The defining feature separating India's parliamentary system from a presidential one is that the Prime Minister:

Must retain the confidence of the Lok Sabha to remain in office

Is directly elected by the entire electorate

Cannot be removed before a fixed term ends

The Lok Sabha's primacy over the Rajya Sabha is sharpest on:

All ordinary legislation equally

Constitutional amendments alone

Judicial activism's most-cited example is the expansive reading of:

Article 21's 'right to life' to include environment, livelihood and privacy

Article 74's ministerial advice

The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), created by the 99th Amendment (2014), was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015 on the ground that it:

Violated judicial independence, a basic structure feature

Was passed without the required special majority

Violated the Preamble's socialist clause

S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994) is chiefly significant for holding that:

The President's satisfaction under Article 356 is subject to judicial review, tested on the Assembly floor

The Governor's appointment must be by direct election

Article 356 is unconstitutional and cannot be invoked

A Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad), an upper house at the state level, is:

Optional — present in only some states

Directly elected by the whole state electorate

Political Institutions in India II: Union Executive, Union Parliament, Judiciary, and Executive-Legislature in the States

Where chapter 11 covered the Constitution's making and philosophy, this chapter covers the institutions it actually set up to run the state day to day — the Union executive and Parliament, the judiciary that reviews both, and the states' own parallel executive-legislative structure, with emphasis throughout on the theory behind each institution (why a parliamentary rather than presidential executive, what judicial activism actually changes) rather than a bare list of offices.

1. Union Executive: President, Prime Minister and Council of Ministers

India's parliamentary system makes the President the nominal/constitutional head of state — elected indirectly by an electoral college of MPs and MLAs, exercising executive power 'on the aid and advice' of the Council of Ministers (Article 74, made explicitly binding by the 42nd and 44th Amendments after a brief ambiguity), so real executive authority sits with the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the President but must command the confidence of the Lok Sabha to remain in office — the defining feature that separates a parliamentary from a presidential system, where the US President is both head of state and head of government, directly elected and not dependent on legislative confidence.

ℹ️ The President's discretionary space

Though bound by ministerial advice, the President retains narrow real discretion in specific situations the Constitution does not fully script — choosing a Prime Minister when no party has a clear majority (asking the leader most likely to prove confidence), deciding whether to grant a dissolution when advised by a government that may have already lost its majority, and returning a bill once for reconsideration (a 'suspensive veto', since a bill repassed by Parliament must then be assented to).

2. Union Parliament: structure, role and functioning

Parliament comprises the President and two Houses — the Lok Sabha (House of the People, directly elected, normally 5-year term, holds the government to account through its exclusive power over money bills and the confidence vote) and the Rajya Sabha (Council of States, indirectly elected by state assemblies, a permanent body with a third of members retiring every two years, representing federal interests and reviewing legislation) — with the Lok Sabha's primacy on finance and confidence being the sharpest structural asymmetry between the two Houses.

Key parliamentary committees
Committee	Function
Public Accounts Committee (PAC)	Examines the CAG's audit reports on government expenditure against sanctioned budgets, conventionally chaired by an opposition member.
Estimates Committee	Examines estimates in the budget and suggests economies in public expenditure, drawn only from the Lok Sabha.
Department-related Standing Committees	Scrutinise bills and ministries' budgetary demands in specialised, detailed sessions away from the floor's time pressure and partisan noise — a post-1993 innovation strengthening Parliament's oversight capacity.

3. Judiciary: the Supreme Court, High Courts, judicial review and activism

India has a single, integrated judiciary (unlike the US's separate federal and state court systems) — the Supreme Court at the apex, High Courts at the state/regional level, and subordinate courts below, all applying the same body of law. Judicial review (the power to strike down a law or executive act as unconstitutional) is textually grounded (Articles 13, 32, 226) and structurally reinforced by the basic structure doctrine (chapter 11), making it itself an unamendable feature of the constitutional order. Judicial activism describes courts, especially from the 1980s onward, expanding standing rules (public interest litigation, allowing any public-spirited person or group, not only an aggrieved party, to petition on behalf of the disadvantaged) and reading expansive substantive content into brief constitutional text — most famously Article 21's 'right to life' being read to include a right to a clean environment, livelihood, privacy and a speedy trial, well beyond its literal wording — a genuine expansion of judicial power that its critics call overreach into the executive's and legislature's own domain and its defenders call a necessary response to executive and legislative failure to protect rights.

🎯 Judicial reform: the collegium debate

Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are appointed through the collegium system (a body of senior judges recommending appointments, evolved through the Second and Third Judges Cases of the 1990s, with no explicit textual basis in the Constitution itself), which Parliament tried to replace with the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC, 99th Amendment, 2014) giving the executive and eminent persons a formal role; the Supreme Court struck down the NJAC in 2015 as violating judicial independence, a core basic-structure feature, leaving the collegium system in place and the appointments-reform debate unresolved.

4. Executive and legislature in the states

Governor — appointed by the President (not elected), holding office 'during the pleasure of the President', mirroring at the state level the President's own nominal-head role, bound by the aid and advice of the state Council of Ministers in ordinary matters but retaining contested discretionary powers (assent to bills, calling a floor test, recommending President's Rule under Article 356) that are the subject of repeated Centre-state friction and Supreme Court intervention (S.R. Bommai v. Union of India, 1994, subjected Article 356's use to judicial review, curbing its earlier misuse to dismiss opposition-run state governments).
Chief Minister and state legislature — the Chief Minister, like the Prime Minister, is the real executive head, appointed by the Governor but accountable to the state Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha), which mirrors the Lok Sabha's own confidence-and-money-bill primacy; only some states additionally have a Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad, an upper house, currently in six states), making bicameralism at the state level optional, unlike Parliament's own fixed bicameral structure.

⚠️ Article 356 is not automatic, since Bommai

Before 1994, a Governor's report recommending President's Rule was treated as largely beyond judicial scrutiny, enabling frequent, politically-motivated dismissals of opposition state governments; S.R. Bommai made the President's satisfaction under Article 356 justiciable, requiring the floor of the Assembly (not the Governor's own assessment) to be the test of whether a government has lost majority — a major curb on executive discretion, not an abolition of Article 356 itself.

Key takeaways

India's parliamentary system makes the President a nominal head bound by ministerial advice (Article 74), with real executive power held by the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister, who must retain the Lok Sabha's confidence.
Parliament's Lok Sabha (directly elected, primacy on money bills/confidence) and Rajya Sabha (indirectly elected, permanent, retiring by thirds) are asymmetric by design; Standing Committees (post-1993) strengthen detailed legislative-financial scrutiny.
A single, integrated judiciary exercises textually-grounded, basic-structure-protected judicial review; judicial activism since the 1980s (PIL, expansive Article 21 readings) is contested as either necessary rights-protection or executive/legislative overreach.
The collegium system appoints judges with no explicit constitutional text behind it; the NJAC (2014) attempt to change this was struck down (2015) as violating judicial independence.
The Governor mirrors the President at the state level but with more contested discretion (Article 356); S.R. Bommai (1994) subjected President's Rule to judicial review, curbing its earlier misuse against opposition state governments.

Practice questions (8)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

Article 74, as made explicitly binding by later amendments, requires the President to act on:
1. The aid and advice of the Council of Ministers
2. The Governor's own discretion
3. The collegium's recommendation
4. The NJAC's decision
Show answer
Answer: A — The aid and advice of the Council of Ministers
Article 74 binds the President to ministerial advice; the Governor, collegium and NJAC are distinct institutions this chapter covers separately.
The defining feature separating India's parliamentary system from a presidential one is that the Prime Minister:
1. Must retain the confidence of the Lok Sabha to remain in office
2. Is directly elected by the entire electorate
3. Also serves as head of state
4. Cannot be removed before a fixed term ends
Show answer
Answer: A — Must retain the confidence of the Lok Sabha to remain in office
Legislative-confidence dependence is parliamentary government's defining feature; a US-style president is directly elected, is both head of state and government, and serves a fixed term regardless of legislative confidence.
The Lok Sabha's primacy over the Rajya Sabha is sharpest on:
1. Money bills and the confidence vote
2. All ordinary legislation equally
3. Judicial appointments
4. Constitutional amendments alone
Show answer
Answer: A — Money bills and the confidence vote
Money bills and confidence are the Lok Sabha's exclusive domain; ordinary legislation generally requires both Houses, and judicial appointments and amendments follow separate processes.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is conventionally chaired by:
1. An opposition member
2. The Prime Minister
3. The Chief Justice of India
4. The Governor
Show answer
Answer: A — An opposition member
The PAC's opposition chairmanship is a deliberate convention strengthening its independence from the government whose expenditure it examines.
Judicial activism's most-cited example is the expansive reading of:
1. Article 21's 'right to life' to include environment, livelihood and privacy
2. Article 74's ministerial advice
3. Article 356's President's Rule
4. Article 368's amending power
Show answer
Answer: A — Article 21's 'right to life' to include environment, livelihood and privacy
Article 21's expansion is judicial activism's signature example; the other articles concern the executive, President's Rule and the amending power respectively, covered elsewhere in these chapters.
The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), created by the 99th Amendment (2014), was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015 on the ground that it:
1. Violated judicial independence, a basic structure feature
2. Was passed without the required special majority
3. Abolished the Rajya Sabha
4. Violated the Preamble's socialist clause
Show answer
Answer: A — Violated judicial independence, a basic structure feature
The Supreme Court's specific ground was judicial independence as a basic-structure feature, leaving the collegium system in place.
S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994) is chiefly significant for holding that:
1. The President's satisfaction under Article 356 is subject to judicial review, tested on the Assembly floor
2. The Governor's appointment must be by direct election
3. Article 356 is unconstitutional and cannot be invoked
4. The NJAC is valid
Show answer
Answer: A — The President's satisfaction under Article 356 is subject to judicial review, tested on the Assembly floor
Bommai made Article 356's use justiciable and floor-tested, a major curb on its earlier misuse, without abolishing the article itself or touching the Governor's appointment method or the NJAC.
A Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad), an upper house at the state level, is:
1. Optional — present in only some states
2. Mandatory in every state
3. Directly elected by the whole state electorate
4. The same as the Rajya Sabha
Show answer
Answer: A — Optional — present in only some states
Unlike Parliament's fixed bicameral structure, state bicameralism is optional and currently exists in only six states, indirectly constituted rather than directly elected.