India: the President, the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers

1. The President: election (Arts. 54–55)

• Elected indirectly by an electoral college of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States, including Delhi and Puducherry (Seventieth Amendment, 1992). Nominated members and members of Legislative Councils do not vote.
• Voting is by proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, by secret ballot.
• Value of votes: an MLA’s vote equals the State’s population divided by its elected MLAs, divided by 1,000; an MP’s vote equals the total value of all MLAs’ votes divided by the number of elected MPs. This secures uniformity among States and parity between States and the Union. Population is taken as of the 1971 census until the first census after 2026.
• The winning candidate must secure a quota: more than half of the valid votes.
• Disputes are decided by the Supreme Court (Art. 71).

Qualifications (Art. 58). A citizen of India; at least 35 years of age; qualified for election to the Lok Sabha; not holding an office of profit (the President, Vice-President, Governors and ministers are not treated as such).

Tenure (Art. 56). Five years from entering office; eligible for re-election (Art. 57). The President may resign by writing to the Vice-President. On a vacancy, the Vice-President acts as President and an election must be held within six months (Art. 62, 65).

2. Powers and functions

1. Executive (Art. 53). All executive action is taken in the President’s name. Appoints the Prime Minister and, on advice, other ministers, Governors, judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, the Attorney-General, CAG, Chief Election Commissioner and members of the Finance Commission and UPSC.
2. Military. Supreme commander of the defence forces; declaration of war and peace is regulated by Parliament.
3. Diplomatic. Sends and receives ambassadors; treaties are made in the President’s name.
4. Legislative. Part of Parliament (Art. 79). Summons and prorogues the Houses and dissolves the Lok Sabha (Art. 85); addresses Parliament at the first session each year (Art. 87); nominates 12 members to the Rajya Sabha (Art. 80); assents to bills, may withhold assent, or return a non-money bill once for reconsideration (Art. 111); recommends money bills; issues ordinances when Parliament is not in session (Art. 123).
5. Financial. Causes the annual budget to be laid; Contingency Fund advances; appoints the Finance Commission.
6. Judicial. Pardon, reprieve, respite, remission, suspension and commutation of sentences (Art. 72), including death sentences.
7. Emergency. National emergency (Art. 352), failure of constitutional machinery in a State (Art. 356), financial emergency (Art. 360), all on the advice of the Union Cabinet (for Art. 352, the Cabinet’s written decision, after the 44th Amendment).

Article 74. There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President, who “shall act in accordance with such advice” (42nd Amendment, 1976); the President may require the Council to reconsider the advice once, but must act on the advice tendered after reconsideration (44th Amendment, 1978). In Shamsher Singh v. State of Punjab, 1974 INSC 154, a seven-judge bench held that the President and Governors exercise their formal powers on ministerial advice save in a few well-known exceptional situations.

Discretion in practice. Choosing a Prime Minister when no party has a majority (1979, 1989, 1996–98); returning a bill or advice once; the “pocket veto” (no time limit is fixed for assent: President Zail Singh sat on the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 1986). Ambedkar summed up: the President is the head of the State but not of the executive; he represents the nation but does not rule it.

3. Privileges (Art. 361)

• Not answerable to any court for the exercise of the powers and duties of the office.
• No criminal proceedings may be instituted or continued during the term of office.
• No process for arrest or imprisonment may issue during the term.
• Civil proceedings for personal acts only after two months’ written notice.

Conduct of the President can still be reviewed through impeachment, and the validity of the advice can be examined in court (Bommai).

4. Impeachment (Art. 61)

1. Ground: violation of the Constitution (the only ground).
2. The charge may be preferred by either House, by a resolution moved after at least 14 days’ written notice signed by at least one-fourth of the total members of that House.
3. The resolution must be passed by at least two-thirds of the total membership of that House.
4. The other House investigates the charge; the President may appear or be represented.
5. If the investigating House also resolves by two-thirds of its total membership that the charge is sustained, the President stands removed from the date of the resolution.

Nominated members, who do not vote at the election, do take part in impeachment. No President has been impeached.

5. The Prime Minister: selection and tenure

• Appointed by the President (Art. 75(1)); by convention the leader of the majority party or coalition in the Lok Sabha, who may be asked to prove the majority on the floor.
• May be a member of either House (Indira Gandhi in 1966 and Manmohan Singh were Rajya Sabha members), or a non-member who must enter Parliament within six months (Art. 75(5)).
• Holds office during the pleasure of the President, which in practice means while the Lok Sabha majority lasts.

6. Cabinet and Council of Ministers

• The Council of Ministers has three ranks: Cabinet ministers, Ministers of State (some with independent charge) and Deputy Ministers. Its total size, including the Prime Minister, may not exceed 15 per cent of the strength of the Lok Sabha (Art. 75(1A), 91st Amendment, 2003).
• The Cabinet, the inner body of senior ministers, takes policy decisions; the word entered the Constitution in Art. 352 by the 44th Amendment.
• Collective responsibility to the Lok Sabha (Art. 75(3)); individual responsibility to the President (Art. 75(2)).
• In Rai Sahib Ram Jawaya Kapur v. State of Punjab, 1955 INSC 27, the Court described the Cabinet as the real executive, following the British model.

7. Powers, functions and position of the Prime Minister

1. Forms the Council of Ministers; allocates portfolios; reshuffles and can secure the dismissal of a minister.
2. Chairs the Cabinet and its principal committees; coordinates ministries.
3. Channel of communication between the Cabinet and the President (Art. 78).
4. Advises the President on appointments, on summoning and prorogation, and on dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
5. Leader of the Lok Sabha (or of the majority in it) and of the party.
6. Chief spokesperson on foreign policy; chairs NITI Aayog, the National Security Council and the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

The position depends on party strength. Single-party majorities (Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and Narendra Modi after 2014 and 2019) made the office dominant; the coalition period (1989–2014) made the Prime Minister a manager of allies, and since 2024 the ruling party has again depended on coalition partners for its majority. The phrase primus inter pares understates the office in a majority government.

How this is examined

The President is a regular essay: election with the vote-value formula, qualifications and tenure, the powers in seven heads, Article 74 with Shamsher Singh, privileges, and impeachment step by step (January 2026, Q.7). The Prime Minister appears as an essay (February 2025) or a 10-mark option (January 2026, Q.9(c)): selection, the Council of Ministers, powers in a list, and position, with the contrast between majority and coalition governments.