Union Executive — President, Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers

Who Actually Runs the Country?

On paper, every executive act of the Union Government is taken in the name of the President. In practice, the President almost never decides anything alone. That gap between the written text and the working reality is exactly what this chapter examines — and exactly what exam questions are built out of.

India borrowed the British model: a head of state who symbolises the nation and a head of government who runs it. Articles 52 to 78 of the Constitution set out that arrangement — the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers and the Attorney General.

The questions asked from here are rarely conceptual. They are precise: which article, which majority, how many months, who administers which oath. So learn this chapter as a small set of numbers attached to a clear story, and keep the story in mind so the numbers do not float loose.

The story is simple: real power sits with the Council of Ministers, and the Constitution spends most of these articles saying so carefully.

1. Under which Article of the Constitution is the President of India elected?

2. The electoral college that elects the President of India consists of—

3. An ordinance promulgated by the President under Article 123 can remain in force, without approval by Parliament, for a maximum period of—

4. The power of the President to grant pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions of punishment is contained in—

5. Under the Constitution, the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to—

6. The 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003 fixed the total number of Ministers in the Union Council of Ministers at a maximum of—

7. Who administers the oath of office to the President of India?

8. Which of the following correctly describes the 'pocket veto' of the President of India?