NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Political Science, Chapter 2 - Era of One-Party Dominance

In the previous chapter, you studied about the problems faced by free India in Nation building. As the free government decided to follow democracy after Independence, the next challenge was to build democratic political parties. This chapter will tell you about the election campaigns done by new emerging parties within 10 years of attaining independence, success of the first elections in 1952, emergence of Congress as the strongest and the most popular political party in India, increasing dominance of Congress, inclusive nature of congress, and slowly, emergence of opposition parties like the Communist Party, Socialist Party and Bharatiya Jana Sangh and their importance in the democratic system of free India.

Thus, an in-depth study of Class 12 Political Science Chapter 2 will give you a good understanding of the Era of One-party Dominance.

Let’s take a look at topics and sub-topics of Class 12 Political Science Chapter 2 – Era of One-Party Dominance

• Challenges of Building Democracy

• Congress dominance in the first three general elections

• Communist victory in Kerala

• Socialist Party

• Nature of Congress Dominance

• Congress as social and ideological coalition

• The communist party of India

• Bharatiya Jana Sangh

• Emergence of opposition parties

• Swatantra Party

In Class 12 Political Science Chapter 2, you will learn – 

Challenges of Building Democracy – In this section, you will study the challenges faced by the Indian government in building democracy soon after independence. You’ll also learn how and when the Constitution of India and the Election Commission of India was formed; huge difficulties faced by the government in conducting the first elections after independence. You’ll also come across the reasons of postponement of elections twice and finally the worldwide success of first elections of free India in 1951-52.

Congress dominance in the first three general elections – In this section, you’ll acquire knowledge about the complete victory of Congress over all other political parties during first elections of free India. You’ll learn about the charm of Congress and its leaders in the first decade of Independence and how Congress became so popular throughout India and won at Central as well as at State level. You’ll also study the emergence of other parties like the Socialist Party and the Communist Party during Independence.

Nature of Congress Dominance – In this section, you’ll study why Congress emerged as the dominant party and its inbuilt nature. You’ll acquire knowledge about the active participation of Congress during the struggle of Indian independence, national movement run by Congress, inclusion of well educated, English speaking, upper caste, upper-middle-class, urban dwellers, villagers, industrialists, workers and owners in Congress party, merger of many other groups and parties with Congress, and finally the formation of Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951by Shyam, Prasad Mukherjee.

Emergence of opposition parties – in this section, you’ll study about the emergence of opposition parties even before the general elections of 1952, the important role played by these parties in the 60s and 70s in maintaining the democratic character of the constitution of India. You’ll acquire knowledge about the inclusive character of Congress in welcoming other parties to join them, a gradual decline in the inclusive nature of congress and finally strong emergence of other political parties.

In this chapter, you are provided with several maps, images and quotes given by famous leaders to have a clear understanding about Era of One-Party Dominance. To know more about Political Science Chapter 2 you should explore the exercises mentioned in this chapter. You can also download the Era of One-Party Dominance PDF, solved by our experts.