organisation with units in several states. Over the years, the number and strength of these parties have expanded. No single national party is able to secure majority on its own in Lok Sabha. As a result, the national parties are compelled to form alliances with state parties. Since 1996, nearly every one of the state parties got an opportunity to be a part of one or the other national level coalition government. This has contributed to the strengthening of federalism and democracy in our country.

Question: Examine any two institutional amendments made by different institutions to reform political parties and their leaders. [CBSE (F) 2016]

Answer: The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties. This was done because many elected representatives were indulging in DEFECTION in order to become ministers or for cash rewards. Now, if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose the seat in the legislature.The Supreme Court passed an order to reduce the influence of money and criminals. Now, it is mandatory for every candidate who contests elections to file an AFFIDAVIT giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him. The new system has made a lot of information available to the public. But there is no system of check if the information given by the candidates is true.The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their income tax returns. The parties have started doing so but sometimes it is mere formality. It is not clear if this step has led to greater internal democracy in political parties.