In a democracy, to get power, political parties contest elections. But do political parties organise internal elections ? It is necessary that political parties should hold elections at the organisational level. Are such elections held?

A political party is an organized group of people who exercise their legal right to identify with a set of similar political aims and opinions, and one that seeks to influence public policy by getting its candidates elected to public office. The electoral system prevalent in a country, its political culture, the legal regulations play a key role in determining the internal functions of an individual political party. In India, the parties are majorly a by-product of the social system already in place, Indian National Congress, the oldest political party in India was established with the view of giving the common educated Indian masses a voice at the centre under British Rule. After independence, several different political parties came up mostly because of the regional diversity present in India. The population considered Congress to be unable to represent the entirety of the country on an equal basis and different parties were formed backed by different sections of the population each with their own agenda within the democratic framework of the country’s constitution. India is a characterized with a multi-party system. A large number of parties compete with each other on relatively equal terms and without outright majority, it often leads to coalition government. The major political parties in India include the Indian National Congress, The Bharatiya Janata Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and the Communist Party of India. There are also numerous regional parties which aid the major parties in the political arena.

As per the Indian Constitution, all these parties have democratic systems in place to ensure equality. They are required to register their constitutions with the Election Commission. All major parties have to hold internal elections to select their leaders in order to ensure democracy from the grass-root level. For e.g., in the Indian National Congress, each state has a Pradesh Congress Committee. No office bearer at the block or district level can hold the position for more than two consecutive terms, but this stricture does not apply to the state or national level. Anyone can run for the post of Congress president if 10 members of the PCC nominate them. The Congress President is selected by the delegates of the PCC. The person who stood for election automatically becomes the next president in the absence of any opposing candidates. Other parties also have a similar structure in existence. Thus, it can be concluded that political parties in India have constitutional existence of holding internal elections.

But in reality, this is far from truth. Off the five major parties in India, only the Communist Party of India is known to hold regular elections to change leadership within the party. The rest of the parties depend on manipulation and popularity to select their leaders within the party. Even as the political parties try to uphold the tennets of democracy in the public sphere, they flout it within their party structure creating a farce at the base level.