A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good. Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to persuade people why their policies are better than others. They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.

Thus, parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve PARTISANSHIP . Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds. A political party has three components:

• the leaders,
• the active members, and
• the followers

- Source: Political Parties, NCERT Democratic Politics Class 10