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2016 GK Advance 2: Indian Polity

Structure of Indian Polity:

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Introduction India has an asymmetric federal government, with elected officials at the federal, state and local levels. At the national level, the head of government, prime minister, is elected by members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament of India. The elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India. All members of the Lok Sabha, except two who can be nominated by the President of India, are directly elected through general elections which take place every five years, in normal circumstances, by universal adult suffrage and a first-past-the-post system. Members of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, are elected by elected members of the legislative assemblies of the states and the Electoral college for the Union Territories of India. 2014 general elections involved an electorate of 814,500,000 people (larger than both EU and US elections combined). Declared expenditure has trebled since 1989 to almost $300 million, using more than one million electronic voting machines. The size of the huge electorate mandates that elections be conducted in a number of phases (there were nine phases in the 2014 general election). It involves a number of step-by-step processes from announcement of election dates to the announcement of results paving the way for the formation of the new government.

Election of President of India The Indian President is elected indirectly by an electoral college. The members of this college consist of:

A. The elected members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha B. The elected members of the legislative assemblies of every state and the elected members of the legislative

assemblies of the Union territory of Puduchery and the national capital territory of New Delhi. Nominated members to the two houses are not eligible to receive any votes.

Every elected MLA of a state is given a fixed number of votes. This number is equal to the population of the state divided by the number of elected members of the legislative assembly of that state and further divided by thousand. If this number is higher than 500 another vote is allocated to each member.

Brief History of Indian Politics Indian National Congress dominated the Indian political scene under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru from the independence in 1947 until his death in 1964. The party continued its dominance under the leadership of K Kamaraj and Lal Bahadur Shastri. The Congress party was split into two in the 1970s and Indira Gandhi led Congress (I) to election victory. But the winning run was broken for the first time in 1977, with the defeat of the party led by Indira Gandhi, by an unlikely coalition of all the major other parties, which protested against the imposition of a controversial emergency from 1975–1977. But, Indira Gandhi regained power soon after and her son Rajiv Gandhi led the party after her death. A coalition led by VP Singh swept to power in 1989 in the wake of major allegations of corruption against then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. But the coalition lost steam in 1990 necessitating new elections with the congress party again emerging victorious under the leadership of P V Narasimha Rao. In 1996, the election results led to a coalition system wherein no single party achieved a majority in the Parliament to form a government, but rather has to depend on a process of coalition building with other parties to form a block and claim a majority to be invited to form the government. This has been a consequence of strong regional parties which ride on the back of regional aspirations. There were multiple governments within a span of few years led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, I K Gujral and H D Deve Gowda. In 1999, National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power and became the first coalition government to complete the full term. For the next decade, congress led coalition United Progressive Alliance formed the government under Manmohan Singh. In the recent elections held in 2014, the National Democratic

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Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power with Bharatiya Janata Party achieving a simple majority on its own by securing 282 seats. Narendra Modi, the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, is now serving his first term as the Prime Minister of India. While parties like the Telugu Desam Party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have traditionally been strong regional contenders, the 1990s saw the emergence of other regional players such as Indian National Lok Dal, Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Janata Dal. These parties are traditionally based on regional aspirations like Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Shiv Sena or strongly influenced by caste considerations like Bahujan Samaj Party which claims to represent the Dalits.

State wise distribution of Seats in Lok Sabha

State / Union Territory No. of Seats

Uttar Pradesh 80

Maharashtra 48

West Bengal 42

Bihar 40

Tamil Nadu 39

Madhya Pradesh 29

Karnataka 28

Gujarat 26

Andhra Pradesh 25

Rajasthan 25

Odisha 21

Kerala 20

Telangana 17

Assam 14

Jharkhand 14

Punjab 13

Chhattisgarh 11

Haryana 10

National Capital Territory of Delhi 7

Jammu and Kashmir 6

Uttarakhand 5

Himachal Pradesh 4

Arunachal Pradesh 2

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State / Union Territory No. of Seats

Goa 2

Manipur 2

Meghalaya 2

Tripura 2

Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1

Chandigarh 1

Dadra and Nagar Haveli 1

Daman and Diu 1

Lakshadweep 1

Mizoram 1

Nagaland 1

Puducherry 1

Sikkim 1

State wise distribution of Seats in Rajya Sabha

State / Union Territory No. of Seats

Uttar Pradesh 31

Maharashtra 19

Tamil Nadu 18

Bihar 16

West Bengal 16

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State / Union Territory No. of Seats

Karnataka 12

Andhra Pradesh 11

Gujarat 11

Madhya Pradesh 11

Odisha 10

Rajasthan 10

Kerala 9

Assam 7

Punjab 7

Telangana 7

Jharkhand 6

Chhattisgarh 5

Haryana 5

Jammu & Kashmir 4

Himachal Pradesh 3

National Capital Territory (Delhi) 3

Uttarakhand 3

Arunachal Pradesh 1

Goa 1

Manipur 1

Meghalaya 1

Mizoram 1

Nagaland 1

Pondicherry 1

Sikkim 1

Tripura 1

Powers: Lok Sabha vs Rajya Sabha

Lok Sabha has certain powers that make it more powerful than the Rajya Sabha.

Motions of no confidence against the government can be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha. If passed

by a majority vote, the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers resigns collectively. The Rajya Sabha has no

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power over such a motion, and hence no real power over the executive. However, the Prime Minister may

threaten the dissolution by the Lok Sabha and recommend this to the President, forcing an untimely general

election. The President normally accepts this recommendation unless otherwise convinced that the Lok Sabha

might recommend a new Prime Minister by a majority vote. Thus, both the executive and the legislature in India

have checks and balances over each other.

Money bills can only be introduced in the Lok Sabha, and upon being passed, are sent to the Rajya Sabha,

where it can be deliberated on for up to 14 days. If not rejected by the Rajya Sabha, or 14 days lapse from the

introduction of the bill in the Rajya Sabha without any action by the House, or recommendations made by

the Rajya Sabha are not accepted by the Lok Sabha, the bill is considered passed. The budget is presented in the

Lok Sabha by the Finance Minister in the name of the President of India.

In matters pertaining to non-financial (ordinary) bills, after the bill has been passed by the House where it

was originally tabled (Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha), it is sent to the other house, where it may be kept for a

maximum period of 6 months. If the other House rejects the bill or a period of 6 months elapses without any

action by that House, or the House that originally tabled the bill does not accept the recommendations made by

the members of the other house, it results in a deadlock. This is resolved by a joint session of both Houses,

presided over by the speaker of the Lok Sabha and decided by a simple majority. The will of the Lok Sabha

normally prevails in these matters, as its strength is more than double that of the Rajya Sabha.

Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in initiating and passing any Bill for Constitutional Amendment (by a

majority of the total membership of the House and at least two-thirds majority of the members present and

voting).

Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in initiating and passing a motion for the impeachment of the President

(by two-thirds of the membership of the House).

Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in impeachment process (initiating and passing a motion for the

removal) of the judges of the Supreme Court and the state High Courts (by a majority of the membership of the

House and at least two-thirds majority of the members present and voting), who then can be removed by the

President of India.

Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in initiating and passing a resolution declaring war or national emergency

(by two-thirds majority) or constitutional emergency (by simple majority) in a state.

If the Lok Sabha is dissolved before or after the declaration of a National Emergency, the Rajya Sabha

becomes the sole Parliament. It cannot be dissolved. This is a limitation on the Lok Sabha. But there is a

possibility that president can exceed the term to not more than 1 year under the proclamation of emergency

and the same would be lowered down to six-month if the said proclamation ceases to operate.

In conclusion, it is clear that the Lok Sabha enjoys more power than the Rajya Sabha, which is a key feature of many

Parliamentary democracies, such as the United Kingdom or Canada.

Current Government

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Shri Narendra Modi: Prime Minister of India,

Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Department of Atomic Energy Department of Space All important policy issues and All other portfolios not allocated to any Minister

Speaker of the Lok Sabha: Smt. Sumitra Mahajan

Cabinet Ministers

Sr. No.

Name Ministry

1 Shri Raj Nath Singh Home Affairs

2 Smt. Sushma Swaraj External Affairs

Overseas Indian Affairs

3 Shri Manohar Parrikar Defence

4 Shri Suresh Prabhu Railways

5 Shri Arun Jaitley Finance

Corporate Affairs

Information & Broadcasting

6 Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu Urban Development

Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation

Parliamentary Affairs

7 Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari Road Transport and Highways

Shipping

8 Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda Law and Justice

9 Sushri Uma Bharati Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

10 Dr. Najma A. Heptulla Minority Affairs

11 Dr. Harsh Vardhan Science and Technology

Earth Sciences

12 Shri Ramvilas Paswan Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

13 Shri Kalraj Mishra Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

14 Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi Women and Child Development

15 Shri Ananthkumar Chemicals and Fertilizers

16 Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad Communications and Information Technology

17 Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda Health and Family Welfare

18 Shri Chaudhary Birender Singh Rural Development

Panchayati Raj

Drinking Water and Sanitation

19 Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati

Civil Aviation

20 Shri Anant Geete Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

21 Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal Food Processing Industries

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22 Shri Narendra Singh Tomar Mines

Steel

23 Shri Jual Oram Tribal Affairs

24 Shri Radha Mohan Singh Agriculture

25 Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot Social Justice and Empowerment

26 Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani Human Resource Development

State - Chief Ministers - Governors

Sr. No.

State Chief Minister Governor

1 Andhra Pradesh Shri. Nara Chandrababu Naidu Shri E.S Lakshmi Narasimhan

2 Arunachal Pradesh Shri Nabam Tuki Shri J.P. Rajkhowa

3 Assam Shri Tarun Gogoi Shri Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya (Add. Charge)

4 Bihar Shri Nitish Kumar Shri Ram Nath Kovind

5 Chhattisgarh Dr. Raman Singh Shri Balramji Dass Tandon

6 Goa Shri Laxmikant Parsekar Smt. Mridula Sinha

7 Gujarat Smt. Anandiben Patel Shri Om Prakash Kohli

8 Haryana Shri Manohar Lal Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki

9 Himachal Pradesh Shri Virbhadra Singh Shri Acharya Dev Vrat

10 Jammu and Kashmir Shri Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Shri N. N. Vohra

11 Jharkhand Shri Raghubar Das Shrimati Droupadi Murmu

12 Karnataka Shri Siddaramaiah Shri Vajubhai Vala

13 Kerala Mr Oommen Chandy Shri Justice (Retd.) Palaniswamy Sathasivam

14 Madhya Pradesh Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan Shri Ram Naresh Yadav

15 Maharashtra Shri Devendra Fadnavis Shri Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao

16 Manipur Shri Okram Ibobi Singh Shri V. Shanmuganathan (Add. Charge)

17 Meghalaya Dr. Mukul Sangma Shri V. Shanmuganthan

18 Mizoram Shri Lal Thanhawla Lt. General (Retd.) Nirbhay Sharma

19 Nagaland Shri. T R Zeliang Shri Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya

20 Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik Dr. S. C. Jamir

21 Punjab Shri Parkash Singh Badal Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki

22 Rajasthan Smt. Vasundhara Raje Shri Kalyan Singh

23 Sikkim Shri Pawan Kumar Chamling Shri Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil

24 Tamil Nadu Selvi J. Jayalalithaa Dr. K. Rosaiah

25 Telangana Shri K Chandrasekhar Rao Shri E.S Lakshmi Narasimhan (Add. Charge)

26 Tripura Shri Manik Sarkar Shri Tathagata Roy

27 Uttar Pradesh Shri Akhilesh Yadav Shri Ram Naik

28 Uttarakhand Shri Harish Rawat Dr. Krishan Kant Paul

29 West Bengal Km. Mamata Banerjee Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi

Union Territories - Lt. Governor / Administrator

Sr. Union Terrotries Governor/Administrator

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No.

1 Andaman and Nicobar Island (UT) Lt. General A.K. Singh (Retd.) (Lieutenant Governor)

2 Chandigarh (UT) Prof. Kaptan Singh Solanki (Administrator)

3 Dadra and Nagar Haveli (UT) Shri Ashish Kundra, IAS (Administrator)

4 Daman and Diu (UT) Shri Ashish Kundra, IAS (Administrator)

5 Delhi (NCT) Shri Najeeb Jung (Lieutenant Governor) Shri Arvind Kejriwal (Chief Minister)

6 Lakshadweep (UT) Shri H. Rajesh Prasad, IAS (Administrator)

7 Puducherry (UT) Lt. General A.K. Singh (Retd.) (Lieutenant Governor); Shri N. Rangasamy (Chief Minister)

Congress Ruled States in India

Sr. no. Name of State Name of Chief Minister

1 Arunachal Pradesh Nabam Tuki

2 Assam Shri Tarun Gogoi

3 Himachal Pradesh Shri Virbhadra Singh

4 Karnataka Siddaramaiah

5 Kerala Shri Oommen Chandy

6 Manipur Shri Okram Ibobi Singh

7 Meghalaya Mukul Sangma

8 Mizoram Pu Lal Thanhawla

9 Uttarakhand Harish Rawat

BJP-ruled States in India

Sr.No. Name of State Name of Chief Minister

1 Chhattisgarh Dr. Raman Singh

2 Goa Shri Laxmikant Parsekar

3 Haryana Shri Manohar Lal Khattar

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4 Gujarat Smt. Anandiben Patel

5 Jharkhand Shri Raghubar Das

6 Madhya Pradesh Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan

7 Maharashtra Shri Devendra Fadnavis

8 Rajasthan Smt. Vasundhara Raje

Women Chief Ministers in India

Sr. no. Name of State Name of Chief Minister

1 Gujarat Smt. Anandiben Patel

2 Rajasthan Smt. Vasundhara Scindia Raje

3 West Bengal Km. Mamata Banerjee

4 Tamil Nadu Smt. Jayalalitha