Present status:

1. Art 19 of the constitution accords citizens the right to form associations, thus implicitly recognizing the right to form political parties.
2. Election symbols (Reservation and Allotment) order, 1968, issued by the Election Commission under Art 324 of the constitution, read with the provisions of RP Act, 1951 and conduct of Election Rules 1961 provides for recognition of political parties.
3. A party will be recognized by the Election Commission as a State-level party and alloted a common symbol for its candidates if it has been engaged in political activity continuously for five years, and had obtained at least one out of 25 members of Lok Sabha or one out of thirty members of State Legislative Assembly or 4% of the total valid votes caste at the election in the State.
4. A party satisfying these conditions in four or more states is recognized as a national party.
5. The symbols allotment order, 1968 has been recognized by the Supreme Court as a self-contained code and can be treated as one of the important land marks in the evolution of regulation of political parties. (RP Bhalla). The Court upheld the order in the Sadique Ali Vs Election Commission of India, case.
6. Section 77 of RP Act, 1951, amended in 1974 mentions a political party for the first time in a statute. This amendment excludes expenditure incurred by a party from the statement of accounts lodged by a contesting candidate.
7. Tenth Schedule was added to the constitution in 1985 through 52nd amendment. This is the only reference to political parties in the constitution. Tenth Schedule provides for disqualification of members for voluntarily giving up membership of a political party or violating party whip.
8. Section 29A was inserted in the RP Act 1951 making provision for registration of political parties with the Election Commission.

Problems:

1. Parties have become arbitrary, autocratic and unaccountable.
2. As parties are integral to democratic politics, their undemocratic functioning has weakened Indian democracy and politics.
3. The choice of candidates for the voters is essentially limited to parties. Non-party candidates have very little say in elections. (Annexure - 9)
4. As a party represents decades of effort, dreams, aspirations, history, nostalgia and emotions, new parties cannot be easily formed. The only effective way of improving the quality of a democracy is by improving the functioning of political parties.
5. Entry into a party is often tightly and arbitrarily controlled by the leadership. Strict, but objective and uniform norms as applicable to communist parties are welcome. But in most mainstream parties the leadership denies membership to those with the potential to challenge their position. Similarly persons utterly opposed to party's stated ideology are admitted as members when it suits the leadership.
6. Disciplinary powers are invoked and expulsions are resorted to habitually only to safeguard the position of leadership of a party. No healthy debate and democratic dissent are tolerated.
7. Leadership choices at various levels are rarely made by democratic voting. In most parties, internal elections are rarely held, or when held, are perfunctory. Even membership rolls are not available.
8. Party leadership is utterly unaccountable to its members as well as the public regarding contributions made and expenditure incurred.
9. Choice of candidates is left to the discretion of the party bosses. There are no democratic procedures of member choice and secret ballot for candidate selection.
10. Party policies are rarely debated or decided in party fora. Members have no role in shaping party's policies. Manifestoes are written in a cavalier manner, and if the party is elected to office, promises are disregarded with impurity.
11. Lok Satta conducted a survey of leading political parties at the grassroots level. This survey was initiated by Sri LC Jain's idea of a Political Party Development Index to act as a pressure point for parties to reform. Constituencies for study of each party were short-listed based on the party's consistent good performance over the past four general elections, and the final choice was made by the party concerned. In effect these constituencies represented the best face that the parties could offer. The findings of the study confirmed all the ills of our party system outlined above.

Proposals

1. Membership of a party should be open to all citizens of India, subject to their subscribing to the party philosophy, and uniform membership norms and barriers of entry.
2. Rules governing membership of the party and registers of current members should be available and open to inspection by any member of the party or the representatives of Election Commission.
3. There shall be internal mechanisms for adjudicating disputes within the party, including those concerning the interpretation of the party constitution.
4. Disciplinary action shall not be initiated on the grounds that a member has opposed the leadership or espoused a view contrary to the leadership's view.
5. The party constitution should contain provisions on:
   1. The name, register office and activities of the party,
   2. The admission and resignation of members,
   3. The rights and duties of members
   4. Admissible disciplinary measures against members and their exclusion from the party,
   5. The general organisation of the party,
   6. Composition and powers of the executive committees and other organisations
   7. The preconditions, form and time limits for convening meetings of members and representatives and the official recording of resolutions.
   8. Matters which may only be decided upon by a meeting of members and representatives.
   9. An overall vote by members and the procedures to be adopted when the party convention has passed a resolution to dissolve a party or merge with another party. The result of the overall vote determines whether the resolution is confirmed, amended or rescinded.
   10. The form and content of a financial structure which satisfies the rules of financial accountability
6. A member may only be expelled from the party if he or she deliberately infringes the statutes or acts in a manner contrary to the principles or discipline of the party and thus seriously impairs its standing.
7. The Election Commission decides upon appeals on expulsion from the party. The rights to appeal to a higher court is guaranteed. Decisions must be justified in writing.
8. There shall be democratic election by members through secret ballot for filling all vacancies of office bearers and the highest executive body. The executive committees at various levels shall be elected at least every second calender year.
9. All decision making in party organs shall be by majority vote, and the ballots shall be secret at the executive committee, delegates' and representatives' assemblies. Voting at other levels shall be secret if the members ask for it.
10. Party's assets, receipts, income and expenditure shall be audited and the audited statements shall be furnished to the Election Commission by September 30 next. Public shall have access to there records and may obtain copies from EC on payment of a nominal fee. (Annexure 5)
11. All contributions more than Rs. 1000 shall be disclosed to the public and the Election Commission. The commission shall make available copies to the public on payment of a nominal fee. Any violation of disclosure norms shall invite de-recognition and imprisonment of members of executive committee for three years.
12. Candidates for election to any public office must be chosen by secret ballot. The nomination procedure shall be governed by the party statutes. A person may only be named as party candidate in a constituency if he or she has been selected in an assembly of party members in the constituency or in a special general assembly of representatives elected for this purpose. The candidates and the representatives for the assemblies of representatives shall be selected by secret ballot.

    Selection of candidates for other public offices shall be by secret ballot at the appropriate level.

13. A provision similar to Article 21 of the German Basic Law should be incorporated in the constitution to facilitate effective regulation of parties. "21(1) political parties shall participate in the formation of the political will of the people. They may be freely established. Their internal organization must conform to democratic principles. They must publicly account for their assets and for the sources and use of their funds. 21 (3) Details shall be regulated by federal laws."