Class 12 Political Science Era of One-party Dominance

Important Questions Answers at the Bottom

Class 12 – Political Science (Ch-2 Era of One-party Dominance)

1. When did Hindu Mahasabha come into existence?

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1. 1924
2. 1914

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3. 1885
4. 1913
2. What is meant by ‘one-party dominance’ in the Indian context?
3. Differentiate between one party dominance and one party system.
4. Who was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly?
5. What were the election symbols of the Congress Party and Bharatiya Jana Sangh in
the first general election of 1952?
6. How did the dominance of Congress Party in the first three general elections help in
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establishing a democratic set-up in India?
7. Why was the first general election in India considered unusual?
8. How has the method of voting changed from the first General Election of 1952 to the
General Election of 2004?
9. Explain any five reasons for the dominance of the Congress Party in the first three
general elections.
10. State the ideologies of the Swatantra Party.
11. Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions:
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These groups inside the party are called factions. The coalitional nature of the
Congress party tolerated and in fact encouraged various factions. Some of these
factions were based on ideological considerations but very often these factions were
rooted in personal ambitions and rivalries. Instead of being a weakness, internal
factionalism became a strength of the Congress. Since there was room within the
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party for various factions to fight with each other, it meant that leaders representing
different interests and ideologies remained within Congress rather than go out and
form a new party.
1. Which trend in the Congress party is worth emulating?
2. What were the reasons for forming the various factions in the Congress party?
3. Why did the Congress leaders have no desire to form new parties leaving
Congress? Give reasons.

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 12. Study the map given below and answer the following questions:

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1. Did the congress maintain the increase in the members in these elections.
2. Which political party continued to gain seats in all the elections?
3. Name the political parties which contested only two of the three elections.
13. Minority community candidates are nominated by national democratic parties in
constituencies. Explain.
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Class 12 – Political Science (Ch-2 Era of One-party Dominance)

Answer

1.
d. 1913
Explanation: In 1930 Hindu Mahasabha came into existence after the
formation of Muslim league 1906.
2. The dominance of Congress party in first three general elections held in 1952, 1957
and 1962 in both Lok Sabha as well as in State Assemblies is termed as One-party
dominance in Indian context. Congress won 364 seats out of 489 in 1952, 371 out of
494 in 1957, and won 361 out of 494 seats in 1962 Lok Sabha elections.

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 Sr One Party Dominance One Party System
3. no.
1. One party dominance refers to One party system refers to
representation on behalf of popular representation based on
consensus along with free and fair malpractice, fraud etc. to ensure
elections. winning of a particular party.

2. E.g. Congress in India. E.g. Chinese Communist Party in

China.

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4. The Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly was Dr. B. R.
Ambedkar.

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5. In the first general election of 1952, the symbol of Congress party was the pair of
oxen and lamp (Deepak) was the symbol of Bhartiya Jana Sangh.
6. The dominance of the Congress Party in the first three general elections help in
establishing a democratic set-up in India in the following way:
The first general election was the first big test of democracy in a poor and
illiterate country. Till then democracy had existed only in the prosperous
countries. By that time many countries in Europe had not given voting rights
to all women.
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In this context, India’s experiment with universal adult franchise appeared
very bold and risky. India’s general election of 1952 became a landmark in the
history of democracy all over the world.
It was no longer possible to argue that democratic elections could not be held
on conditions of poverty or lack of education. It proved that democracy could
be practiced anywhere in the world.
Congress worked as the social and ideological coalition which is also known as
a rainbow-like coalition representing India’s diversity which helped in
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establishing democratic set-up and the next two general elections
strengthened democratic set-up in India.
7. The first general election in India considered unusual due to:
1. Big size of the country and electorate.
2. It was also the first big test of democracy in a poor and illiterate country.
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3. India experiments with Universal Adult Franchise which appeared very bold
and risky because by that time many countries in Europe had not given voting
rights to all women.

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 8. The method of voting changed from the first general elections of 1952 to the general
election of 2004 as below:
1. In the first general election, it was decided to place inside each polling booth a
box for each candidate with the election symbol of that candidate. Each voter
was given a blank ballot which they had to drop into the box of the candidate
they wanted to vote for. About 20 lakh steel boxes were used for this purpose.
2. After the first two elections, this method was changed. Now the ballot paper
carried the names and symbols of all the candidates and the voter was
required to put a stamp on the name of the candidate they wanted to vote for.

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This method worked for nearly forty years.
3. Towards the end of the 1990s, the Election Commission started using the

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Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). In 2004, Electronic Voting Machine was
introduced to press the button according to the choice of the voter containing
the name of candidate and symbol of the political party.
9. The Congress party succeeded in maintaining its dominance until 1967 due to the
following reasons:
1. The Congress party was supported by elites, educated business classes and
middle classes people. It also got support from peasants because of its socialist
nature. In this way had support from every section of society.
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2. It had many popular faces like Jawaharlal Nehru, C Rajgopalachari,
Vallabhbhai Patel etc. Moreover, Jawaharlal Nehru was charismatic and a very
popular leader. The popularity of these Congress leaders had a great impact
over the face of Congress in General Elections.
3. Congress worked at the upper level as well as at the grass root level. Congress
was popularised due to the participation in the civil disobedience movement.
Its role in the National Movement for freedom had been a major reason for its
success in First three General Elections.
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4. During the period of Nehru Ji, Congress attained mass popularity, but the
powerful narrow elite of Congress continued to benefit from the low level of
political consciousness of the electorate.
5. The traditional localities made Congress, a one-party dominance.
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 10. Swatantra Party was formed in August 1959 after the Nagpur resolution of the
Congress which called for land ceilings, take-over of food grain trade by the state
and adoption of cooperative farming. The party was led by old Congressmen like C.
Rajagopalachari, K.M.Munshi, N.G.Ranga, and Minoo Masani. The party stood out
from the others in terms of its position on economic issues. The ideologies of the
Swatantra Party are given below:
1. The Swatantra Party wanted the government to be less and less involved in
controlling the economy. It believed that prosperity could come only through
individual freedom.

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2. It was critical of the development strategy of state intervention in the
economy, centralised planning, nationalisation and the public sector. It

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instead favoured expansion of a free private sector.
3. This party was against land ceilings in agriculture and opposed to cooperative
farming.
4. The Swatantra Party was against land ceilings in agriculture and opposed
cooperative farming and state trading. It was also opposed to the progressive
tax regime and demanded dismantling of the licensing regime.
11.
1. The Congress party is worth emulating due to its factional nature, Congress
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was tolerable to the different factions. For this reason, the various factions
present in the Congress party were encouraged. This quality of Congress is
worth emulating.
2. Some factions were attached to the Congress party on account of ideological
considerations. But personal ambitions and rivalries always worked behind
the formation of factions in the Congress party. Besides, instead of being a
weakness, internal factionalism became a strength of the Congress.
3. The Congress leaders did not have the desire to form new parties leaving
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Congress. The reasons for this were the following :
1. There was always scope for rivalries among the various parties in
Congress.
2. The leaders representing the various interests and ideology always liked
to work within the Congress party.
3. Behind all these, they had personal ambitions and they worked with a
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sense of rivalries also.

12.
1. No, Congress could not maintain the increase in the members in these
elections because the number of seats had started decreasing from 364 in 1952
to 361 in 1962. However, 7 seats increased in 1997 as we see, 371 seats in this
map.
2. It was C.P.I. as it could beg 16 seats in 1952, 27 seats in 1957 and 29 seats in
1962.
3. These were-Socialist Party, Gantantra Parisad (GP), Independent and Praja
Socialist Party (PSP).

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 13.
1. The voter’s choices are made under multiple influences of election issues,
election campaigns, local appeals, party performance and promises. Many
overlapping factors influence their decisions. The regional parties like the
DMK, AIADMK of Tamil Nadu, the National Conference of Jammu and
Kashmir, the Shiv Sena of Maharashtra and the Akali Dal of Punjab mobilize
the voters by mixing feelings of regionalism, castes and community.
2. The minorities generally vote for weak secular parties. Minority community
candidates are nominated by national democratic parties in constituencies

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which have sizable minority community vote. In the elections from 1952 to
1989, the Muslim minority voter has shown concern for the security of life and

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property, especially in the north and north-west India. Local Muslim leaders
including religious leaders have been mobilized by secular parties to influence
the choice of Muslim voters. The Muslim voters have unanimously voted
against candidates of the Hindu communal parties. This is a conscious vote
based on a perception of threat by the forces of Hindu communalism. To
counter this threat, the Muslim voters have voted for weak secular parties
which are perceived as the protector of life and property of the minorities. Of
late, secularism of the Congress Party had been perceived as vacillating and
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ambiguous by a large section of the Muslim community. Communal riots have
exercised great influence on the Muslim mind.
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