Hello aspirants,
Today’s revision capsule of PSIR optional preparation covers Party System. There are four 20-markers, six 15-markers, and two 10-markers from this topic in the last 12 years. Party System practice question
- What a “party system” means
- Definition – How many parties exist, how they team-up before/after an election, who really governs.
- Rajni Kothari: India’s map of parties grew around a single “political centre” forged in the freedom struggle.
- Main types worldwide
- One-party (China): one legal party, no real rivals, strict rule.
- Two-party (US, UK): two giants alternate, smaller ones survive on the edges.
- Multi-party (India, much of Europe): many parties, often coalitions; can be unstable (India 1996-98) or working (when two big blocs behave like a pair of rivals).
- Three phases of India’s national party story
| Phase | Key traits | Scholars / concepts |
| I. “Congress System” (1952-67) | Congress wins big with just 45-48 % votes; draws support from most castes, classes, regions. | Rajni Kothari’s “dominant-party” frame; Morris-Jones: “dominance plus competition, no turnover”. |
| II. Break-up & regional rise (1967-89) | Congress loses many states; 1977 Janata wave shows a non-Congress centre is possible; Mandal, farmers’ parties (Charan Singh) push caste claims; party splits multiply. | Kothari: decline of dominance. Morris-Jones: “market polity”. |
| III. Coalition age & two big poles (1989 →) | Endless pre/post-poll alliances; United Front (1996), NDA (1999), UPA (2004); by 2000s BJP vs Congress form twin power-poles. | Ajay K Mehra: bi-nodal politics. Balveer Arora: “federalised” party order. Chhibber & Verma: fourth party system (BJP-centred) after 2014. |
2014-19: BJP stretches across regions; 2019 locks in a new dominant-party era, Congress marginal, Left shrunk.
- Why regional parties mushroomed
- Vidyut Chakraborty & Surendra Mohan: Delhi ignored local identity, uneven growth; voters trusted nearby leaders more.
- Four usual demands: secession, separate state, more autonomy, or cultural/economic safeguards.
- Two kinds: region-located (work only in one area) vs regionalist (also ask for looser Centre-State ties).
- Party families & their social roots
| Party family | Main ideas | Core voters / “social base” |
| Congress | Democratic socialism, secularism; later liberal-market tilt. | Early: upper-caste elites; post-freedom: a cross-caste “umbrella”, Dalits & Muslims included. |
| Socialists (PSP, SSP, etc.) | Democratic socialism, rural poor; fragmented. | Workers, small peasants, lower middle class. |
| Communists (CPI, CPI-M) | Marxist-Leninist goal; “people’s democracy” front; anti-imperialist. | Workers, small farmers; strong in Kerala, WB, Tripura. |
| BJP (Jan Sangh legacy) | Nationalism, “positive secularism”, Gandhian socialism tag; today pro-market plus welfare. | Upper-caste Hindus, traders; since 1990s wider OBC/Dalit reach. |
| Regional parties (DMK, Akali Dal, TMC…) | State pride, language, culture, or caste focus; demand more state rights. | Region-specific groups; can swing national coalitions. |
- Coalitions – how they work in India
- Forms: parliamentary (minority depends on outside help), electoral (seat-sharing deals), governmental (power-sharing cabinets, national-unity wartime cabinets).
- India’s quirks (Lijphart, Yadav, others): many cross-cutting cleavages, First-Past-the-Post voting, and fragile parties make pre-poll tie-ups common.
- BJP era: fewer big allies—party now less dependent; Congress builds UPA blocs.
- Pressure (interest) groups – “unofficial government” (Richard D. Lambert)
- Finer: thrive when parties are weak; act as “anonymous empire”.
- Four kinds (Almond & Powell):
- Institutional (bureaucracy, army).
- Associational (business chambers, trade unions).
- Non-associational (castes, language blocs).
- Anomic (flash mobs, riots).
- Difference from parties: seek to influence rather than capture power; from lobbying: lobbying is just one tactic.
- Who gets elected? – changing MLA/MP profile
- 1950s-60s: mostly Brahmin, lawyer-heavy, foreign-educated.
- 1967-89: rise of OBCs, small farmers; politics as full-time job.
- Post-1990: younger, more OBC/Dalit, but also more criminal cases; women inch up (still ~14 % LS2024).
- 2019 LS: average age 54, education a bit lower than 2014; mixed careers (agrarian, business, social work).
- Voting behaviour – what shapes the Indian voter?
- Traditional pulls: caste, religion, cash, charisma (e.g. “Garibi Hatao”, “Modi-Modi”), campaign blitz, manifestos.
- New trends (CSDS, PRS, Verma & Yadav):
- Turnout high; gender gap closing; poorer citizens vote more.
- Voters judge jobs, prices, welfare delivery—performance matters.
- Women, urban youth show stronger independent choices; social media widens information.
- Scholars: Harold Lasswell—politics = who gets what, when, how; Sudipta Kaviraj on India choosing democracy over pure growth.
- take-aways
- From Congress-led umbrella to BJP-centric pole – India shifted from one dominant party to two competing coalitions, then to a new BJP-led dominance.
- Regional forces keep Centre honest – Federalised party map means Delhi must still bargain with states.
- Coalition craft is now routine statecraft – seat-shares, CMPs, and outside support define stable class=”table-responsive”class=”table-responsive”rule.
- Citizens are less captive to caste scripts – welfare, leadership trust and nationalism now mingle with identity cues.
- Pressure groups, media and courts add extra “safety nets” in policy battles.
Democracy in India thus stays lively: messy, multi-layered—but remarkably resilient.
Scholars Index
Gabriel Almond | Balveer Arora | Vidyut Chakraborty | Pradeep Chhibber | Samuel E. Finer | Sudipta Kaviraj | Rajni Kothari | Richard D. Lambert | Harold Lasswell | Arend Lijphart | Ajay K. Mehra | Surendra Mohan | W. H. Morris-Jones | G. Bingham Powell | Rahul Verma | Yogendra Yadav
Practice Questions
Question 1. Political personalities are more significant than political parties in India. Discuss. [2018/10 m]
Question 2. The decade 1989-1999 has created an epochal shift in the Indian party system at the national level. Identify the major national trends in the party system during this era. [2023/15 m]
Question 3. The Indian party system is shaped by a complex interaction of the country’s federal structure, electoral system and social cleavages.” Explain. [2021/20m]
📌 Model answers drop this evening on the Telegram channel: https://t.me/psirbyamitpratap – keep notifications on.
See you tomorrow on Day 26. Keep practicing!
—Amit Pratap Singh & Team
A quick note on submissions of copies and mentorship
- 2025 Mains writers: Cohort 1 of O-AWFG started on 12 June and ATS on 15 June. The above practice set will serve as your revision tool, just do not miss booking your mentorship sessions for personalised feedback especially for starting tests. Come with your evaluated test copies.
- 2026 Mains writers – keep uploading through your usual dashboard. Act on the feedback and improve consistently.
- Alternate between mini-tests (O-AWFG) and full mocks (ATS) has been designed to tackle speed, content depth, and structured revision—line-by-line evaluation pinpoints your weaknesses and errors. Follow your PSIR O-AWFG & ATS schedule and use the model answers to enrich your content, as rankers recommended based on their own success.
