President of India
The President of India is the constitutional head of India and is the
supreme commander of the nations armed forces. The President is elected
by members of an Electoral College consisting of elected members of both
the Houses of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of the states, with
suitable weightage given to each vote. His term of office is five years.
Among other powers, the President can proclaim an emergency in the
country if he is satisfied that the security of the country or of any
part of its territory is threatened by the following situations. A war
or external aggression, an armed rebellion within the country and
collapse of state machinery in terms of economic and political crisis.
Hence when there is a failure of the constitutional machinery in a
state, the President can assume all or any of the functions of the
government of that state.
Vice-President
The Vice-President of India is elected by the members of an electoral
college consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament. The method
of electing the Vice President is the system of proportional
representation by means of a single transferable vote. He like the
President holds office for five years. The Vice-President also happens
to be Ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and presides over its
proceedings.
Council of Ministers
The Council of Ministers are the supreme governing body in the country
and are selected from the elected members of the Union Government. The
Council of Ministers comprises Cabinet Ministers, Minister of States and
Deputy Ministers. Prime Minister heads the Council of Ministers and
communicates all decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to
administration of affairs of the Union and proposals for legislation to
the President. Generally, each department has an officer designated as
secretary to the Government of India to advise the Ministers on policy
matters and general administration. The Cabinet Secretariat has an
important harmonizing role in decision making at the highest level and
operates under the bearing of the Prime Minister.
Parliament
The Parliament is the legislative arm of the Union. It consists of the
President, Rajya Sabha or the Upper House and Lok Sabha or the Lower
House. All bills to be made into law require the consent of both the
houses of parliament. However, in case of money bills, the Lok Sabha is
the supreme authority.
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha consists of not more than 250 members. Of these, 233
represent states and union territories and 12 members are nominated by
the President. Elections to the Rajya Sabha are indirect. Members to the
Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of Legislative Assemblies
of the concerned states. The members of the Upper House put forth the
interests of their respective state in the Parliament. The Rajya Sabha
is not subject to dissolution in contrast to the Lok Sabha and one third
of its members retire every second year.
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha is composed of representatives of the people chosen by
direct election on the basis of universal adult franchise. As of today,
the Lok Sabha consists of 545 members with two members nominated by the
President to stand for the Anglo-Indian Community. Unless dissolved
under circumstances like failure of the leading party to prove clear
majority or a no-confidence motion, the term of the Lok Sabha is five
years.
State Governments
The system of government in states closely resembles that of the Union.
In the states as well there are two major governing bodies - the
legislative assembly and the legislative council. For the Legislative
assembly direct elections are held and the majority vote receiving
political party forms the government in the state. There are 25 states
and seven Union territories in the country. Union Territories are
administered by the President through a Governor or administrator
appointed by him. Till 1 February 1992, the Union Territory of Delhi was
governed by the Central government through an Administrator appointed by
the President of India. Through a Constitutional amendment in
Parliament, the Union Territory of Delhi is called the National Capital
Territory of Delhi from 1 February 1992 onwards. General elections to
the Legislative assembly of the National Capital Territory were held in
November 1993. Since then after every five years the state underwent
general elections maintaining the democratic process in Delhi.
Political System
In India a recognized political party is categorized either as a
National Party or a State Party. If a political party is recognized in
four or more states and is either the ruling party or is in the
opposition in these states, it is considered as a National Party. The
Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal, Communist Party of India
and Communist Party of India (Marxist) are the prominent National
Parties in the Country. Some of these parties have existed before the
independence of the country while few of these emerged after political
dynamism flourished in the country in post independent years.
Telugu Desam in Andhra Pradesh, Asom Gana Parishad in Assam, Jharkhand
Mukti Morcha in Bihar, Maharashtrwad Gomantak Party in Goa, National
Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, Muslim League in Kerala, Shiv Sena in
Maharashtra, Akali Dal in Punjab, All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, Bahujan Samaj
Party and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and All-India Forward Block
in West Bengal are the prominent state parties which are the major
political players in their respective states. In fact in most of the
states where the regional parties have come to the fore understanding
the nuisance of their respective state better, there the scope of
National parties emerging victorious is barely present.
