Question

Analyse the advantages and problems faced by the people done to the Multi-party system in India.

Answer 1

India has a parliamentary system of democracy in which various parties contest in free and fair elections to form government at the centre. The multi-party system offered both advantages as well as disadvantages:
Advantages:
i) The multi-party system offered a choice to the people. People critically evaluated the performance of political parties and voted accordingly. For instance, in the 1957 general election, the Communist Party of India defeated the Congress in the southern state of Kerela
ii) The system ensured that the interests and demands of various groups are represented adequately at the national level.
iii) In India, various regional, linguistic and caste-based parties were formed which represented diverse groups. For instance, DMK in Tamil Nadu, BSP in UP.
iv) Fear of autocratic or dictatorship rule erodes as parties keep a check on the activities of the government. In India, immediately after the post-independence era, political parties kept a check on the policies pursued by the Congress.
Disadvantages:
i) The multi-party system tends to divide the nation on a linguistic, regional and cultural basis. The demands for separate state developed these fears further.
ii) Power politics became a central theme of winning elections. As a result, there was huge scale defection of party members from one party to another.
iii) The multi-party system leads to alliances which undermine their ideologies.