Students should refer to Worksheets Class 10 Social Science Political Parties Chapter 6 provided below with important questions and answers. These important questions with solutions for Chapter 6 Political Parties have been prepared by expert teachers for Class 10 Social Science based on the expected pattern of questions in the class 10 exams. We have provided Worksheets for Class 10 Social Science for all chapters on our website. You should carefully learn all the important examinations questions provided below as they will help you to get better marks in your class tests and exams.
Political Parties Worksheets Class 10 Social Science
ONE MARK QUESTIONS
Question. If all the decisions of a political party are made by a single family and all other members are neglected, then what challenge is being faced by that party?
Ans : Challenge of dynastic succession.
Question. Which party was the principal opposition party in Lok Sabha in 2004?
Ans : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Question. What is the requirement laid down by the Election Commission for a political party to be recognized as a ’State Party’ ?
Ans : A party that secures at least six percent of the total votes in an election to the Legislative Assembly of a state and wins at least two seats is recognized as a state party.
Question. Name any one political party that has national level political organization but not recognized as the national political party.
Ans : Samajwadi Party/Samata Party/Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Question. Why is one party political system not considered a good democratic system?
Ans : Because one party system has no democratic option
Question. Name the alliance formed by the Congress Party.
Ans : United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
Question. Who among the following recognises ‘Political Parties’ in India ?
(a) Election Commission
(b) President of India
(c) Speaker of Lok Sabha
(d) Supreme Court
Ans. (a) Election Commission
Question. Which of these is not a good option for a democratic state ?
(a) One-party system
(b) Two party system
(c) Multi party system
(d) None of these
Ans. (a) One-party system
Question. Which is not the component of a political party ?
(a) The leaders
(b) The followers
(c) The active members
(d) The ministers
Ans. (d) The ministers
Question. Bahujan Samaj Party was formed under the leadership of ___ .
Ans. Kanshi Ram
Question. We cannot consider one party system as a good option because this is not a ___ option.
Ans. Democratic
Question. Trinamool congress was formed by Kanshi Ram ___ . True or False
Ans. False
Question. In some cases, parties support criminals who can win elections ___ . True or False
Ans. True
Question. In some countries, candidates for electios are selected by members and supporters of a party ___ . True or False
Ans. True
Question. Assertion : Ordinary members of politcial party cannot hope to rise higher as there are no internal elections.
Reason : The top leadership is often disconnected with the grass root workers.
Options:
(a) If both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
(b) Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation.
(c) (A) is true but (R) is false
(d) (A) is false but (R) is true.
Ans. (b) Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation.
Question. A group of people who come together to contest election and hold power in the government ___ .
Ans. Political parties
THREE MARKS QUESTIONS
Question. Describe about the ideology and organization of Bahujan Samaj Party.
Ans : Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was formed in 1984 under the leadership of Kanshi Ram. Its main aim is that it seeks to represent and secure power for the Bahujan Samaj which includes the dalits and adivasis, OBCs and religious minorities.
Question. What is meant by a ‘national political party’ ? State the conditions required to be a national political party.
Ans : 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. A party that secures at least 6% of the total votes in general elections of Lok Sabha or assembly elections in four states.
b. Wins at least 4 seats in Lok Sabha.
Question. Name any six ‘regional political parties’ of the four southern states of India’
Ans : Tamil Nadu—AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), DMK
Andhra Pradesh—Telugu Desam,
Kerala—Congress (Joseph)
Puducherry—AINRC (All India N. R. Congress)
Question. What is meant by regional political party? State the conditions required to be recognized as a ‘regional political party’.
Ans : A regional party is a party that is present in only some states.
Conditions required for a party to be recognized as a regional political party are:
a. A party that secures at least six percent of the total votes in an election to the Legislative Assembly of a state.
b. Wins at least two seats in the Legislative Assembly.
Question. Name the ‘regional political parties’ that are predominant in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha respectively with their symbols.
Ans : Jharkhand—JMM—Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Maharashtra—INC—Indian National Congress Odisha—BJD—Biju Janata Dal.
Question. What is a political party ? State any two points of the ideology of Bharatiya Janta Party?
Ans : 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:
a. Wants full territorial and political integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India.
b. A uniform civil code for all people living in the country irrespective of religion.
c. Cultural nationalism.
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.
Ans : 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. The Bahujan Samaj Party stands for what cause?
Ans : Securing the interest of the oppressed people.
Question. What do you understant by coalition government? Describe the role of coatition governemnt in Indian Democracy?
Ans. When no party gets a clear majority in elections, to more political run the government in collaboration with the common programme of development is known as coalition government. At central level, India had a long history of coalition government sicne 1989 to 2014.
• Regional party plays important role in coalition governments, and it helps to strengthen democracy.
• Due to coalition government now have to listen to the voices all areas due to coalition government.
• The central government now have to listan to the voices of all areas due to coalition government.
Question. Describe the role of Opposition in Democracy.
Ans. Role of opposition is very important in democracy.
• To monitor the government Policies.
• To oppose the wrong government Policies.
• By providing positive feedback.
• By creating opinion.
FIVE MARKS QUESTIONS
Question. What do you understand by the bi-party system? Write its one merit and one demerit.
Ans : Bi-party system:
a. In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties. It is also known as two party system.
b. In this system, the government is formed by one party and the other plays the role of opposition.
Merit: This system allows stability of government as no coalition is there.
Demerit: In this system, only two main parties have a serious chance of winning majority seats to form the government.
Question. “Dynastic succession is one of the most serious challenges before the political parties.” Analyse the statement.
Ans : Dynastic succession is one of the most serious challenges before the political parties because:
a. Most political parties do not practice open and transparent procedures for their functioning.
b. There are few ways for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in a party.
c. In many parties, the top positions are always controlled by members of one family.
d. This practice is unfair to other members of that party and is also bad for a democracy.
e. People who do not have adequate experience or popular support come to occupy position of power.
Question. Name the national political party which gets inspiration from India’s ancient culture and values. Mention four features of that party.
Ans : ‘Bharatiya Janata Party’ (BJP) gets inspiration from India’s ancient culture and values. Four important features:
a. Cultural nationalism or ‘Hindutva’ is an important element in its conception of Indian nationhood and politics.
b. The party wants full territorial and political integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India.
c. A uniform civil code for all people living in the country irrespective of religion and ban on religious conversions.
d. Its support base increased substantially in the 1990s.
Question. What is a multi-party system? Explain merits and demerits of multi-party system.
Ans : If several parties compete for 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.
Merits:
a. This system allows a variety of interests and opinions to enjoy political representation.
b. People can make a choice between several candidates.
Demerits:
a. No one party is likely to gain power alone. Therefore, it leads to difficulty in formation of government. ‘
b. Leads to political instability and often appears to be very messy.
Question. Suggest and explain any five measures to reform political parties.
or
Suggest any five effective measures to reform political parties.
Ans : Effective measures to reform political parties are :
a. A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties.
b. It should be made compulsory for political parties to maintain a register of its members.
c. It should be made mandatory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets; about 1/3rd to its women candidates.
d. There should be a quota for women in the decision making bodies of the party.
e. There should be state funding of elections.
f. The government should give parties money to support their election expenses in kind, for example, petrol, paper, telephone, etc., or in cash.
g. Vote casting should be made compulsory in each election.
h. Data regarding caste and religion, OBC, SC, ST should not be utilized during election period in any form.
Question. “No party system is ideal for all countries and all situations.” Justify the statement with arguments.
Ans : No party system is ideal for all countries and all situations:
a. Party system is not something, any country can choose.
b. It evolves over a long time depending on the nature of the society.
c. Its social and regional divisions, its history of politics and its system of elections.
d. Each country develops a party system that is conditioned by its special circumstances.
Question. Describe any five major functions of political parties performed in a democracy.
Ans : In a democracy political parties performed the following major functions:
1. Parties contest elections: In most democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties. Parties select their candidates in different ways. In India top party leaders choose candidates for contesting elections.
2. Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them. In a democracy, a large number of similar opinions have to be grouped together to provide a direction in which policies can be formulated by the governments. A government is expected to base its policies on the line taken by the Ruling party.
3. Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Formally laws are debated and passed in the legislature. But since most of the members belong to a party, they go by the direction of the party leadership, irrespective of their person ’ opinions.
4. Parties form and run governments. Parties recruit leaders, train them and then make them ministers to run the government in the way they want.
5. Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power by voicing different views and criticising government for its failure or wrong policies.
6. Parties shape public opinion. They raise and highlight issues. Parties sometimes also launch movements for the resolution ,of problems faced by people. Often opinions in the society crystallise on the lines parties take.
7. Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments.
Question. Examine any two institutional amendments made by different institutions to reform political parties and their leaders.
or
Elucidate some of the recent efforts taken in our country to reform political parties and its leaders.
Ans : a. The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLA’s and MP’s 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.
b. 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.
c. The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organizational elections and file their income tax returns.
d. 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.
Question. Why is there a lack of internal democracy within the political parties in India? Explain with examples.
Ans : There are various reasons for lack of democracy within the political parties in India:
a. Concentration of power in one or few leaders at the top.
b. Details of membership are not registered in the parties.
c. No organizational meetings.
d. No internal elections for membership within the party.
e. Top leaders have unanimous power of decision making.
Question. “Political parties play a major role in democracy.” Explain any five points to justify this statement.
or
“Political parties are rightly called the government in disguise.” Justify the statement in reference to democratic politics by giving five arguments.
Ans : The political parties play an important role in democracy as:
1. Parties contest election: In most democracies elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by political parties.
2. Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them.
3. Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country.
4. Parties shape public opinions. They raise and highlight issues.
5. Parties form and run governments.
6. Role of opposition: Opposition role is important in democracy as it voices different views and criticizes government for its failures or wrong policies.
7. Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments.
SOURCE BASED QUESTIONS
Question. Democracies that follow a federal system all over the world tend to have two kinds of political parties : parties that are present in only one of the federal units and parties that are present in several or all units of the federation. This is the case in India as well. There are some contry-wide parties, which are called ‘national parties’. These parties have their units in various states. But by and large all these units follow the same policies, programmes and strategy that is decided at the national level.
Every party in the country has to register with the Election Commission. While the Commission treats all parties equally, it offers some special facilities to large and established parties. These parties are given a unique symbol — only the official candidates of that party can use that election symbol 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’. The Elections 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. A party that secures at least 6 per cent of the total votes in an election to the Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least two seats is recognised as a state party. A party that secures at least six per cent of total votes in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly elections in four States and wins at least four seats in the Lok Sabha is recognised as a national party.
(A) What does the election commission of India allot to all parties so that they are called ‘Recognised political parties’
(a) Emblem
(b) Motif
(c) Symbol
(d) Flag
Ans. (c) Symbol
(B) A Party is called ‘National Party’ only when it polls ___ of total valid votes in atleast ___ states and in addition it wins ___ Lok Sabha seats
(a) 2%, Four, 4
(b) 6%, Four, 4
(c) 4%, Four, 4
(d) 2%, Four, 3
Ans. (b) 6%, Four, 4
(C) Analyse the information given below and choose the correct option :
”On of the oldest parties of the world, Founded in 1885 and has experienced many splits.
(a) Communist party of India
(b) All India Trinamool Congress
(c) Indiian Natinal Congress
(d) nationalist Congress party.
Ans. (c) Indiian Natinal Congress
(D) Two regional parties of Bihar are :
(a) Rashtriya Janta Dal, Janta dal (United)
(b) Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party.
(c) Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya janta Dal.
(d) Aam Aadmi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Ans. (a) Rashtriya Janta Dal, Janta dal (United)
