This document discusses political parties in India. It begins by defining a political party as a group that contests elections and forms governments. It notes that India has a multi-party system with several national parties, including the Indian National Congress, Bharatiya Janta Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, and Nationalist Congress Party. It provides details on the founding, leadership, ideology and parliamentary representation of each of these six main national parties in India. Finally, it outlines some challenges faced by political parties, such as a lack of internal democracy, concentration of power among few leaders or families, and lack of meaningful choice for voters.

1. By: Tajinder Singh
Class: 10

2. WHY DO WE NEED POLITICAL PARTIES ?
• To organise elections and to form government.
WHAT IS A POLITICAL PARTY ?
•It is a group of people who come together to contest
elections and hold power in the government.

3. HOW MANY PARTIES DO WE HAVE ?
•One Party System
•Example : China – Communist Party of China
•Two Party / Bi Party
•Example : UK and USA
•Multi Party – Several parties compete and more than
two parties have a reasonable chance of coming to
power on their own strength or in alliance(coalition
government)
•Example : India

4. THE SIX NATIONAL PARTIES OF INDIA
1. Indian National Congress (INC)
2. Bharitiya Janta Party (BJP)
3. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
4. Communist Party Of India-Marxist (CPI-M)
5. Communist Party Of India (CPI)
6. National Congress Party (NCP)

5. INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (INC)
 PRESIDENT : Sonia Gandhi
 FOUNDER : Dadabhai Naroji, Dinshaw Edulji Wacha
 FOUNDED : December 28, 1885
 SEATS IN LOK SABHA : 45 / 545
 SEATS IN RAJYA SABHA : 60 / 245
 PARLIAMENTARY CHAIRPERSON : Sonia Gandhi
 LOK SABHA LEADER : Mallikarjun Kharge
 RAJYA SABHA LEADER : Ghulam Nabi Azad

6. BHARTIYA JANTA PARTY (BJP)
 PRESIDENT : Amit Shah
 LOK SABHA LEADER : Narendra Modi
 RAJYA SABHA LEADER : Arun Jaitley
 FOUNDED : April 6, 1980
 SEATS IN LOK SABHA : 280 / 545
 SEATS IN RAJYA SABHA : 55 / 245
 IDEOLOGY : Integral humanism, Social conservatism,
Hindu Nationalism, Gandhi Socialism,
Hindutva

7. BAHUJAN SAMAJ PARTY (BSP)
 LEADER : Mayavati
 PRESIDENT : Mayavati
 FOUNDER : Kanshi Ram
 SEATS IN LOK SABHA : 0 / 545
 SEATS IN RAJYA SABHA : 6 / 245
 FOUNDED : 1984
 IDEOLOGY : Social Transformation, Social Equlity,
Social Justice.

8. COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA ( MARXIST)
 SECRETARY-GENERAL : Sitaram Yechury
 LOK SABHA LEADER : P. Karunakaran
 RAJYA SABHA LEADER : Sitaram Yenchury
 FOUNDED : November 7, 1964
 IDEOLOGY : Communism Marxism Leninism
 SEATS IN LOK SABHA : 9 / 545
SEATS IN RAJYA SABHA : 8 / 245
 SPLIT FORM : Communist Party of India

9. COMMUNIST PARY OF INDIA (CPI)
 FOUNDED : December 25 ,1925
 FOUNDERS : Charu Majumdar, M.N. Roy
 IDEOLOGY : Marxism-Leninism, Secularism,
Democracy
SECREATARY-GENERAL : S. Sudhakar Reddy
LOK SABHA LEADERS : C.N. Jayadevan
 RAJYA SABHA LEADERS : D. Raja
 SEATS IN LOK SABHA : 1 / 545
 SEATS IN RAJYA SABHA : 1 / 245

10. NATIONALIST CONGRESS PARTY (NCP)
 LEADER : Sharad Pawar
 FOUNDERS : Sharad Pawar, Tariq Anwar, P.A.
Sangama
 FOUNDED : May 25, 1999
 IDEOLOGY : Conservatism, Civic Nationalism
Progressivism, Indian Nationalism
 SPLIT FROM : Indian national Congress (INC)
 SEATS IN LOK SABHA : 6 / 545
 SEATS IN RAJYA SABHA : 5 / 245

11. CHALLENGES TO POLITICAL PARTIES
1. Lack of internal democracy within the parties. There
is a tendency in parties towards the concentration
of power in one or few leaders at the top.
2. In many parties, the top positions are always
controlled by members of one family. There are very
few ways for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in
a party.

12. 3. Due to the growing role of money and muscle power
in parties, especially in elections, parties tend to
nominate those candidates who have or can raise
lots of money.
4. Very often parties do not seem to offer a meaningful
choice to the voters. For Example : the difference
between the Labour Party and the Conservative
Party in Britain is very little.