Union & State Executive

The executive is a mirror at two levels — remember the Union pattern and the state is nearly its copy. UNION: President (Article 52 onwards, elected indirectly by an electoral college of elected MPs and elected MLAs by proportional representation with single transferable vote) → Vice-President (ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha) → Prime Minister (Article 75, appointed by the President) → Council of Ministers, collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. STATE: Governor (appointed by the President, holds office during his pleasure) → Chief Minister → Council of Ministers responsible to the Legislative Assembly. The key idea running through both: the head of state is nominal, the real executive is the council of ministers, and Article 74 makes their advice binding on the President.

• President : Union :: Governor : State.

  Same structure, two differences worth holding. The President is elected by an electoral college; the Governor is appointed by the President. And the Governor has discretionary powers the President does not, which is where centre-state friction usually appears in questions.

• Elected by the elected, weighted by population.

  The President's electoral college is made of elected members of both Houses of Parliament and elected members of state legislative assemblies, including Delhi and Puducherry. Nominated members do not vote. Votes are weighted by population and the election uses a single transferable vote with proportional representation.

• 1The President is covered by Articles 52 to 62; the minimum age is 35 and the term is five years.
• 2The President can be removed only by impeachment under Article 61, for violation of the Constitution, by a process that can begin in either House.
• 3The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha; the Prime Minister is appointed under Article 75.
• 4The 91st Amendment (2003) caps the Council of Ministers at fifteen per cent of the strength of the Lok Sabha, or of the legislative assembly in a state.
• 5Governors are covered by Articles 153 to 162; a Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President.
• 6The Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor under Article 164, and the state council of ministers is responsible to the legislative assembly.

• The President is elected by an electoral college of elected members of both Houses of Parliament and elected members of the legislative assemblies of states and of Delhi and Puducherry, by proportional representation with a single transferable vote.
• The President holds office for five years and can be removed only by impeachment under Article 61 for violation of the Constitution, initiated in either House and needing a two-thirds majority in each.
• Article 74 provides a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President, and after the 42nd and 44th Amendments that advice is binding, though the President may ask for reconsideration once.
• The 91st Amendment caps the Council of Ministers at 15 per cent of the strength of the Lok Sabha (and of the Legislative Assembly in a state, with a minimum of twelve ministers).
• Article 72 gives the President pardoning power including pardon, reprieve, respite, remission and commutation; a Governor's power under Article 161 does not extend to death sentences or court-martial cases.

• Nominated members of Parliament and members of state legislative councils do not vote in the presidential election.

• NCERT Class XI — Indian Constitution at Work
• Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth
• Introduction to the Constitution of India by D. D. Basu

• NCERT textbooks (free PDFs)
• Constitution of India (full text)
• Central Information Commission (RTI)
• Gujarat State Portal