Look at the map given below and answer the questions that follow :

(i) In 2004 elections how many seats were won by BJP and Congress party ?

(ii) Which government came to power in 2004?

(iii) What effects this elections results have on the Congress ?

Party politics in India has confronted numerous challenges. Not only has the Congress system destroyed itself, but the fragmentation of the Congress coalition has triggered a new emphasis on self-representation which raises questions about the pary system and its capacity to accommodate diverse interests.....An important test facing the polity is to evolve a party system or political parties that can effectively articulate and aggregate a variety of interests. —Zoya Hasan

(a) Write a short note on what the author calls challenges of the party system in the light of what you have read in this chapter.

(b) Give an example from this chapter of the lack of accommodation and aggrigation mentioned in this passage.

(c) Why is it necessary for parties to accommodate and aggregate variety of interests ?

‘1989 elections marked the end of what the political scientists have called the ________.”