Concept:
- The problems of political parties are easier to grasp when sorted by where they arise, inside the party, in the way elections are fought, and in what parties offer the voter.
- Sorted this way, the four challenges turn out to be linked rather than separate.
Step 1: The problem inside the party.
Most parties keep power with one leader or a small group at the top. Membership registers are not maintained, organisational meetings are not held and internal elections are not conducted.
A member who disagrees finds it easier to leave and form a new party than to argue within the existing one.
Step 2: What that closed system produces.
Where there is no open contest for positions, leaders promote those closest to them, and family members are the closest of all. In several parties the top posts stay within one family.
The harm is twofold, since capable members are shut out and power passes to people who may have neither experience nor popular backing.
Step 3: The problem in how elections are fought.
Because winning is treated as the only goal, parties take short cuts. They favour candidates who bring money or who can win by any means, including some facing criminal charges. Wealthy donors then gain influence over the policies of the parties they fund.
Step 4: The problem in what parties offer.
Meaningful choice requires meaningful difference, yet the economic and social policies of the major parties have grown steadily closer. A change of government may therefore bring little change of direction, and voters wanting a different policy find nobody to vote for.
Step 5: How the four are connected.
A party closed to its own members produces dynastic leaders. Leaders who owe nothing to members come to depend on money and winnability instead. With policy differences already narrow, the voter is left with very little real say.
Final Answer: Indian parties face four linked challenges, no internal democracy, dynastic succession, the growing weight of money and muscle power, and the shrinking of genuine policy choice. Each one feeds the next, which is why reform has to address them together.