Category: indian polity articles

Veto Power of the President

This article is about the veto power of president of India.

Types of Veto Powers

There are 4 types of veto powers used in the modern democratic countries. These are as follows:

1. Absolute Veto
2. Qualified Veto
3. Suspensive Veto
4. Pocket Veto

Before understanding these veto powers, we will have to consider the actions that our president can take on the bills.

The president can take following actions when a bill is presented to him:

1. He can give assent to the bill. (approval)
2. He can withhold his assent. (reject)
3. He can send the bill back to the houses for reconsideration.

Note: When president suggests reconsideration, the houses can take following actions on the bill:

1. Drop the bill.
2. Send the bill to the president with or without amendments. If the bill is presented to the president again with or without amendments, he must give his assent.

Now, we will see the explaination of Veto power of president of India.

Veto Power of President of India

You can also read other articles from the blog.

• Qualifications of the executives in Indian Polity

Qualifications of Executives and legislatives in Indian Polity

In this article, we will know about the qualifications of executives, legislatives and judiciary in indian polity.

Qualifications of Executives and Legislatives in IndiaPresident of India

A. President

B. Vice President

C. Members of Parliament

D. Prime Ministers

E. Central Council of Ministers

F. Supreme Court

G. Governor

H. Members of State Legislature

I. Chief Minister

J. State Council of Ministers

K. High Court

L. Subordinate Courts

A. President of India

1. The President should be a citizen of India.
2. He must be of minimum 35 years.
3. The President must be qualified to be a member of Lok Sabha.
4. He should not hold any office of profit.

B. Vice – President of India

1. The Vice President should be a citizen of India.
2. He should be of minimum 35 years.
3. The Vice President must be qualified to be a member of Rajya Sabha.
4. He should not hold any office of profit.

C. Members Of Parliament- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

1. The Member should be a citizen of India.
2. He has to take oath / Affirmation.
3. Member should be of minimum 35 years for Rajya Sabha and 25 years for Lok Sabha.
4. He should have other qualifications as decided by the parliament. In this respect, Parliament introduced “Representation of People’s Act, 1951” which mentions some qualifications. They are as follows:
   • He Should be a registered elector in Parliamentary Constituency.
   • He must be a member of SC/ ST community in any state or UT if he wants to contest from a reserved seat for that particular community.

D. Prime Minister

Generally, the party in majority or the majority coalition elects their leader. However,Any person can be appointed by President if he wants but he will have to become a member of any house within 6 months from his appointment. (Clarified by Supreme Court in 1997).

E. Central Council of Ministers

The ministers are appointed by president on the advice of Prime Ministers. It means that the president can not choose any one from his choice.

Any person suggested by Prime Minister can be appointed by President. However, in this case, the minister has to become a member of either house of parliament within 6 months of his appointment.

F. Supreme Court

The Chief Justice of India is appointed by the president on the advice of Judges of Supreme Court. Judges of High Courts can also be consulted if it seems necessary.

The President appoints the Judges of Supreme Court on the advice of Chief Justice of India (CJI). After many cases and discussions, Supreme Court has established that the appointment of Judges is made after consulting multiple judges. The decision of majority is, however, binding on the president.

The Constitution mentions following qualifications for the Judges of Supreme Court:

1. The Judge should be a citizen of India.
2. He has to qualify any the following:
   • He must be a judge in one or more high courts (in succession) for atleast 5 years. OR
   • He must be a advocate in one or more high courts (in succession) for atleast 10 years. OR
   • He should be a distinguished Jurist in the Opinion of President.

Money Bill in India

Money bill is one of the financial bills. Financial bills, however, are not always money bills.

Definition of Money Bill

Money bill is defined in the article 110 of the constitution of India. As per this article, a bill is said money bill only if it deals with following matters:

1. The imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax
2. The regulation of the borrowing of money by the union government.
3. The custody of the consolidated fund of india or the contingency fund of india, the payment of moneys into or the withdrawal of money from any such fund.
4. The appropriation of money out of the consolidated fund of india.
5. Declaration of any expenditure charged on the consolidated fund of india or increasing the amount of any such expenditure.
6. The receipt of money on account of the consolidated fund of india or the public account of india or the custody or issue of such money, or the audit of the acounts of the union or of a state or
7. Any matter incidental to any of the matters specified above.

There are also some other financial functions. A bill can also not be easily considered as a money bill, only if it performs below mentioned functions:

1. The imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties or
2. the demand or payment of fees for licenses or fees for services rendered, or
3. the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax by any local authority or body for local purposes.

Power of houses regarding the the bill

Speaker of the lok sabha is the final authority to decide whether a bill is money bill. No one can challenge his decision in any court of law, any house or to the president.

Money bill can be introduced in Lok Sabha only. Prior permission of the president is must for introducing this bill. It is a type of Government bill. (Note: Only a minister can introduce government bill).

It is sent to Rajya Sabha after it passes from Lok Sabha. Rajya sabha has only 14 days to consider this bill. It can either give accent or ask for amendments in the bill. Rajya Sabha can not amend by itself. Lok Sabha has full authority whether to accept few or all amendments or not.

If Rajya sabha does not return the bill within 14 days, it is cosidered to have been passed from both the houses.

The money bill is then sent to president. He may give his accent or withold his accent but he can not return the bill. He gives his accent to the bill as it is presented with his prior permission.

Above mentioned points clearly define that the Lok Sabha is superior to Rajya Sabha in case of the money bill.

Constituent Assembly of India

This post is about Constituent Assembly of india. Constitution of India is the text that helps this huge country run smoothly with its guidance and rules. Because we needed some brilliant minds who could design the constitution and imagine the future of this nation, so a Constituent Assembly was formed for this purpose and it took the responsibility for framing the constitution.

Demand for the Constitution of India

1934- M.N. Roy gave the idea of constitution. He was important leaders of the communist movement in India.

1935- INC (Indian National Congress) demanded for the formation of constitutional Assembly.

1938- Jawahar Lal Nehru officially demanded for the constitution of India on the behalf of INC. He said that the constitution of free india should be formed by an assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise. Moreover, it will be done without any outside interference.

Composition

• Total 389 members. Out of this, 296 were from British Provinces and 93 were from Princely states.
• British provinces got 296 seats and heads of princely states got 93 seats for the representation in assembly. Elected members came from Provinces. Nominated members came from Princely states.
• In all, there were 296 seats. 11 british governor’s provinces got 292 seats. 4 Chief Commissioner’s province got 4 seats.
• princely states and provinces got the seats in proportion to their population.
• Muslims, Sikhs and general categories got the seats as per their proportion in the population.
• Elections took place in July- August 1946. INC won 208 seats, Muslim League (ML) won 73 seats and independent and small groups got 15 seats.

Working of the Constituent Assembly

9th december 1946– First Meeting of the assembly took place . As per the french practice, the senior-most member of the assembly DR SACHCHIDANANDA SINHA became temporary president of constituent assembly. Members of the assembly elected him.

11th december 1946- Dr. Rajendra Prasad became permanent president of constituent assembly.

There were 2 Vice presidents in the assembly. They were “H C Mukherjee” and “V T Krishnamachari“.

13th december 1946- Jawahar Lal Nehru introduced “Objective Resolution” in constituent assembly.

Functions performed by Constituent Assembly

• The nominees of many princely states gradually joined the assembly. Most of the states joined indian union and sent their nominees to the assembly after the acceptance of Mountbatten plan on 3 June 1946.
• The constituent assembly of india got many powers after passing of indian independence act 1947. It could now perform many functions.
• It got full authority over making of the constitution. Subsequenty, Assembly also got power to abrogate or alter the laws made under british rule.
• Assembly also became a legislative body. G V Mavalankar was the head when assembly performed as a legislature whereas Dr Rajendra prasad remained head of the constituent assembly.
• It worked till 26 November 1949 as a constituent assembly i e upto the formation of constitution Whereas it performed as legislative body till 17 April 1952 (formation of new parliament).
• After the partition, Muslim league members from Pakistan region withdrew from the assembly. The total strength of assembly from Indian union remained 299. 229 out of 299 were from british provinces and 70 were from Princely states.
• The constituent assembly ratified India’s membership of the commonwealth in may 1949.
• Constituent Assembly adopted national flag on 22 July 1947.
• Constituent assembly adopted National anthem, national song and elected Dr rajendra prasad as the first president of India on 24th january 1950.

Political Parties in India

In this article, we have mentioned the political parties in India.

Political Party: A group or organisation which has an ideology and all the members of that group share the same ideology or political views.

Classification of Political Parties:

1. Reactionary Parties
2. Conservative Parties
3. Liberal Parties
4. Radical Parties

1.Ractionary Parties: These cling to old socio economic and political institutions.

2.Conservative Parties: These believe in status quo.

3.Liberal Parties: These are interested in reforming the existing institutions and conditions with the current time requirement.

4.Radical Parties: These parties don’t believe in the existing institutions. They want to replace them and establish new.

Leftist, Centriet and Righties ideological parties:

Rightist: Radical and Conservative parties (eg. BJP)

Centrist: Liberal Parties (eg. INC)

Leftist; Radical Parties (eg. CPI , CPM)

Party system in India

Following are the features of Party System in India:

1. Multi Party System
2. One Dominant Party System
3. Lack of Clear Ideology
4. Personality Cult
5. Based on Traditional Factors
6. Emergence of Regional Parties
7. Faction and Defections
8. Lack of Effective Opposition\

Recognition of Parties

Political parties are recognised under different categories based on their poll performance in the past. The recognition is given by the Election Commission. The classification is as follows:

1. National Party
2. State Party
3. Registered – unrecognised party

A political party in India enjoys some benefits when it is registered as a recognised party i.e. national or state party. Few of them are:

• Symbol Allottment – National party has a reserved symbol all over the country while state party has reservation of symbol in the state. Unrecognised parties have to choose from the available symbols.
• Star Campaigner – Recognised parties can choose 40 star campaigners while unrecognised parties have a limit of 20 only. The travel expenses of star campaigners are not considered in the election expenses.
• Proposers – Recognised party candidate needs only one proposer while filing nomination for the election.

There are few conditions which define the recognition of a political party. Below given are these conditions for national and state parties.

Conditions for recognition as a National Party

1. If the party is registered as a state party in atleast 4 states.
2. If it wins 2% of Lok Sabha seats in the general election. (i.e. 11 seats) & these seats are obtained from minimum of 3 states.
3. If it gets 6% of Valid Votes for the election to the lok sabha or vidhan Sabha in atleast 4 states + it wins 4 seats to lok sabha from a state/ states.

Conditions for recognition as a State Party

1. If the party gets 6% of valid votes in vidhan sabha elections. In Addition, it gets 2 seats in the vidhan sabha.
2. If it gets 6% of valid votes in lok sabha elctions. In addition, it gets 1 seat in the lok sabha.
3. If it gets 3% of seats in the vidhan sabha OR 3 seats in vidhan sabha, whichever is more.
4. If it gets 1/25th of the seats allotted to that state for the lok sabha elections. (eg. if state has 50 lok sabha seats, the party has to win 2 seats i.e. 1/25th).
5. It it gets 8% of valid votes in lok sabha or vidhan sabha elections. (added in 2011)

Facts to remember

Political Parties in India:

There are 8 National parties as of now. It is important to remeber the year of formation of these states and symbol.

1. Indian National Party- 1885 (Hand)
2. CPI- 1925 (Ears of corn and sickle)
3. CPI (M)- 1964 (Hammer, sickle and star)
4. BJP- 1980 (lotus)
5. BSP- 1984 (Elephant)
6. All india Trinmul Congress- 1998 (Flowers and grass)
7. Nationalist Congress Party- 1999 (Clock)
8. National People’s Party – 2013 (Book)

Also Read:

President of India

Vice President of India

Parliament of India

Unicameral and Bicameral Legislature

Unicameral and Bicameral Legislature

Out of the 3 important organs of the govt. (Exective, Legislative and Judiciary), Legislative may be considered as the most primary organ. It helps to form rules and regulations of the smooth governanace of a Nation/State.

In the legislature, there are two groups/ houses. One is House of People/ Lok Sabha/ Lower House. Another one is Upper house/ Rajya Sabha/ House of Elders.

When any legislation composits of both the houses, it is called Bicameral Legislature. And When it has only one legislature i.e. Lok Sabha/ Lower house, it is called unicameral legislature.

As we know in the case of india, We have lok sabha and Rajya sabha. That means, Bicameral legislature exists in the centre. Whereas, in case of states and UTS, it is a mix of both bicameral and unicameral legislatures.

Few States have bicameral legislature & rest have unicameral legislature. There are some UTs which have unicameral legislature and rest UTs have no legislature.

Now, let us look at the list of states with dual legislature:

States with Bicameral Legislature:

Curently, there are 6 states in India which have two legislatures:

1. Uttar Pradesh
2. Bihar
3. Maharashtra
4. Andhra Pradesh
5. Telangana
6. Karnataka

Note: Earlier, J&K also had dual Legislature. But, after 2019’s UT recognition to J&K, it became only unicameral.

All the other states have unicameral legislature.

Union Territories with legislature:

No union territory has dual legislature. Currently, 3 UT’s have Unicameral legislature whereas others have none.

Below is the list of UT’s having unicameral legislature:

1. Delhi
2. Puducherry
3. J & K

Making of the Constitution of India- notes

Making of the Constitution of India

Demand for the constituent Assembly:

1934- M.N. Roy – gave the idea of Constitution Assembly for India. (MN Roy was the main architect of Communist movement).

1935- Indian National Congress (INC) officially demanded for the constituent assembly.

1938- Jawahar Lal Nehru declared about the formation of constitution assembly.

• declared that constitution of free india will be formed by the members elected on the basis of adult franchise. (without outside interference).

1940- ‘August offer’ came. It accepted the demand of the constituent assembly.

1942- ‘Crips Mission’ . It proposed to accept constitution of India after World War II. But Rejected by Muslim League (ML).

24 march 1946- ‘Cabinet Mission’ arrived. Its conditions and recommendations satisfied the ML, which cleared the path for creation of constituent assembly.

Composition of Constituent Assembly

India was divided in two categies. One was the “Princely States” and the other was ” British Provinces”. Originally, total strength was 389. 296 were from British Provinces. These were to be elected. Rest, 93 were to be nominated by princely states.

Out of 296, 292 people were to be selected from 11 Governor’s provinces while 4 were to be selected from 4 Chief commissioner’s provinces.

The representation was 1 member for 1 million (10 lakh) people.

Therefore, we can say that the assembly was partly elected and partly nominated body.

Elections for Constituent Assembly- The elections were held for 296 seats in July august 1946 as the members from 93 princely states were to be nominated.

Results of elections for constituent assembly- INC-208, ML- 73 and small groups & independents-15.