Q1.
Find out the number of State parties and Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPP). You may visit the website of ECI.
Answer
These two numbers change after every general election, so the answer is a method plus a dated record, not a number to memorise. The chapter itself gives no figure, and you should not supply one from memory.
Where to look
- Open the Election Commission of India website and find the section on Political Parties and Symbols.
- Open the latest notification of the List of Political Parties and Election Symbols. It is arranged in three parts: national parties, State parties, and registered unrecognised parties.
- Count the entries under State parties. Count, or read off the total given for, the RUPP list.
- Write the date of the notification next to each number. A number without its date is useless, because the list is revised.
Sample answer: record it in this form —
| Category | Number | As on (date of ECI notification) |
|---|---|---|
| Recognised National parties | ___ | ___ |
| Recognised State parties | ___ | ___ |
| Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPP) | ___ | ___ |
Now read the numbers, don't just collect them. You will find that RUPPs vastly outnumber recognised parties. Fig. 7.12 explains why: a party becomes an RUPP if it "has not secured enough percentage of votes in the Legislative Assembly or the General Elections", or if it "has never contested elections since their registration." Registering a party is open to citizens, so the register is long; recognition is what is hard, because it must be earned by votes and seats.
Why recognition matters at all: the chapter says national and State parties are allotted election symbols, and that the ECI acts as a quasi-judicial body in disputes about recognition and symbols. A recognised party's voters can find it on the ballot by a settled symbol; an unrecognised party's candidates take a free symbol for that election only. Recognition is therefore not a title of honour — it is a working advantage that the criteria in Fig. 7.12 make a party earn.