Political Science Test - 11

the Bharatiya Janata Party is one of India's major political parties.

Key Points

• The Bharatiya Janta Party was founded in 1980 as a result of a split in the Janata Party over the issue of dual membership. 
• The Bharatiya Jana Sangh constituent of the Janata Party formed the Bharatiya Janata Party after leaving the Janata Party (BJP).
• The BJP is often referred to as the Bharatiya Jana Sangh's rebirth.
• In 195, Syama Prasad Mukherjee established BJP.
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the party's first president when it was founded in 1980.
• The BJP won only two seats in the first Lok Sabha election after its formation in 1984, but the BJP began to have electoral success in 1989. 
• The BJP ran as the organiser of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a coalition of more than 20 national and regional parties in the 1999 legislative elections.

Therefore, BJP was formed in 1990 is incorrect. 

Additional Information

• The BJP gained a total of 282 seats giving it a comfortable majority in the legislature, with its NDA allies adding 54 more.
• The RSS, which was created in 1925 by Kesllav Baliram Hedgewar, served as an organisational backbone for the Bharatiya Janata Sangh and eventually the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Correct Answer is Option 1 i.e Syama Prasad Mukherjee.

Key Points

• Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP):
  • It was founded by Syama Prasad Mukherjee in 1951.
• Syama Prasad Mukherjee:
  • He served as the Minister for Industry and Supply in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet.
  • Recently in June 2020, Kolkata Port Trust was renamed to Shyama Prasad Mukerjee port trust.
  • The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, founded by Shyama Prasad Mukerjee.

Confusion Points

• Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS).
• Bharatiya Jana Sangh merged itself into the Janata Party in 1977.
• Due to internal differences in Janata Party, the Janata government collapsed, and BJP became a separate party.
• The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was formed on April 6, 1980, with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the first party President.

Additional Information

• Lal Krishna Advani:
  • He was one of the co-founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
  • He was also the former Minister of Home Affairs (1998-2004).
  • He was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan in the year 2015.
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee:
  • He was the former Prime Minister of India.
  • During his tenure as prime ministership, India carried out the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998. 
  • He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in the year 2015.
• Murli Manohar Joshi:
  • He was the former Union Minister of HRD and Minister of Science and Technology.
  • He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2017. 

The correct answer is Congress Party.

Key Points

• The Nationalist Congress Party was formed in 1999 after the split in the Congress Party.
• Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is a national political party in India.
• The NCP was formally established in New Delhi by three former members of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party)—Sharad Pawar, Purno Sangma, and Tariq Anwar.

Additional Information

• Shiv Sena was founded on 19 June 1966. It was established by Shri Balasaheb Thackrey.
• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was officially created on 6 April 1980.
• Bharatiya Janata Party emerged from the Jana Sangh. Jana Sangh was formed in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee.
• The Indian National Congress was formed on 28 December 1885 by British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume.
• Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was founded on 14 April 1984. 

When several parties in a multi-party system join hands for the purpose of contesting elections and winning power, it is called an alliance or a front.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is an Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded in 1998 and currently controls the government of India as well as the government of 17 Indian states.

• The NDA was formed in May 1998 as a coalition to contest the general elections.
• The main aim of the NDA was to form an anti-Indian National Congress coalition.
• It was led by the BJP and included several regional parties, including the Samta Party and the AIADMK, as well as Shiv Sena, But Shiv Sena broke away from the alliance in 2019 to join the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
• The Shiv Sena was the only member which shared the Hindutva ideology of the BJP.
• After the election, it was able to muster a slim majority with outside support from the Telugu Desam Party, allowing Atal Bihari Vajpayee to return as prime minister.
• The government collapsed within a year because the AIADMK withdrew its support.

Thus, we can say that National Democratic Alliance formed the government in 1998.

Additional Information

• After the entry of a few more regional parties, the NDA proceeded to win the 1999 elections with a larger majority.
• Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the third time, and this time served a full five-year term.
• The NDA called elections in early 2004, six months ahead of schedule. Its campaign was based around the slogan of "India Shining" which attempted to depict the NDA government as responsible for a rapid economic transformation of the country.
• However, the NDA suffered a defeat, winning only 186 seats in the Lok Sabha, compared to the 222 of the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress, with Manmohan Singh succeeding Vajpayee as prime minister.
• United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a big tent centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India formed after the 2004 general election.
• Commentators have argued that the NDA's defeat was due to a failure to reach out to the rural masses.

The correct answer is Odisha.

Key Points

• Biju Janata Dal is a regional political party of Odisha.
  • The Biju Janata Dal is a regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha founded and led by Naveen Patnaik, the current Chief Minister of Odisha and the son of former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik.
  • It was founded on 26 December 1997.

Additional Information

• The BJD won nine seats in the 1998 general election and Naveen was named Minister for Mines.
  • In the 1999 general elections, the BJD won 10 seats.
  • The party won a majority of seats in the Odisha Legislative Assembly in the 2000 and 2004 elections in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
  • The BJD won 11 Lok Sabha seats in the 2004 elections.
  • In the aftermath of the 2008 Kandhamal riots, the BJD parted ways with the BJP in both the Lok Sabha and Assembly in the 2009 general election, citing communalism and differences in seat sharing.
• During the election, BJD won 14 seats and secured a strong 108 legislative seats out of 147 seats in the 2009 Odisha legislative elections.

The correct answer is 2004.

Key Points

• EVMs were used throughout the country for the first time in the 2004 general elections. Hence, Option 3 is correct.
• The use of EVMs in 2004 saved around 1,50,000 trees which would have been cut to produce about 8,000 tons of paper for printing the ballot papers.
• The EVMs were first used in 1982 in the by-election to North Paravur Assembly Constituency in Kerala for a limited number of polling stations.
• The EVMs were first time used on an experimental basis in selected constituencies of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi.
• An Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is an electronic device used for recording votes.
• An EVM comprises a control unit that is placed with the polling officer and a balloting unit which is placed inside the voting compartment.
• Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) also plays an imperative role in voting.
• VVPAT is another independent machine attached to the EVM which helps the voter verify the vote. After casting the vote, a slip is printed which contains the serial number, name, and symbol of the candidate and is visible through a window for seven seconds.
• Post this, the printed slip automatically falls in the sealed drop box of the VVPAT.

Mamata Banerjee has been the ninth and current Chief Minister of West Bengal as the first woman to hold the position, since May 20, 2011.

 Key Points

• Mamta Banerjee established the All India Trinamool Congress on January 1, 1998.
• Before creating her own party, she was a member of the Congress party for 26 years.
• West Bengal is a stronghold for the party.
• The All India Trinamool Congress also contest in the assembly elections in Kerala, Manipur, Tripura, Assam, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, and Odisha.
• All India Trinamool Congress is the fifth-largest party in the Lok Sabha with 22 seats in the 2019 general election.  
• In 2016 the Election Commission recognized TMC as a national political party. 

Therefore, Mamta Banerjee has been associated with the All India Trinamool Congress.

Important Points

• All India Trinamool Congress in its first election in 1998 is part of the National Democratic Alliance, as part of the Vajpayee Government. 
• In the 2001 General elections, the TMC won 60 seats in alliance with the Indian National Congress, becoming the principal opposition party in Lok Sabha. 
• In the 2004 Lok Sabha election and 2006 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, suffered a big setback and subsequently left the National Democratic Alliance.    

The correct answer is Alliance.

Key Points

• When several parties join hands for contesting elections and winning power it is called an alliance.
• An alliance is also sometimes called a front.
• Alliance or a front usually takes place in a multi-party system.
• In India, there were three such major alliances in 2004- the National Democratic Alliance, the United Progressive Alliance, and the Left Front.

 Thus, we can say that when several parties come together to contest elections and win power, it is called an alliance or a front.

Additional Information

• Indian National Congress is the head of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
• Bhartiya Janta Party is the head of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is an Indian political party founded to support Bahujans (meaning "community in the majority"), a term that refers to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), as well as religious minorities.  Important Points

• Mayawati is an Indian politician and social reformer who was born on January 15, 1956.
• She has served as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh four times.
• She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which advocates for Bahujans, also known as Other Backward Castes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes, as well as converted minorities from these castes, via a platform of social transformation.

Additional Information

• Sonia Gandhi: is part of Congress.
• Uma Bharti: is part of BJP. 
• Supriya Shrinate: is part of Congress.

Hence Mayawati is associated with Bahujan Samaj party.

Kanshi Ram was the founder of Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) political party.

• BSP was founded in 1984.
• It is symbolic to the 'Majority of People' and representing the oppressed sections of the society such as the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes as well as religious minorities.
• In 1993, Kanshi Ram was succeeded by Mayawati as President of the BSP.
• Mulayam Singh Yadav was the founder of Samajwadi Party.
• Balwant Singh Ramoowalia was the founder of Lok Bhalai Party(LBP).