15 March 2025 : Daily Answer Writing

Q1) To what extent does the level of internal democracy within political parties impact the functioning and legitimacy of the Indian party system? What reforms can address the challenges of inadequate intra party democracy in India?

(15 marks, 250 words)

ANSWER

“Political parties”, in their existence, are the drivers of democratic processes in a country. The level of internal democracy in political parties is the reflection of how these parties might function when brought into power. The various tools which reflect the level of internal democracy within parties in India are regular elections, proper representation to grassroot leaders, etc.

IMPACT OF LEVEL OF INTERNAL DEMOCRACY WITHIN POLITICAL PARTIES

ON THE FUNCTIONING AND LEGITIMACY OF THE INDIAN PARTY SYSTEM

   A. FUNCTIONING OF THE INDIAN PARTY SYSTEM

1. Leadership: The level of internal democracy in political parties impacts the overall leadership in the political parties. With regular conduct of elections new and fresh candidates come in while old and inefficient leadership gets replaced making political parties relevant to the contemporary times. For example, parties with regular elections often field young, dynamic and educated candidates.
2. Improved Transparency: Internal democracy significantly promotes transparency and accountability in parties. This ensures that no individual is held above party ideals and proper accountability is sought for their actions, if not in consonance with party lines. For example, show cause notices issued by political parties to errant leaders help in better regulation of their conduct.
3. Prevention of Centralization: Regular elections, decentralized decision making ensures that the political parties are not ruled by a single individual or a group of individuals.
4. Recognition of Meritocracy: Internal democratic rules allow recognition of merit in the party which induces ambition in the workers to perform good and climb up the ladder. For example, parties which recognize merit often are cadre-led parties.
5. Policy and Manifestos: Internal democracy allows for a broader range of voices and perspectives within the party, leading to more comprehensive and representative policies and manifestos.
6. No Internal Dissent: Internal democracy in parties ensures there is no or minimal dissent within the party as grassroot leaders do not feel alienated ensuring strong intraparty bonds and conflict resolution.
7. Better Political Functioning: The lack of transparency in ticket distributions by political parties is also manifesting into a public slugfest between the party and the candidates.

   B. LEGITIMACY OF THE PARTY SYSTEM

1. Public Faith: Parties which are dynastic and lack a certain level of internal democracy often lose public confidence which leads to erosion of legitimacy of the party system.
2. Institutional Strength: Parties often driven by democratic values respect the democratic institutions like Parliament. Such parties often ensure proper functioning of the Parliament, create less ruckus, prevent misuse of Whip, etc. enhancing the efficiency of both the Houses.
3. Aspirations of the Youth: Young and talented youth which rise through levels of political parties often work harder towards grassroot issues thereby matching the aspirations of the youth.
4. Legal Recognition: The Election Commission of India has issued guidelines to political parties under Section 29A of RPA Act, 1951 to instill internal democracy tools within the parties. Internal democracy also ensures that political parties receive proper recognition from ECI. 
5. Constant Defections: Internal democracy often prevents constant defections  and misuse of ADL. This helps in strengthening social cohesion and public faith in political parties. Lack of such internal democracy leads to constant defections and poor-party system image in public. For example, according to the CSDS Report, recent defections have led to erosion of public faith in the party system as people have lost faith in candidates and their commitment to their parties.

The absence of intra-party democracy has contributed to political parties becoming closed autocratic structures with increasing fragmentation within parties, selection of poor electoral representatives and growing criminalisation and abuse of financial power in elections. For example, in the 15th Lok Sabha, almost all MPs who were below 30 years come from a dynastic background. Similarly, a report by ECI in 2015 showed that there are hardly any elections in major political parties of India.

MEASURES TO ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES OF INTERNAL PARTY DEMOCRACY

1. Regular Elections: There should be regular elections to all important party posts such as Secretary, President, Vice-President, Treasurer, etc. Similarly, the selection of candidates and representatives should be through elections in grassroot Committees.
2. Federal Structure: The parties should be structured into a 3-tiered structure with National, State and District Level Committees and ample powers and responsibilities should be devolved.
3. Rotation of Leadership: To prevent personality cult and autocratic governance, the party leadership should be regularly rotated.
4. Power to Deregister: The ECI should be provided power to deregister parties which do not conform to the guidelines provided by ECI for intra party democracy like regular elections.
5. Example of Germany: Like Germany, India should also look into the prospect of legislation regulating the registration and functioning of political parties or alliances of parties in India. For example, the NCRWC Report suggested enactment of Political Parties (Registration and Regulation) Act.
6. Voting in AGMs: Like the corporates, political parties should be mandated AGMs where all representatives should vote on agendas, policies, plans, performance, accounts, management, etc.
7. Public Feedback: Parties should ensure that their policies and manifestos are in line with the expectation of the masses. For this, a proper feedback mechanism should be installed to get recommendations from the general public.

According to the Law Commission (170th Report), if democracy and accountability

constitute the core of our constitutional system, the same concepts must also apply to and bind the political parties which are integral to parliamentary democracy. It is the political parties that form the government, man the Parliament and run the governance of the country. It is therefore necessary to introduce internal democracy, financial transparency and accountability in the working of the political parties.

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