The president of India is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu is the 15th and current president, having taken office from 25 July 2022.
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. As of 2023, it has a maximum membership of 250, of which 238 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using single transferable votes through open ballots, while the president can appoint 12 members for their contributions to art, literature, science, and social services. The total allowed capacity is 250 according to article 80 of the Indian Constitution. The current potential seating capacity of the Rajya Sabha is 245, after the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Act, 2019, the seats came down to 245. The maximum seats of 250 members can be filled up at the discretion and requirements of the house of Rajya Sabha.
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies, and they hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Parliament House, New Delhi.
The vice president of India is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in the order of precedence and first in the line of succession to the presidency. The vice president is also the ex officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
The speaker of the Lok Sabha is the presiding officer and the highest authority of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The speaker is elected generally in the first meeting of the Lok Sabha following general elections. Serving for a term of five years, the speaker is chosen from sitting members of the Lok Sabha.
This is a brief description of the lawmaking procedure in India.
The basic structure doctrine is a common law legal doctrine that the constitution of a sovereign state has certain characteristics that cannot be erased by its legislature. The doctrine is recognised in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Uganda. It was developed by the Supreme Court of India in a series of constitutional law cases in the 1960s and 1970s that culminated in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, where the doctrine was formally adopted. Bangladesh is perhaps the only legal system in the world which recognizes this doctrine with an expressed, written and rigid constitutional manner through article 7B of its Constitution.
An office of profit means a position that brings to the person holding it some financial gain, or advantage, or benefit. It may be an office or place of profit if it carries some remuneration, financial advantage, benefit etc.
The Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution of India, enacted on 10 August 1975, placed the election of the President, the Vice President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha beyond the scrutiny of the Indian courts. It was passed during the Emergency of 1975–1977. It was moved by the Congress government headed by Indira Gandhi to preempt a hearing by Supreme Court of India concerning the setting aside of Gandhi's election by the Allahabad High Court on the grounds of corrupt electoral practices.
The 42nd amendment, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1976, was enacted during the Emergency by the Indian National Congress government headed by Indira Gandhi.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1971, curtailed the fundamental right to property, and permitted the acquisition of private property by the government for public use, on the payment of compensation which would be determined by the Parliament and not the courts. The amendment also exempted any law giving effect to the article 39(b) and (c) of Directive Principles of State Policy from judicial review, even if it violated the Fundamental Rights.
Amending the Constitution of India is the process of making changes to the nation's fundamental law or supreme law. The procedure of amendment in the constitution is laid down in Part XX of the Constitution of India. This procedure ensures the sanctity of the Constitution of India and keeps a check on arbitrary power of the Parliament of India.
Supreme Court of India, in its judgement dated 10 July 2013 while disposing the Lily Thomas v. Union of India case, ruled that any Member of Parliament (MP), Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) or Member of a Legislative Council (MLC) who is convicted of a crime and given a minimum of two years' imprisonment, loses membership of the House with immediate effect. This is in contrast to the earlier position, wherein convicted members held on to their seats until they exhausted all judicial remedy in lower, state and supreme court of India. Further, Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, which allowed elected representatives three months to appeal their conviction, was declared unconstitutional by the bench of Justice A. K. Patnaik and Justice S. J. Mukhopadhaya.
The Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1966, abolished Election Tribunals in India and enabled trial of election petitions by High Courts. It amended clause (1) of article 324 of the Constitution, which provides for vesting of the power of superintendence, direction and control of elections with the Election Commission. The 19th Amendment removed the provision relating to the power of "the appointment of election tribunals for the decision of doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with elections to Parliament and to the Legislatures of States".
The Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1971, enables Parliament to dilute Fundamental Rights through Amendments of the Constitution. It also amended article 368 to provide expressly that Parliament has power to amend any provision of the Constitution. The amendment further made it obligatory for the President to give his assent, when a Constitution Amendment Bill was presented to him.
Lily Isabel Thomas was an Indian lawyer who initiated improvement and change to existing laws by filing petitions in India's apex court, the Supreme Court of India and regional courts. Her petitions resulted in changes to laws to prevent convicted politicians getting elected, the addition of a new marriage law and protections for parliamentarians. She was hailed most notably for petitioning to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
A Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha is the representative of a legislative constituency in the Lok Sabha; the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of parliament of Lok Sabha are chosen by direct elections on the basis of the adult suffrage. The maximum permitted strength of members of parliament in the Lok Sabha is 550. This includes the maximum 530 members to represent the constituencies and states and up to 20 members to represent the union territories. Between 1952 and 2020, two seats were reserved for members of the Anglo-Indian community. The current elected strength of the Lok Sabha is 543. The party—or coalition of parties—having a majority in the Lok Sabha chooses the Prime Minister of India.
Defection by legislators occurs in many democracies. It can be argued that they can undermine the stability of the cabinet, which is dependent on the support of elected legislators. The argument follows that such instability can amount to a betrayal of the people's mandate, as voiced at the most recent prior election.
Purnesh Modi is an MLA from Gujarat Legislative Assembly. He won the by-election for the 13th Legislative Assembly in Gujarat, which was facilitated following the death of the then MLA Kishor Vankawala. He lives in Adajan Area, Surat along with his family.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of Indian National Congress, was disqalified as member of the Lower House of the Indian Parliament on 24 March 2023. The disqualifiaction followed a conviction by an Indian court, which sentenced Gandhi with two-year imprisonment, on the accusation of defaming prime minister Narendra Modi's surname. The conviction and defamation raised an alarm about the state of democracy in India and were seen as a move to silence dissent and political opposition before the upcoming 2024 general elections. In August 2023, the Supreme Court of India stayed his conviction. This would allow him to contest the next election. On 7 August a notification from Lok Sabha secretariat reinstated Rahul Gandhi to the parliament.
