9. TYPES OF POLITICAL PARTIES
• THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN INDIA - NATIONAL PARTY AND REGIONAL/STATE PARTY.
EVERY POLITICAL PARTY MUST BEAR A SYMBOL AND MUST BE REGISTERED WITH THE ELECTION
COMMISSION OF INDIA. SYMBOLS ARE USED IN INDIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM AS AN IDENTITY OF POLITICAL
PARTIES AND SO THAT ILLITERATE PEOPLE CAN ALSO VOTE BY RECOGNIZING SYMBOLS OF PARTY.
10. THE STATES
• INDIA IS A HUGE COUNTRY BOTH DEMOGRAPHICALLY AND GEOGRAPHICALLY AND CONSEQUENTLY IT
OPERATES A FEDERAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. BELOW THE NATIONAL LEVEL, THERE ARE 28 STATES AND
SEVEN UNION TERRITORIES.
• THE LARGEST OF INDIA'S STATES IS UTTAR PRADESH (UP) IN THE NORTH OF THE COUNTRY. WITH 207
MILLION INHABITANTS, UP IS THE MOST POPULOUS STATE IN INDIA AND IS ALSO THE MOST POPULOUS
COUNTRY SUBDIVISION IN THE WORLD. ON ITS OWN, IF IT WAS AN INDEPENDENT NATION, THIS STATE
WOULD BE THE WORLD'S FIFTH BIGGEST COUNTRY. ONLY CHINA, INDIA ITSELF, THE UNITED STATES, AND
INDONESIA HAVE A HIGHER POPULATION.
11. CONCLUSION
• POLITICS IN INDIA IS MUCH ROUGHER AND MUCH MORE CORRUPT THAT IN THE DEMOCRACIES OF
EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA. ASSASSINATION IS NOT UNCOMMON: THE REVERED MAHATMA GANDHI IN
1948, THE PRIME MINISTER INDIRA GANDHI IN 1984, AND THE PRIME MINISTER RAJIV GANDHI IN 1991
WERE ALL MURDERED, ALTHOUGH IT HAS TO BE NOTED THAT THESE WERE NOT REALLY POLITICAL
ASSASSINATIONS WHICH HAPPEN MORE AT LOCAL LEVEL. COMMUNAL, CASTE AND REGIONAL TENSIONS
CONTINUE TO HAUNT INDIAN POLITICS, SOMETIMES THREATENING ITS LONG-STANDING DEMOCRATIC
AND SECULAR ETHOS. THE LANGUAGE USED BY POLITICAL CANDIDATES ABOUT EACH OTHER IS OFTEN
VIVID.