Polity & Governance glossary

Polity & Governance glossary for UPSC: 2,022 terms A–Z from NCERT Class 6–12 and beyond, each explained in simple English, 654 in depth.

1

• 101st Constitutional Amendment Act 2016 (GST amendment, 101st Constitutional Amendment Act)
• 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act 2018
• 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act 2019 (EWS amendment)
• 104th Constitutional Amendment Act 2019 (104th Constitutional Amendment Act)
• 105th Constitutional Amendment Act 2021
• 106th Constitutional Amendment Act 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, Women's reservation amendment, Women's Reservation Act 2023, 106th Constitutional Amendment Act, Women's reservation in legislatures)
• 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution
• 15th Constitutional Amendment Act 1963
• 1951 Refugee Convention (Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees)
• 1967 general election (Fourth general election)
• 1971 general election (Fifth general election)
• 1977 general election (Sixth general election)
• 1980 general election
• 1987 Jammu and Kashmir assembly election
• 1989 general election (Ninth general election)
• 1st Constitutional Amendment Act 1951 (First Amendment)

2

• 2014 general election (Sixteenth Lok Sabha election)
• 24th Constitutional Amendment Act 1971 (24th Constitutional Amendment Act)
• 25th Constitutional Amendment Act 1971
• 26th Constitutional Amendment Act 1971 (26th Amendment, Twenty-sixth Amendment)
• 2G spectrum audit

3

• 360-degree appraisal (Multi-source feedback)
• 36th Constitutional Amendment Act 1975 (36th Amendment)
• 38th Constitutional Amendment Act 1975 (38th Constitutional Amendment Act)
• 39th Constitutional Amendment Act 1975 (39th Constitutional Amendment Act, Thirty-ninth Amendment Act 1975, 39th Constitutional Amendment)

4

• 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act 1976 (Mini-Constitution, Forty-second Amendment Act 1976, 42nd Amendment)
• 43rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1977 (43rd Constitutional Amendment Act)
• 44th Constitutional Amendment Act 1978 (Forty-fourth Amendment Act 1978, 44th Amendment)

5

• 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act 1985 (52nd Constitutional Amendment Act)
• 54th Constitutional Amendment Act 1986

6

• 61st Constitutional Amendment Act 1988 (61st Constitutional Amendment Act)

7

• 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 (73rd Amendment, Part IX)
• 74th Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 (74th Amendment, Part IXA, Nagarpalika Act)
• 77th Constitutional Amendment Act 1995
• 7th Constitutional Amendment Act 1956 (7th Amendment)

8

• 81st Constitutional Amendment Act 2000
• 82nd Constitutional Amendment Act 2000
• 86th Constitutional Amendment Act 2002

9

• 91st Constitutional Amendment Act 2003 (91st Constitutional Amendment Act)
• 97th Constitutional Amendment Act 2011
• 99th Constitutional Amendment Act 2014 (NJAC amendment)

A

• Aadhaar
• Aadhaar case (Puttaswamy Aadhaar judgment)
• Aadhaar-voter ID linking
• Abhiram Singh case
• Abolition of titles (Article 18)
• Absentee voter (Section 60(c))
• Absolute liability
• Absolute majority (Majority of the total membership)
• Absolute monarchy
• Absolute veto
• Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan)
• Accession of Jammu and Kashmir
• Accession of Junagadh (Junagadh plebiscite)
• Accommodation of diversity (Accommodation)
• Accountability (Accountable government)
• Acting President (Article 65)
• Activity mapping
• Additional grant (Article 115)
• Adequate means of livelihood (Article 39(a))
• Ad hoc committee
• Ad hoc judge (Article 127)
• Adjournment
• Adjournment motion
• Adjournment sine die
• Administrative tribunal (Article 323A)
• Administrator of a Union territory (Article 239)
• Admission of new states (Article 2)
• ADM Jabalpur case (ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla (1976), Habeas corpus case)
• ADR case (Union of India v. Association for Democratic Reforms (2002), ADR case (2002))
• Advisory board
• Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas
• Advisory jurisdiction (Article 143, Presidential reference)
• Advisory role of the UPSC (Article 320)
• Advocate General of a state (Article 165)
• Affirmative action (Positive discrimination)
• Agreement on Maintenance of Peace and Tranquillity along the LAC
• Agriculture versus industry debate
• Aid and advice of the Council of Ministers (Article 74, Binding advice of the Council of Ministers)
• A.K. Gopalan case (A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras (1950))
• Aksai Chin
• Allahabad High Court verdict of 1975 (Raj Narain v. Indira Nehru Gandhi)
• All Assam Students' Union (AASU)
• Alliance (Front, Political alliance)
• All India Judicial Service (AIJS)
• All India Services (Article 312)
• All India Services (Conduct) Rules 1968
• All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC)
• Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
• Alternative modernity
• Ambedkar's idea of a just society
• Amendment by simple majority
• Amendment by special majority and state ratification (Article 368(2) proviso)
• Amendment of the Constitution (Article 368)
• Amicus curiae
• AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation)
• AMU minority status case (Aligarh Muslim University case, Aligarh Muslim University v. Naresh Agarwal)
• Anandpur Sahib Resolution
• Anarchism
• Anglo-Indian nominated seats (Article 331, Article 333)
• Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR)
• Anomic groups
• Anonymity of civil servants
• Anoop Baranwal case (Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023))
• Anticipatory bail (Section 482 BNSS, Section 438 CrPC)
• Anti-conversion laws (Freedom of religion Acts)
• Anti-defection law (Tenth Schedule)
• Anti-Hindi agitation (Anti-Hindi agitations of 1965)
• Anti-incumbency
• Anti-Sikh riots of 1984 (1984 anti-Sikh riots)
• Anuradha Bhasin case (Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020))
• Apartheid
• Appeal on grounds of religion or caste (Section 123(3) of the RPA 1951)
• Appellate jurisdiction (Articles 132-134)
• Appiko movement
• Appointment of judges (Article 124(2), Article 217)
• Appointment of the CBI Director
• Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC)
• Appropriation Bill (Article 114)
• Arbitration
• Area sabha
• Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 (AFSPA, Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act)
• Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT)
• Armed rebellion
• Arnesh Kumar guidelines (Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar (2014))
• Arthashastra
• Article 31A (Saving of laws providing for acquisition of estates)
• Article 31B (Validation of certain Acts and Regulations)
• Article 31C (Saving of laws giving effect to certain directive principles)
• Article 35
• Article 35A
• Article 370 (Special status of Jammu and Kashmir)
• Ashoka Kumar Thakur case (Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India)
• Ashok Mehta Committee
• Asiad workers case (PUDR v. Union of India (1982))
• Asian Relations Conference
• Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)
• Assam Accord
• Assam Movement (Anti-foreigners movement)
• Assimilation
• Associate state
• Associational groups
• Asymmetric federalism
• Attorney General of India (Article 76)
• Authoritarianism
• Authoritative Hindi text of the Constitution (Article 394A)
• Autonomous district council (ADC)
• Autonomous regional council
• Autonomous state within Assam (Article 244A)
• Aya Ram, Gaya Ram
• Ayodhya dispute (Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute)
• Ayodhya verdict (M. Siddiq v. Mahant Suresh Das (2019))

B

• Babita Puniya case (Secretary, Ministry of Defence v. Babita Puniya)
• Backward Classes Commission (Article 340) (Article 340)
• Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
• Bail
• Bailable offence
• Balaji Raghavan case (Balaji Raghavan v. Union of India (1996))
• Balanced institutional design
• Balram Singh case (Dr. Balram Singh v. Union of India (2024))
• Bal sabha
• Balwantrai Mehta Committee
• BAMCEF (Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation)
• Bandhua Mukti Morcha case (Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India)
• Bandung Conference (Afro-Asian Conference)
• Bangladesh Liberation War (1971 India-Pakistan war)
• Bank nationalisation
• Bar Council of India (BCI)
• Bargaining federalism
• Bar on courts in panchayat electoral matters (Article 243O)
• Bar on courts inquiring into parliamentary proceedings (Article 122)
• Bar on further employment of PSC members (Article 319)
• Bar on judicial interference in electoral matters (Article 329)
• Basic minimum needs (Basic needs)
• Basic structure doctrine (Basic features doctrine)
• Basque nationalist movement
• Baswan Committee (2016)
• Begar
• Belgaum border dispute (Belagavi dispute)
• Belgian model (Belgian power-sharing model)
• Benchmark disability
• Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873
• Berubari Union case (In re Berubari Union (1960))
• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)
• Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS, Jana Sangh)
• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
• Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS)
• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS)
• Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA)
• Bhuria Committee
• Bicameralism (Bicameral legislature)
• Bihar caste survey (2023)
• Bihar movement (JP movement)
• Bijoe Emmanuel case (Bijoe Emmanuel v. State of Kerala (1986))
• Bill
• Bill of rights
• Block Development Officer (BDO)
• Bodo Accord 2020
• Bodoland movement (Bodo movement)
• Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC)
• Bombay Plan
• Bombay Reorganisation Act 1960 (Bifurcation of Bombay State)
• Bonded labour
• Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976
• Booth capturing (Section 135A)
• Booth Level Officer (BLO)
• Bordoloi Sub-committee (North-East Frontier (Assam) Tribal and Excluded Areas Sub-committee)
• Borrowed constitution (Bag of borrowings)
• B.P. Singhal case (B.P. Singhal v. Union of India (2010))
• Breach of privilege
• Bru-Reang Agreement
• Bundesrat
• Business Advisory Committee
• Business pressure groups (Business associations)
• By-election (Bye-election, Section 151A)

C

• Cabinet
• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)
• Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA)
• Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)
• Cabinet committees
• Cabinet dictatorship
• Cabinet Mission Plan (Cabinet Mission 1946)
• Cabinet Secretariat
• Cadre-based party (Cadre party)
• CAG (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act 1971 (CAG DPC Act)
• Calling attention motion
• Candidate affidavit (Mandatory disclosure by candidates, Form 26)
• Cantonment board
• Capability approach
• Capacity Building Commission
• Carbon copy of the 1935 Act
• Caretaker government
• Carry-forward rule (Article 16(4B), Backlog vacancies)
• Cash donation limit
• Caste census (Caste enumeration)
• Caste hierarchy
• Caste inequality
• Caste in politics
• Casteism
• Caste system
• Casting vote (Article 100)
• Catch-up rule
• Cauvery water dispute (Kaveri water dispute)
• Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA)
• C.B. Muthamma case (C.B. Muthamma v. Union of India (1979))
• Censorship
• Censure motion
• Census town
• Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)
• Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)
• Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
• Central Civil Services (Central services)
• Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules 1964 (CCS (Conduct) Rules)
• Central Consumer Protection Authority
• Central deputation
• Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC)
• Central Information Commission (CIC)
• Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS, Public Grievances Portal)
• Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
• Central Staffing Scheme
• Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)
• Centre-state relations (Union-state relations)
• Certiorari
• Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Article 64, Article 89)
• Chakma refugees
• Challenges of nation building
• Champakam Dorairajan case (State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan (1951))
• Charged expenditure (Article 112(3))
• Charge sheet (Police report, Section 193 BNSS, Section 173 CrPC)
• Checks and balances
• Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities
• Chief Election Commissioner (CEC)
• Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act 2023 (CEC and ECs Act 2023, Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act 2023)
• Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)
• Chief Justice of India (CJI)
• Chief Minister
• Child-friendly panchayat
• Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act 2016
• Child sex ratio (CSR)
• Child Welfare Committee (CWC)
• Chipko movement
• Citizen-centric administration
• Citizen report card
• Citizen's charter
• Citizenship
• Citizenship Act 1955
• Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA)
• Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution (Articles 5-8)
• Citizenship by birth
• Citizenship by descent
• Citizenship by incorporation of territory
• Citizenship by naturalisation
• Citizenship by registration
• Civic nationalism
• Civil contempt
• Civil disobedience
• Civil liberties
• Civil rights
• Civil Rights Movement (American civil rights movement)
• Civil Services Board
• Civil Services Day
• Civil society
• Claims of SCs and STs to services (Article 335)
• Classical language
• Classical liberalism (Laissez-faire liberalism)
• Classification of Directive Principles
• Class struggle (Class conflict)
• Clause 6 of the Assam Accord
• Closure by compartments
• Closure motion
• Coal block allocation audit (Coalgate)
• Coalition government (Coalition)
• Code of ethics
• Codification of privileges
• Codified and uncodified constitutions (Written and unwritten constitution, Unwritten constitution)
• Cognizable offence
• Cold War
• Collective privileges
• Collective responsibility (Article 75(3))
• Collegium system (Collegium)
• Coming-together federation
• Commencement of the Constitution (Republic Day)
• Commercial courts
• Commissionerate system of policing (Police commissionerate)
• Commission on Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes (Article 339)
• Committed bureaucracy
• Committed judiciary
• Committee of Privileges
• Committee on Empowerment of Women
• Committee on Government Assurances
• Committee on Petitions
• Committee on Private Members' Bills and Resolutions
• Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU)
• Committee on Subordinate Legislation
• Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
• Common electoral roll (Single electoral roll)
• Common good
• Common High Court (Article 231)
• Common Minimum Programme (CMP)
• Common Service Centres (CSC)
• Communalism (Communal politics)
• Communist Party of India (CPI)
• Communitarianism
• Community
• Community Development Programme
• Community government
• Community service
• Commutation
• Compensatory jurisprudence (Constitutional tort)
• Competition Commission of India (CCI)
• Competitive federalism
• Complete justice power (Article 142)
• Compliance audit (Regularity audit)
• Composite nationalism (Muttahida Qaumiyat)
• Composition of the Constituent Assembly
• Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)
• Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG, Article 148)
• Compulsory and voluntary provisions of the 73rd Amendment
• Compulsory voting
• Conciliation
• Concurrent List (List III)
• Concurrent taxing power for GST (Article 246A)
• Conduct of Election Rules 1961
• Confidence motion (Vote of confidence, Trust vote)
• Conflict between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles
• Confucian idea of justice
• Congress Socialist Party (CSP)
• Congress split of 1969
• Congress system
• Conscience vote
• Consent manager
• Consequential seniority
• Consociational democracy (Consociationalism)
• Consolidated Fund of India (Article 266(1))
• Constituency
• Constituent Assembly (Constituent Assembly of India)
• Constituent Assembly Debates (CAD)
• Constituent power
• Constitution
• Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill 2024 (One Nation One Election Bill, Simultaneous elections bill)
• Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill 2025
• Constitution (64th Amendment) Bill 1989
• Constitutional body
• Constitutionalism (Limited government)
• Constitutional monarchy
• Constitutional morality
• Constitutional patriotism
• Constitutional rights outside Part III (Non-fundamental constitutional rights)
• Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 1954
• Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 2019 (C.O. 272)
• Constitution as a living document (Living constitution, Living document)
• Constitution bench (Article 145(3))
• Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas)
• Constitution of India Bill 1895 (Swaraj Bill)
• Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir
• Constitution of South Africa
• Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950
• Consultative committees
• Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions (Consumer commissions, Consumer courts)
• Contempt of court
• Contempt of the House
• Contesting from two constituencies (Section 33(7))
• Contingency Fund of India (Article 267)
• Continuing mandamus
• Cooperative federalism
• Cooperative society (Cooperative)
• Corporate donations to political parties (Section 182 of the Companies Act 2013)
• Corruption Perceptions Index
• Corrupt practices (Section 123 of the RPA 1951)
• Cosmopolitanism
• Council of Ministers (Union Council of Ministers, Article 75)
• Court of record (Article 129, Article 215)
• Creamy layer
• Creation and abolition of Legislative Councils (Article 169)
• Creation of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand
• Credible minimum deterrence
• Criminal contempt
• Criminal defamation
• Criminalisation of politics
• Criminal justice system
• Criticism of the Constituent Assembly as unrepresentative
• Criticism of the Constitution as unwieldy
• Criticisms of Indian secularism
• Cross-voting
• Cultural and educational rights (Articles 29-30)
• Cultural nationalism
• Cultural rights
• Curative petition
• Custodial violence
• Cut motion
• cVIGIL

D

• Dalit Panthers
• Data fiduciary
• Data principal
• Data Protection Board of India
• Davinder Singh case (State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh)
• D.C. Wadhwa case (D.C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (1986))
• Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT)
• Decentralisation (Democratic decentralisation)
• Decline of Parliament
• Deconcentration
• Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM, Aajeevika)
• Default bail (Statutory bail, Section 187 BNSS, Section 167(2) CrPC)
• Defection (Floor-crossing)
• Delegated legislation (Subordinate legislation)
• Delhi Agreement 1952
• Delhi CNG case (M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (vehicular pollution))
• Delhi Special Police Establishment Act 1946 (DSPE Act)
• Deliberative democracy
• Delimitation (Article 82, Article 170)
• Delimitation Commission
• Delisting of registered unrecognised parties
• Demands for grants (Article 113)
• Demands for smaller states
• Democracy
• Democracy and economic growth
• Democracy and economic inequality
• Democratic backsliding
• Democratic citizenship as a project
• Denotified tribes (DNTs, Vimukta Jatis)
• Departmentally related standing committee (DRSC)
• Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT)
• Deprivation of citizenship
• Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Article 89)
• Deputy Chief Minister
• Deputy Prime Minister
• Deputy Speaker (Article 93)
• Deregistration of political parties
• Devaluation of the rupee (1966)
• Development administration
• Development-induced displacement
• Devolution
• Devolution of powers to panchayats (Article 243G)
• Dharma as justice
• Dhebar Commission (Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission (1960-61))
• Dictatorship
• Difference principle
• DigiLocker
• Digital divide
• Digital India
• Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDP Act)
• Digital public infrastructure (DPI)
• Dignity of the individual
• Dinesh Goswami Committee (1990)
• Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
• Direct democracy
• Direct election
• Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP, Part IV)
• Directives outside Part IV
• Directly elected mayor
• Discretionary grants (Article 282)
• Discretionary powers of the Governor (Article 163)
• Discretionary powers of the President
• Dismissal without inquiry (Article 311(2) second proviso)
• Disqualification of members of Parliament (Article 102, Article 103)
• Disqualification on conviction (Section 8 of the RPA 1951)
• Dissolution of the Lok Sabha (Article 85(2)(b), Dissolution)
• Distributive justice (Just distribution)
• District Collector (District Magistrate, Deputy Commissioner)
• District Election Officer (DEO)
• District judge (Article 233, District and sessions judge)
• District Legal Services Authority (DLSA)
• District Planning Committee (Article 243ZD)
• Division (Division of votes, Recorded vote)
• D.K. Basu guidelines (D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997))
• Doctrine of colourable legislation
• Doctrine of eclipse
• Doctrine of harmonious construction
• Doctrine of manifest arbitrariness (Arbitrariness doctrine, New doctrine of equality)
• Doctrine of pith and substance
• Doctrine of pleasure (Article 310)
• Doctrine of precedent (Stare decisis, Article 141)
• Doctrine of proportionality (Proportionality test)
• Doctrine of prospective overruling (Prospective overruling)
• Doctrine of repugnancy (Article 254)
• Doctrine of severability (Doctrine of separability)
• Doctrine of territorial nexus
• Doctrine of waiver
• Dominant caste
• Dominion status
• Double burden
• Double jeopardy (Article 20(2))
• Double membership (Article 101)
• Doubtful voter (D-voter)
• Dowry Prohibition Act 1961
• DPDP Rules 2025 (Digital Personal Data Protection Rules 2025)
• Drafting Committee
• Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)
• Dravidar Kazhagam (DK)
• Dravidian movement
• Dual membership controversy
• Dual polity
• Due process of law
• Duties of the Prime Minister (Article 78)
• Duty of the Union to protect states (Article 355)
• Duty to abide by the Constitution (Article 51A(a))
• Duty to defend the country (Article 51A(d))
• Duty to promote harmony (Article 51A(e))
• Duty to protect the environment (Article 51A(g))
• Dyarchy (Diarchy)
• Dynastic succession (Dynastic politics)

E

• Early childhood care and education (Article 45)
• Economically Weaker Sections reservation (EWS quota, Article 15(6), Article 16(6))
• Economic democracy
• Economic equality
• Economic planning (Planned development)
• Economic rights
• Economy cut motion
• e-Courts project
• Educational qualification for panchayat candidates
• Effective majority
• Effect of national emergency on Centre-state relations (Articles 250, 353 and 354)
• e-FIR
• e-Governance
• e-Gram Swaraj
• Eighth Schedule (Scheduled languages)
• EIU Democracy Index (Democracy Index)
• e-Kranti (NeGP 2.0)
• Election Commissioners
• Election Commission of India (ECI, Article 324)
• Election expenditure limits
• Election Laws (Amendment) Act 2021
• Election manifesto (Manifesto)
• Election observers
• Election of Rajya Sabha members
• Election of the President (Article 54, Article 55)
• Election of the Vice-President (Article 66)
• Election petition
• Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968 (Symbols Order)
• Electoral autocracy
• Electoral bonds (Electoral Bond Scheme 2018)
• Electoral bonds case (Association for Democratic Reforms v. Union of India (2024))
• Electoral offences
• Electoral quota (Droop quota)
• Electoral reforms
• Electoral Registration Officer (ERO)
• Electoral roll (Voter list)
• Electoral threshold
• Electoral trusts (Electoral Trusts Scheme 2013)
• Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC, Voter ID card)
• Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS)
• Electronic voting machine (EVM)
• Elements of the basic structure (Basic features)
• Eleventh Schedule
• Emergence of a new consensus (New consensus)
• Emergency of 1975-77 (The Emergency, Internal emergency)
• Eminent domain
• Enemy alien
• Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR)
• Enforcement Directorate (ED)
• Entitlement theory of justice
• Entrenched inequality
• Environmental rights
• e-Office
• Epistolary jurisdiction (Letter petition)
• Epuru Sudhakar case (Epuru Sudhakar v. Government of Andhra Pradesh (2006))
• Equality
• Equality before law (Article 14)
• Equality of opportunity (Equal opportunity, Level playing field)
• Equality of opportunity in public employment (Article 16)
• Equality of outcome (Equality of condition, Equality of result)
• Equality of status and of opportunity
• Equality through differential treatment (Differential treatment)
• Equal pay for equal work (Article 39(d))
• Equal protection of laws (Article 14)
• Equal Remuneration Act 1976
• Equal respect for all religions (Sarva dharma sambhava)
• Equal treatment versus identical treatment
• Equitable distribution of material resources (Article 39(b), Material resources of the community)
• Essential religious practices doctrine (Essentiality test)
• Established religion (State religion, Official religion)
• Estimates Committee
• Ethics Committee
• Ethnic group (Ethnicity)
• E.V. Chinnaiah case (E.V. Chinnaiah v. State of Andhra Pradesh)
• EVM-VVPAT verification case (Association for Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India (2024))
• Exceptional grant (Article 116)
• Excess grant (Article 115)
• Excluded and partially excluded areas
• Exclusive powers of the Lok Sabha
• Executive
• Executive body (Non-statutory body)
• Executive magistrate
• Executive presidency of Sri Lanka
• Exit poll (Section 126A)
• Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (Kashmiri Pandit displacement)
• Ex post facto law (Article 20(1), Retrospective criminal law)
• Extension of CBI and ED Directors' tenure (2021)
• Extension of Lok Sabha term during emergency
• Extension of President's rule
• External emergency

F

• Factionalism in the Congress
• Failure to comply with Union directions (Article 365)
• Family courts
• Farmers' protests (2020-21)
• Fast-track courts
• Features of federalism
• Federalism (Federal system)
• Feminism (Feminist)
• Fifth Schedule
• Fifty per cent ceiling on reservations (50% ceiling)
• Finance Bill
• Finance Commission (Article 280)
• Financial bill (Category I) (Article 117(1))
• Financial control by Parliament
• Financial emergency (Article 360)
• Financial security of judges
• First Administrative Reforms Commission (First ARC)
• First Five Year Plan
• First general election (1951-52 general election)
• First Information Report (FIR, Section 173 BNSS, Section 154 CrPC)
• First Judges case (S.P. Gupta v. Union of India (1981))
• First-past-the-post system (FPTP, Plurality system, simple plurality system)
• First Schedule
• Five-year plan (FYP)
• Flexible constitution
• Floor test
• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
• Forced sterilisation during the Emergency
• Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010 (FCRA)
• Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act 2020 (FCRA Amendment 2020)
• Foreigners Tribunals
• Foreign funding of political parties
• Forest Rights Act 2006 (Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006)
• Formal equality
• Formation of Andhra State
• Formation of new states (Article 3)
• Formation of Telangana (Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014)
• Forms of communalism
• Forward Policy
• Fourth pillar of democracy (Fourth estate)
• Fourth Schedule
• Fraternity
• Free and fair elections
• Freebies (Irrational freebies)
• Freedom
• Freedom as to religious instruction (Article 28)
• Freedom from fear
• Freedom from taxes for promotion of religion (Article 27)
• Freedom in the World (Freedom House index)
• Freedom of assembly (Article 19(1)(b))
• Freedom of association (Article 19(1)(c))
• Freedom of conscience (Article 25(1))
• Freedom of movement (Article 19(1)(d))
• Freedom of profession (Article 19(1)(g))
• Freedom of religion (Right to freedom of religion, Articles 25-28)
• Freedom of residence (Article 19(1)(e))
• Freedom of speech and expression (Article 19(1)(a), Freedom of expression)
• Freedom of the press
• Freedom of trade and commerce (Article 301)
• Freedom to manage religious affairs (Article 26)
• Free legal aid (Article 39A)
• Free market
• Free symbol
• Freeze on delimitation
• Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018
• Full faith and credit clause (Article 261)
• Functions of a constitution
• Functions of political parties
• Fundamental duties (Article 51A, Part IVA)
• Fundamental rights (Part III)
• Fundamental Rights Sub-committee

G

• Gadgil Committee
• Gadgil formula
• Gana-sangha (Gana, Sangha, Ganarajya)
• Gandhian Plan
• Gandhian principles
• Gandhian socialism
• Ganga Waters Treaty (Farakka treaty)
• GANHRI accreditation
• Garibi Hatao
• Geeta Mukherjee Committee (1996)
• Gender division
• General consent (Section 6 of the DSPE Act)
• Generalist vs specialist debate
• General will (Volonté générale)
• Genuine non-alignment
• Gerrymandering
• Giving each person his due
• Glaucon's view of justice
• Global citizenship
• Global Citizenship Education (GCED)
• Global Gender Gap Index
• GNCTD (Amendment) Act 2021 (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act 2021)
• GNCTD (Amendment) Act 2023 (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act 2023)
• GNCTD v. Union of India (2018)
• Goa Civil Code (Portuguese Civil Code of 1867)
• Goa liberation (Operation Vijay (1961))
• Goa opinion poll
• Golaknath case (I.C. Golaknath v. State of Punjab (1967))
• Golden triangle (Articles 14, 19 and 21)
• Good governance
• Good Governance Day
• Good Governance Index (GGI)
• Gorkhaland movement
• Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA)
• Governance
• Government
• Government bill
• Government e-Marketplace (GeM)
• Government of India Act 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms)
• Government of India Act 1935
• Governor (Article 153, Article 155)
• Governor as chancellor of universities
• Governor's assent to bills (Article 200)
• Governor's ordinance-making power (Article 213)
• Governor's pardoning power (Article 161)
• Graduates' and teachers' constituencies
• Grammar of anarchy
• Gram Nyayalaya
• Gram panchayat (Village panchayat)
• Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP)
• Gram sabha (Article 243A)
• Gram swaraj (Village swaraj)
• Grand Alliance (1971)
• Grants-in-aid (Article 275)
• Grassroots democracy
• Greater Nagalim
• Greater State Autonomy
• Group of Ministers (GoM)
• Group rights (Community rights)
• GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT)
• GST Council (Article 279A)
• Guillotine
• Gujarat election reference (Special Reference No. 1 of 2002)
• Gujarat Navnirman movement (Gujarat movement)
• Gujarat riots of 2002 (Post-Godhra riots)
• Gujral Doctrine
• G.V.K. Rao Committee

H

• Habeas corpus
• Half-an-hour discussion
• Halma
• Harm principle
• Hate speech
• Hate speech in elections
• Henderson Brooks-Bhagat Report
• High Court (Article 214)
• High Court's control over subordinate courts (Article 235)
• High Court's power of superintendence (Article 227)
• High-Level Committee on Simultaneous Elections (Kovind Committee)
• Hijab case (Aishat Shifa v. State of Karnataka)
• Hindu Code Bill
• Hindutva
• Hindutva case (Hindutva judgment, Ramesh Prabhoo case, Manohar Joshi case)
• HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act 2017
• Holding-together federation
• Homeland
• Home voting (Vote from home)
• Horizontal accountability
• Horizontal application of fundamental rights (Horizontal effect)
• Horizontal distribution of power (Horizontal power-sharing)
• Horizontal reservation
• Hota Committee (2004)
• Human rights
• Human rights courts
• Hung Parliament (Hung assembly)
• Hurriyat Conference (All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Hurriyat)
• Hussainara Khatoon case (Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar)
• Hybrid regime
• Hydari Agreement (Nine-Point Agreement)

I

• Identity politics
• iGOT Karmayogi (Integrated Government Online Training)
• Illegal migrant
• Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act 1983 (IMDT Act)
• Illiberal democracy
• Imagined community
• Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025
• Immunity of the President and Governors (Article 361)
• Impeachment of the President (Article 61)
• Import substitution
• Inalienable rights
• Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT)
• Indelible ink
• Independence of the judiciary (Independent judiciary, Judicial independence)
• Independent and nominated members under anti-defection law
• Indestructible Union of destructible states
• India Against Corruption movement (Anna Hazare movement)
• India-Bhutan Friendship Treaty
• INDIA bloc (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance)
• India International Arbitration Centre (New Delhi International Arbitration Centre)
• Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
• Indian Civil Service (ICS)
• India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship
• Indian Forest Service (IFoS)
• Indian Independence Act 1947
• Indian liberalism
• Indian model of secularism (Indian secularism)
• Indian National Congress (INC, Congress)
• Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)
• Indian Police Service (IPS)
• Indian Tamils (Plantation Tamils, Hill Country Tamils)
• India's nuclear policy
• India Stack
• Indira Doctrine
• Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain case (Election case (1975))
• Indira is India, India is Indira
• Indira-Sheikh Accord (Kashmir Accord (1975))
• Indirect election
• Individual privileges
• Individual responsibility (Article 75(2), Individual ministerial responsibility)
• Indo-Pakistan War of 1947-48 (First Kashmir war)
• Indo-Pakistan War of 1965
• Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace and Friendship (Indo-Soviet Treaty 1971)
• Indo-Sri Lanka Accord (Rajiv-Jayewardene Accord)
• Indo-US civil nuclear deal (123 Agreement)
• Indrajit Gupta Committee (1998) (Committee on State Funding of Elections)
• Indra Sawhney case (Mandal case, Indra Sawhney v. Union of India)
• Industrial township
• Indus Waters Treaty
• Inequalities of choice and circumstance
• Informal amendment of the Constitution
• In-house procedure
• Initiative (Popular initiative)
• Inner Line Permit (ILP)
• In re Article 370 case (In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution (2023))
• Institutional groups
• Instrument of Accession
• Instrument of Instructions
• Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI)
• Integral humanism (Ekatma Manav Darshan)
• Integrated judiciary (Single integrated judicial system)
• Integration of princely states
• Interim budget
• Internal Committee (IC, Internal Complaints Committee)
• Internal migration
• Internal party democracy (Inner-party democracy, Intra-party democracy)
• Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS)
• Inter-religious domination
• Intersectionality
• Inter-state border disputes
• Inter-State Council (Article 263)
• Inter-state river water disputes (Article 262, Adjudication of inter-state water disputes)
• Inter-State River Water Disputes Act 1956
• Inter-state water disputes tribunal
• Intra-religious domination
• I.R. Coelho case (I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007))
• Irredentism
• Ismail Faruqui case (Dr M. Ismail Faruqui v. Union of India)
• IT Rules 2021 (Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021)

J

• Jai Jawan Jai Kisan
• Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF)
• Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019
• JAM trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile)
• Janata Dal
• Janata Party
• Janhit Abhiyan case (EWS case, Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India)
• Jan Soochna Portal
• Jan sunwai (Public hearing)
• Jarnail Singh case (Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta)
• Jati
• Jeevan Reddy Committee
• JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission)
• Joint Committee on Offices of Profit
• Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC)
• Joint sitting (Article 108)
• Joint State Public Service Commission (JSPSC)
• Joseph Shine case (Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018))
• Judge-population ratio
• Judges (Inquiry) Act 1968
• Judicial accountability
• Judicial activism
• Judicial custody
• Judicial magistrate
• Judicial overreach
• Judicial pendency (Pendency of cases)
• Judicial restraint
• Judicial review
• Judiciary
• Jus sanguinis (Right of blood)
• Jus soli (Right of the soil)
• Justice
• Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee
• Justice delayed is justice denied
• Justice Verma Committee (2013)
• Justice V. Ramaswami removal motion
• Juvenile Justice Board (JJB)
• Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 (JJ Act)
• JVP Committee

K

• Kalelkar Commission (First Backward Classes Commission)
• Kamaraj Plan
• Kangaroo closure
• Kant's idea of human dignity
• Karachi Agreement
• Karachi Resolution
• Kargil conflict (Operation Vijay (1999))
• Kargil Review Committee (Subrahmanyam Committee)
• Karpoori Thakur formula
• Kashmir insurgency
• Kashmiriyat
• Katchatheevu agreement
• Kedar Nath Singh case (Kedar Nath Singh v. State of Bihar (1962))
• Kehar Singh case (Kehar Singh v. Union of India (1988))
• Keisham Meghachandra Singh case (Keisham Meghachandra Singh v. Speaker, Manipur Legislative Assembly (2020))
• Kemalist secularism (Ataturk's secularism)
• Kerala Communist government of 1957 (Dismissal of the Kerala government in 1959)
• Kerala model of development (Kerala model)
• Kesavananda Bharati case (Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973))
• Keshav Singh case (Special Reference No. 1 of 1964)
• K.G. Balakrishnan Commission
• Khalistan movement
• Kihoto Hollohan case (Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu (1992))
• Kishan Singh Tomar case (Kishan Singh Tomar v. Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad (2006))
• Kitchen cabinet
• Kothari Committee (1976)
• Krishna Kumar Singh case (Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar (2017))
• K.S. Puttaswamy case (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), Privacy judgment)
• Kudavolai system (Kudavolai)
• Kudumbashree
• Kuldip Nayar case (Kuldip Nayar v. Union of India (2006))

L

• Lack of meaningful choice
• Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)
• Lahore Declaration
• Laïcité (Laicite)
• Lakhpati Didi
• Lame-duck session
• Land Boundary Agreement (LBA)
• Language policy of India
• Lapse of bills
• Lateral entry
• Law Commission 170th report (Reform of the Electoral Laws (1999))
• Law Commission 244th report (Electoral disqualifications report (2014))
• Law Commission 255th report (Electoral Reforms report (2015))
• Law Commission of India
• Laws inconsistent with fundamental rights (Article 13)
• Lawyers' paradise
• L. Chandra Kumar case (L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997))
• Leader of the House
• Leader of the Opposition (LoP)
• Lebanon's confessional power-sharing (Confessionalism)
• Lee Commission (1923-24) (Royal Commission on the Superior Civil Services in India)
• Left and right (Left-wing and right-wing)
• Legal Aid Defense Counsel System (LADCS)
• Legal rights (Ordinary legal right)
• Legal Services Authorities Act 1987
• Legal sovereignty
• Legislation by consent of states (Article 252)
• Legislation to implement international agreements (Article 253)
• Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha)
• Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad)
• Legislative process (Law-making process, Legislative procedure, Law-making procedure)
• Legislature
• Legislature party
• Legitimate government
• Letter and spirit of the Constitution
• Liberal-capitalist model of development (Capitalist model)
• Liberal democracy
• Liberal individualism
• Liberal-intellectual principles
• Liberalism
• Liberhan Commission
• Libertarianism
• Liberty
• Liberty, equality and fraternity
• LIC of India case (LIC of India v. Consumer Education and Research Centre (1995))
• Lieutenant Governor (LG)
• Lily Thomas case (Lily Thomas v. Union of India (2013))
• Limitations of the Constitution
• Limit on size of Council of Ministers (Article 75(1A), Article 164(1A))
• Line of Actual Control (LAC)
• Line of Control (LoC)
• Linguistic federalism
• Linguistic minority
• Linguistic Provinces Commission (Dhar Commission)
• Linguistic reorganisation of states (Linguistic states)
• List system (Party list proportional representation, List PR)
• Live-streaming of court proceedings
• Living wage (Article 43)
• Living will (Advance medical directive)
• L.M. Singhvi Committee
• Lobbying
• Local government as a State subject
• Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs)
• Localised emergency
• Local self-government (Local government)
• Locus standi (Standing)
• Lok Adalat (People's court)
• Lokayukta
• Lokpal
• Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013
• Lok Prahari case (Lok Prahari v. Union of India (2018))
• Lok Sabha (House of the People, Article 81)
• Lokur Committee (1965)
• London Declaration
• Look East Policy
• Lord Ripon's resolution of 1882 (Resolution on local self-government)

M

• Macaulay Committee (1854)
• Madras Bar Association cases
• Madras Municipal Corporation (Greater Chennai Corporation)
• Magna Carta
• Mahalanobis model
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA, NREGA)
• Mahila sabha
• Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007
• Maintenance of Internal Security Act 1971 (MISA)
• Majoritarianism
• Majority rule (Rule by majority)
• Majority system (Two-round system, Run-off system)
• Malimath Committee (Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice System)
• Mandal Commission (Second Backward Classes Commission)
• Mandal issue (Mandalisation)
• Mandamus
• Maneka Gandhi case (Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978))
• Manipur ethnic violence
• Manipur Merger Agreement
• Maratha reservation case (Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil v. Chief Minister)
• Marshall's theory of citizenship
• Martial law (Article 34)
• Maru Ram case (Maru Ram v. Union of India (1980))
• Marxism
• Mass-based party (Mass party)
• Master of the roster
• Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017
• Matsya nyaya
• Maximum detention of undertrials (Section 479 BNSS, Section 436A CrPC)
• Mayor
• Mayor-in-council system
• Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
• McMahon Line
• M.C. Mehta cases
• Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC)
• Mediation
• Mediation Act 2023
• Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act 2021
• Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act 2017
• Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)
• Memorandum of Procedure (MoP)
• Mental Healthcare Act 2017
• Merger exception
• Meritocracy
• Merits of democracy (Arguments for democracy)
• Metropolitan Planning Committee (Article 243ZE)
• Mill's defence of freedom of expression
• Minerva Mills case (Minerva Mills v. Union of India (1980))
• Minimal state (Night-watchman state)
• Minimum area of non-interference
• Minimum government, maximum governance
• Minimum sitting days
• Minister of State (Independent Charge)
• Ministry of Cooperation
• Minoritism
• Minority appeasement
• Minority government
• Minority rights
• Misinformation (Fake news)
• Mission Karmayogi (National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building, NPCSCB)
• Mission Mode Project (MMP)
• Mizo Accord (Mizoram Peace Accord)
• Mizo National Front (MNF)
• M. Nagaraj case (M. Nagaraj v. Union of India)
• Mob lynching (Section 103(2) BNS)
• Model Code of Conduct (MCC)
• Model Police Act 2006
• Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act 2023
• Mode of promulgation
• Modernisation
• Modern liberalism (Welfare liberalism)
• Mohinder Singh Gill case (Mohinder Singh Gill v. Chief Election Commissioner (1978))
• Mohit Minerals case (Union of India v. Mohit Minerals)
• Money and muscle power
• Money bill (Article 110)
• Money power in elections
• Monistic theory of sovereignty (Austin's theory of sovereignty)
• Moral conception of rights
• Moral reasons for power-sharing
• Motion of thanks
• Mountbatten Plan (3 June Plan)
• M.R. Balaji case (M.R. Balaji v. State of Mysore)
• Mukti Bahini
• Multiculturalism
• Multi-member Election Commission
• Multi-party system (Multiparty system)
• Multiple identities
• Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act 2002 (MSCS Act)
• Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act 2023
• Municipal bonds
• Municipal commissioner system
• Municipal corporation (Mahanagar Nigam, Nagar Nigam)
• Municipal council (Nagar Palika, Nagar palika parishad)
• Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986
• Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019 (Triple Talaq Act)
• MyGov

N

• Nabam Rebia case (Nabam Rebia v. Deputy Speaker (2016))
• Naga Framework Agreement
• Naga insurgency (Naga movement)
• Nagar panchayat
• NALSA case (Transgender rights case, National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India)
• Nanavati Commission
• Narco-analysis test
• Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA)
• Narmada water dispute
• Nathu La and Cho La clashes
• Nation
• National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC, Article 338B)
• National Commission for Minorities (NCM)
• National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI)
• National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)
• National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK)
• National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC, Article 338)
• National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST, Article 338A)
• National Commission for Women (NCW)
• National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC, Venkatachaliah Commission)
• National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT)
• National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)
• National Conference (Jammu and Kashmir National Conference)
• National Cooperation Policy 2025
• National Council for Transgender Persons
• National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
• National Development Council (NDC)
• National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
• National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)
• National emergency (Article 352)
• National emergency of 1962
• National emergency of 1971
• National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA)
• National Extension Service
• National Front
• National Green Tribunal (NGT)
• National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
• National identity
• National Investigation Agency (NIA)
• Nationalism
• National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC, Article 124A)
• National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)
• National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)
• National liberation movements (Anti-colonial nationalism)
• National Lok Adalat
• National Medical Commission (NMC)
• National Panchayati Raj Day
• National party
• National Planning Committee
• National Population Register (NPR)
• National Recruitment Agency (NRA)
• National Register of Citizens (NRC)
• National Security Act 1980 (NSA)
• National security versus civil liberties
• National self-determination (Right to self-determination)
• National Tribunals Commission
• National Voters' Day
• Nation-state
• Natural inequalities
• Natural law
• Natural rights
• Naveen Jindal case (Union of India v. Naveen Jindal (2004))
• Navtej Singh Johar case (Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018))
• Naxalbari uprising
• Naxalite movement (Naxalism, Maoist movement)
• N. Chandrababu Naidu case (N. Chandrababu Naidu v. Union of India (2019))
• Negative liberty (Freedom from)
• Nehru-Liaquat Pact (Delhi Pact 1950)
• Nehru Report
• Nehru's idea of secularism
• Neo-liberalism (Neoliberalism)
• Nepal's constitution-making
• Netizen
• New Economic Policy 1991 (New economic reforms, Structural adjustment programme)
• New Public Management (NPM)
• News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA)
• New social movements
• NGO-Darpan
• Nigerian federation
• Ninth Schedule
• Nirbhaya Fund
• NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India)
• NITI Aayog Governing Council
• Niyamgiri case (Orissa Mining Corporation v. Ministry of Environment and Forests (2013))
• NJAC case (Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (2015), Fourth Judges case)
• N.M. Thomas case (State of Kerala v. N.M. Thomas)
• No-confidence motion
• Noel Harper case (Noel Harper v. Union of India (2022))
• No first use (NFU)
• Nolan principles (Seven principles of public life)
• Nominal executive (Constitutional head, Titular head, De jure executive, Titular executive)
• Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha (Article 80(3))
• Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
• Non-alignment (Policy of non-alignment)
• Non-associational groups
• Non-bailable offence
• Non-cognizable offence
• Non-Congressism (Anti-Congressism)
• Non-governmental organisation (NGO)
• Non-justiciability of Directive Principles (Article 37)
• Non-refoulement
• Non-resident Indian (NRI)
• North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act 1971 (Reorganisation of the North-East)
• North Eastern Council (NEC)
• North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA)
• NOTA (None of the above)
• NOTA case (PUCL v. Union of India (2013))
• No tax without authority of law (Article 265)
• Notified area committee
• Notified minorities
• N.P. Ponnuswami case (N.P. Ponnuswami v. Returning Officer, Namakkal (1952))
• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
• Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
• Nutrition and public health directive (Article 47)
• Nyaya panchayat

O

• OBC reservation
• OBC reservation in local bodies
• Objectives Resolution
• Obligations of citizenship (Civic obligations)
• Occupational mobility
• Oceanic circle
• Office of profit
• Official Language Commission (Article 344)
• Official language of the Union (Article 343)
• Official Languages Act 1963
• Official Secrets Act 1923 (OSA)
• Oil shock of 1973
• Olga Tellis case (Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation)
• Oligarchy
• Ombudsman
• One culture-one state
• One Nation One Election (Simultaneous elections)
• One-party dominance (Dominant party system)
• One-party system (Single-party system)
• Open ballot (Rule 39AA)
• Operation Black Thunder
• Operation Blue Star
• Operation Cactus
• Operation Meghdoot
• Operation Polo (Hyderabad police action, Police action in Hyderabad)
• Opinion poll
• Opposition (Opposition party)
• Ordinance-making power of the President (Article 123)
• Ordinary bill
• Ordinary residence (Ordinarily resident)
• Organisation of village panchayats (Article 40)
• Organisations excluded from RTI (Section 24 of the RTI Act)
• Original jurisdiction (Article 131)
• Original manuscript of the Constitution
• Other Backward Classes (OBCs, Backward castes)
• Other-regarding actions
• Outcomes of democracy
• Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI, OCI card)
• Overseas elector (NRI voter, Section 20A)
• Own source revenue of local bodies (Own source revenue of panchayats)

P

• Paid news
• Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK, PoK)
• Panchayat Advancement Index (Panchayat Development Index, PAI)
• Panchayati raj (Rural local government, Panchayati raj institutions, PRIs)
• Panchayat samiti (Block panchayat, Mandal parishad, Intermediate panchayat, Taluka panchayat)
• Panchayat secretary
• Panchsheel (Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence)
• Panel of chairpersons
• Panel of vice-chairpersons
• Paper ballot
• Paragraph 16A of the Symbols Order (Suspension of recognition)
• Parallel bodies
• Paramountcy (Suzerainty of the British Crown)
• Parastatal agencies (Special purpose agencies)
• Pardon
• Pardoning power of the President (Article 72, Clemency power)
• Parens patriae
• Paris Principles
• Parliamentary approval of national emergency
• Parliamentary committee
• Parliamentary control over the executive
• Parliamentary legislation on the State List in the national interest (Article 249, Legislation on State List in national interest)
• Parliamentary privileges (Article 105, Article 194)
• Parliamentary productivity
• Parliamentary secretary
• Parliamentary sovereignty (Parliamentary supremacy)
• Parliamentary system (Parliamentary democracy, Cabinet government, Parliamentary executive, Parliamentary form of government)
• Parliament of India (Parliament, Sansad, Article 79)
• Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act 1959
• Parliament's power to legislate during a national emergency (Article 250)
• Part A, B, C and D states
• Participatory budgeting (Porto Alegre model)
• Participatory democracy (Participative democracy)
• Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)
• Part II of the Constitution (Articles 5-11)
• Partisanship (Partisan)
• Partition of India (Partition of 1947)
• Partition of Punjab and Bengal
• Partition refugees (Partition displacement)
• Party system
• Party whip (Whip)
• Passive euthanasia
• Patriarchy
• Patwari (Lekhpal, Talati, Karnam)
• PCPNDT Act 1994 (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act)
• Peasant organisations (Farmers' organisations, Kisan unions)
• Pegasus case (Manohar Lal Sharma v. Union of India (2021))
• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)
• People's Plan
• People's Plan Campaign (Kerala People's Plan Campaign)
• People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
• Performance audit
• Permanent executive (Bureaucracy, Civil service)
• Permanent Lok Adalat
• Personal information exemption (Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act)
• Personal laws (Family laws)
• Person of Indian Origin card (PIO card)
• PESA Act 1996 (Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996)
• Philosophy of the Constitution
• P.K. Thungon Committee
• Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991 (Places of Worship Act)
• Plan and non-plan expenditure
• Plan holiday
• Planning Commission
• Plato's theory of justice
• Plea bargaining
• Plebiscite
• Plebiscite Front
• Pluralism
• Pluralist theory of sovereignty (Political pluralism)
• Plutocracy
• PMAY-Urban (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban)
• PM-JANMAN (Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan)
• PM POSHAN (Mid-day meal scheme)
• Pocket veto
• POCSO Act 2012 (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act)
• Point of order
• Pokhran-I (Smiling Buddha, Peaceful nuclear explosion)
• Pokhran-II (Operation Shakti)
• Police
• Police Complaints Authority
• Police custody
• Police Establishment Board
• Police state
• Policy cut motion (Disapproval of policy cut)
• Political equality
• Political executive
• Political neutrality of civil servants
• Political parties under RTI
• Political party
• Political rights
• Political sovereignty
• Political succession after Nehru
• Political theory
• Politicisation of caste (Politics in caste)
• Politics
• Politics of recognition
• Popular sovereignty
• Port trust
• Position of the Legislative Council
• Positive liberty (Freedom to)
• Postal ballot
• Power-sharing
• Power-sharing among political parties and pressure groups
• Power-sharing among social groups
• PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation)
• Praja Socialist Party (PSP)
• Prakash Singh case (Police reforms case, Prakash Singh v. Union of India)
• Prasar Bharati
• Preamble
• Pre-legislative consultation (Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy 2014)
• Premature retirement (FR 56(j))
• President (Discharge of Functions) Act 1969
• Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act 1952
• Presidential election disputes (Article 71)
• Presidential election of 1969
• Presidential reference on assent to bills (In re Assent, Withholding or Reservation of Bills by the Governor and the President of India)
• Presidential system (Presidential democracy, Presidential executive)
• President of India (President, Article 52)
• President's Act (Article 357)
• President's assent (Article 111)
• President's rule (Article 356, State emergency)
• President's special address (Article 87)
• Presiding Officer
• Presiding officer's exemption (Paragraph 5 of the Tenth Schedule)
• Press and Registration of Periodicals Act 2023 (PRP Act)
• Press censorship during the Emergency
• Press Council of India
• Pressure group
• Prevention of cattle slaughter (Article 48)
• Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 (PC Act)
• Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2018
• Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act 1971
• Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA)
• Preventive detention
• Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS)
• Primary election (Primaries)
• Prime Minister of India (Prime Minister, PM, Article 75(1))
• Prime Minister's New 15-Point Programme for Minorities
• Prime Minister's Office (PMO)
• Primus inter pares (First among equals)
• Princely states (Indian states)
• Principled distance
• Principle of competition
• Principle of subsidiarity (Subsidiarity)
• Principles of natural justice (Audi alteram partem, Nemo judex in causa sua)
• Prisoners' voting bar (Section 62(5) of the RPA 1951, Prisoners' right to vote, Section 62(5))
• Private member's bill
• Privilege motion
• Privy purse
• Privy Purses case (Madhav Rao Scindia v. Union of India)
• Proactive disclosure (Section 4 of the RTI Act)
• Procedural achievements of the Constitution
• Procedural democracy
• Procedure established by law
• Professional associations
• Prohibition of child labour (Article 24)
• Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 (PCMA)
• Prohibition of discrimination (Article 15)
• Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 (Manual Scavengers Act)
• Prohibition of intoxicating drinks (Article 47)
• Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour (Article 23)
• Prohibitory order (Section 163 BNSS, Section 144 CrPC)
• Promotion of cottage industries (Article 43)
• Promotion of interests of weaker sections (Article 46)
• Promotion of international peace and security (Article 51)
• Property Owners Association case (Property Owners Association v. State of Maharashtra (2024))
• Property tax
• Proportional representation (PR)
• Proportionate justice
• Propriety audit
• Prorogation
• Protected Area Permit (PAP)
• Protection against arrest and detention (Article 22)
• Protection against economic exploitation (Article 39(e), Article 39(f))
• Protection in respect of conviction for offences (Article 20)
• Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 (Untouchability (Offences) Act 1955)
• Protection of environment and wildlife (Article 48A)
• Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Act 2019
• Protection of interests of minorities (Article 29)
• Protection of monuments (Article 49)
• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA)
• Pro tem Speaker (Speaker pro tem)
• Provincial Constitution Committee
• Provisional Parliament
• Provisions in force from 26 November 1949
• Proxy voting
• Prudential reasons for power-sharing
• Public Account of India (Article 266(2))
• Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
• Public authority (RTI) (Section 2(h) of the RTI Act)
• Public charitable trust
• Public Information Officer (PIO, CPIO)
• Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Informers Resolution 2004 (PIDPI Resolution)
• Public Interest Foundation case (Public Interest Foundation v. Union of India (2018))
• Public interest litigation (PIL, Social action litigation, SAL)
• Public interest override (Section 8(2) of the RTI Act)
• Public-private distinction
• Public prosecutor
• Public reason (Principle of deliberation)
• PUCL disclosure case (PUCL v. Union of India (2003))
• Punchhi Commission (Commission on Centre-State Relations (2007-2010))
• Punjabi Suba movement
• Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966
• Purity of means
• P.V. Narasimha Rao case (JMM bribery case (1998), P.V. Narasimha Rao v. State)

Q

• Qualifications for membership of Parliament (Article 84)
• Qualifications of Supreme Court judges (Article 124(3))
• Qualifications of the Governor (Article 157)
• Qualifications of the President (Article 58)
• Qualified veto
• Qualifying date
• Quasi-federalism (Quasi-federal, Federation with a strong centre)
• Quasi-judicial body
• Question Hour
• Quorum (Article 100(3))
• Quo warranto

R

• Racial segregation (Segregation laws)
• Radcliffe Line
• Railway strike of 1974
• Rajadharma (Raja dharma)
• Rajamannar Committee
• Raja Ram Pal case (Cash-for-query case (2007))
• Rajendra N. Shah case (Union of India v. Rajendra N. Shah (2021), Rajendra Shah case)
• Rajive Raturi case (Rajive Raturi v. Union of India)
• Rajiv Gandhi-Longowal Accord (Punjab Accord)
• Rajya Sabha (Council of States, Article 80)
• Rambabu Singh Thakur case (Rambabu Singh Thakur v. Sunil Arora (2020))
• Rameshwar Prasad case (Rameshwar Prasad v. Union of India (2006))
• Ram Janmabhoomi movement (Ayodhya movement)
• Ram Jawaya Kapur case (Ram Jawaya Kapur v. State of Punjab (1955))
• Ranganath Misra Commission (2007) (National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities)
• Rarest of rare doctrine
• Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA)
• Rath Yatra
• Ravi-Beas water dispute
• Ravi S. Naik case (Ravi S. Naik v. Union of India (1994))
• Rawls' theory of justice (Justice as fairness)
• Razakars
• R.C. Cooper case (Bank nationalisation case (1970))
• Reading down
• Real executive (De facto executive)
• Reasonable classification (Intelligible differentia, Twin test)
• Reasonable restrictions
• Recall (Right to recall)
• Recognised political party (Recognition of political parties)
• Recognition of special needs
• Recruitment and conditions of service of public servants (Article 309)
• Recusal
• Redistribution of resources
• Red tapism (Red tape)
• Referendum
• Refugee
• Regional imbalance
• Regionalism (Regional aspirations)
• Registered unrecognised political party (RUPP)
• Registration of political parties (Section 29A of the RPA 1951)
• Regulatory body (Independent regulator)
• Regulatory capture
• Religion as the opium of the masses (Opium of the people)
• Religion-based reservation
• Religious denomination
• Religious fundamentalism
• Religious minority
• Religious tolerance (Religious toleration)
• Remission
• Remote Voting Machine (RVM, Remote EVM)
• Removal of judges (Article 124(4), Article 217(1)(b), Impeachment of judges)
• Removal of the Speaker (Article 94)
• Removal of the Vice-President (Article 67(b))
• Renunciation of citizenship
• Representation of the People Act 1950 (RPA 1950)
• Representation of the People Act 1951 (RPA 1951)
• Representative democracy (Indirect democracy)
• Reprieve
• Reproductive autonomy (Right to abortion)
• Republic
• Reservation in promotion (Article 16(4A))
• Reservation in public employment (Article 16(4), Reservation in public appointments)
• Reservation of bills for President's consideration (Article 200, Article 201, President's assent to reserved state bills)
• Reservation of chairperson posts in panchayats
• Reservation of seats in municipalities (Article 243T)
• Reservation of seats in panchayats (Article 243D, Reservation for SCs and STs in panchayats)
• Reservation policy (Reservations, Quota system, Protective discrimination)
• Reserved constituencies (Reserved seats, Articles 330 and 332, Article 330, Article 332)
• Reserved symbol
• Residence requirement in public employment (Article 16(3), Domicile requirement)
• Residents' welfare association (RWA)
• Residuary powers (Article 248)
• Resolution (Parliamentary resolution)
• Respite
• Restoration of the Congress system
• Restriction of rights of armed forces (Article 33)
• Restriction on discussing judges' conduct in the legislature (Article 121, Article 211)
• Restrictions on freedom of speech (Article 19(2))
• Results Framework Document (RFD)
• Retired judges sitting in High Courts (Article 224A)
• Returning Officer (RO)
• Reverse discrimination
• Review petition (Article 137)
• Revocation of national emergency
• Rev. Stainislaus case (Rev. Stainislaus v. State of Madhya Pradesh (1977))
• Right against exploitation (Articles 23-24)
• Right against self-incrimination (Article 20(3))
• Right against the adverse effects of climate change
• Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 (RTE Act)
• Right of minorities to establish educational institutions (Article 30)
• Rights
• Rights and responsibilities
• Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (RPwD Act)
• Rights reserved for citizens
• Right to access the internet
• Right to a clean environment (Right to pollution-free environment, Right to a healthy environment)
• Right to be forgotten (Right to erasure)
• Right to constitutional remedies (Article 32)
• Right to contest elections
• Right to education (Article 21A)
• Right to equality (Articles 14-18)
• Right to food
• Right to freedom (Articles 19-22)
• Right to health
• Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI Act)
• Right to Information (Amendment) Act 2019
• Right to life and personal liberty (Article 21)
• Right to livelihood
• Right to live with human dignity
• Right to marry of one's choice
• Right to privacy
• Right to propagate religion
• Right to property (Article 300A)
• Right to protest
• Right to reject
• Right to Services Acts (Public Services Guarantee Acts)
• Right to shelter
• Right to speedy trial
• Right to strike
• Right to vote (Right to vote as a statutory right)
• Right to work, education and public assistance (Article 41, Right to work)
• Rigid constitution
• Rigidity and flexibility of the Constitution
• River Boards Act 1956
• Rohini Commission (Commission to examine sub-categorisation of OBCs)
• Rojer Mathew case (Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank (2019))
• Romesh Thappar case (Romesh Thappar v. State of Madras (1950))
• RTI appeals (First appeal, Second appeal)
• RTI exemptions (Section 8 of the RTI Act)
• Rule by law
• Rule of law (Supremacy of law)
• Rules of Business (Article 77(3))

S

• Sabarimala case (Indian Young Lawyers Association v. State of Kerala)
• Sabha
• Sachar Committee (Prime Minister's High Level Committee)
• Sadiq Ali case (Sadiq Ali v. Election Commission of India (1971))
• Safeguards for civil servants (Article 311)
• Sajjan Singh case (Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan (1965))
• Samatha case (Samatha v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1997))
• Samiti
• Samsher Singh case (Samsher Singh v. State of Punjab (1974))
• Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas
• Samvidhan Sadan (Old Parliament House)
• Samyukta Maharashtra movement
• Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP)
• Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD governments)
• Sanction for prosecution of public servants (Section 218 of the BNSS, Section 197 of the CrPC)
• Sanskritisation
• Santhanam Committee (1962-64) (Committee on Prevention of Corruption)
• Sapru Committee (Sapru Report)
• Sapta Kranti (Seven revolutions)
• Saptanga theory (Saptanga)
• Sarbananda Sonowal case (Sarbananda Sonowal v. Union of India (2005))
• Sarkaria Commission
• Sarla Mudgal case (Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India (1995))
• Sarpanch (Panchayat president, Pradhan, Mukhiya)
• Sarpanch pati (Pradhan pati, Mukhiya pati)
• Sarvodaya
• Satender Kumar Antil case (Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI (2022))
• Satyagraha
• Satyameva Jayate
• Scheduled Areas (Fifth Schedule areas)
• Scheduled Castes (Dalits, Article 341)
• Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis, Article 342)
• Scientific temper (Article 51A(h))
• SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 (PoA Act)
• SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act 2018 (Section 18A)
• Sealed cover jurisprudence
• Secession
• Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2nd ARC)
• Second Five Year Plan
• Second Judges case (Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (1993))
• Second Schedule
• Secret ballot
• Section 10A of the RPA 1951
• Section 11 of the RPA 1951
• Section 125A of the RPA 1951
• Section 13A of the Income Tax Act 1961
• Section 29C of the RPA 1951 (Contribution report)
• Section 6A of the Citizenship Act
• Section 6A of the DSPE Act
• Section 8A of the RPA 1951
• Section 8 company
• Section 93 of the Government of India Act 1935
• Section 9A of the RPA 1951
• Secularism (Secular)
• Secular state
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
• Securities Appellate Tribunal
• Security deposit (Forfeiture of deposit)
• Security of tenure of judges
• Sedition (Section 124A of the IPC, Section 124A IPC)
• Select committee
• Self-help group (SHG)
• Self-regarding actions
• Self-Respect Movement
• Semi-presidential executive (Semi-presidential system)
• Sengol
• Separate electorates (Communal electorates)
• Separation of accounts from audit (Departmentalisation of accounts)
• Separation of judiciary from executive (Article 50)
• Separation of powers
• Separation of religion and state (Church-state separation)
• Separatism (Secessionism)
• Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO)
• Service voter
• Session of Parliament (Article 85)
• Sessions court (Court of Session)
• Seven Sisters
• Seventh Schedule (Three-fold distribution of legislative powers, Article 246)
• Sevottam
• Sex-gender distinction
• Sex-selective abortion (Female foeticide)
• Sexual division of labour (Gendered division of labour)
• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013 (POSH Act)
• Shadow cabinet
• Shah Bano case (Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum (1985))
• Shah Commission
• Shailesh Manubhai Parmar case (Shailesh Manubhai Parmar v. Election Commission of India (2018), NOTA in Rajya Sabha case)
• Shankari Prasad case (Shankari Prasad v. Union of India (1951))
• Shastri-Sirimavo Pact
• Shayara Bano case (Triple talaq case (2017))
• SHG-Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP)
• Shillong Accord
• Shiromani Akali Dal (Akali Dal)
• Short duration discussion (Rule 193 (Lok Sabha), Rule 176 (Rajya Sabha))
• Short notice question
• Shreya Singhal case (Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015))
• Sikkim's merger (Merger of Sikkim)
• Silence period (Section 126)
• Silent Valley Movement
• Siliguri Corridor (Chicken's Neck)
• Simla Agreement (Shimla Agreement)
• Simple majority
• Single citizenship
• Single general electoral roll (Article 325)
• Single transferable vote (STV)
• Sinhala Only Act 1956 (Official Language Act 1956 (Sri Lanka))
• Sino-Indian War of 1962 (India-China war)
• Sita Soren case (Sita Soren v. Union of India (2024))
• Six-month rule for non-member ministers (Article 75(5))
• Sixteen Point Agreement
• Sixth Schedule
• Smart Cities Mission
• SMART government
• Social accountability
• Social audit
• Social capital
• Social constraints
• Social contract theory (Social contract, Contractarianism)
• Social democracy
• Social, economic and political justice
• Social equality
• Social exclusion
• Socialism
• Socialist (Democratic socialism)
• Socialistic principles
• Socialist Party
• Socialist pattern of society (Avadi resolution)
• Social justice
• Socially produced inequalities (Social inequalities)
• Social movement
• Social order based on justice (Article 38)
• Social rights (Socio-economic rights)
• Societies Registration Act 1860
• Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011)
• Socratic method (Socratic dialogue)
• Solicitor General of India
• Sons of the soil (Movements against outsiders, Sons of the soil movements)
• Sources of the Indian Constitution (Borrowed features, Borrowed features of the Indian Constitution)
• Sovereignty (Sovereign)
• Soviet model of development (Socialist model of development)
• Speaker of the Lok Sabha (Speaker, Article 93)
• Speaker's certification of money bills (Article 110(3))
• Special courts for MPs and MLAs
• Special Intensive Revision (SIR)
• Special leave petition (SLP, Article 136)
• Special majority
• Special Marriage Act 1954
• Special mention
• Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities (Article 350B, Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities)
• Special powers of the Rajya Sabha
• Special provisions for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (Article 371D)
• Special provisions for Arunachal Pradesh (Article 371H)
• Special provisions for Assam (Article 371B)
• Special provisions for backward classes (Article 15(4))
• Special provisions for certain states (Articles 371-371J, Article 371, Special provisions for states)
• Special provisions for Goa (Article 371I)
• Special provisions for Karnataka (Article 371J)
• Special provisions for Maharashtra and Gujarat
• Special provisions for Manipur (Article 371C)
• Special provisions for Mizoram (Article 371G)
• Special provisions for Nagaland (Article 371A)
• Special provisions for Sikkim (Article 371F)
• Special provisions for women and children (Article 15(3))
• Special status of Delhi (Article 239AA)
• Split (anti-defection) (Split exception)
• Spoils system
• S.P. Sampath Kumar case (S.P. Sampath Kumar v. Union of India (1987))
• S.R. Bommai case (S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994))
• S.R. Chaudhuri case (S.R. Chaudhuri v. State of Punjab (2001))
• Sri Lankan civil war (Sri Lankan ethnic conflict)
• Sri Lankan Tamils
• Staff Selection Commission (SSC)
• Standing committee
• Standstill Agreement
• Star campaigner
• Starred question
• State
• State Administrative Tribunal
• State autonomy
• State Civil Services
• State Election Commission (Article 243K, Article 243ZA)
• State Finance Commission (Article 243I, Article 243Y)
• State funding of elections
• State Human Rights Commission (SHRC)
• State Information Commission (SIC)
• Statelessness (Stateless people, Stateless persons)
• State List (List II)
• State of nature
• State of Punjab v. Governor of Punjab
• State of Tamil Nadu v. Governor of Tamil Nadu
• State of U.P. v. Raj Narain case (State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain)
• State party (Regional party)
• State Public Service Commission (SPSC)
• State regulation of religious practice (Article 25(2), State intervention in religious practices)
• States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States)
• State Security Commission
• States Reorganisation Act 1956
• States Reorganisation Commission (Fazl Ali Commission, SRC)
• State-supported religious reform
• State under Article 12 (Article 12, Definition of State)
• Statutory body
• Statutory resolution
• Statutory town
• Steel frame
• Steering Committee
• Street Vendors Act 2014 (Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014)
• Sub-classification of Scheduled Castes
• Subhas Chandra Bose's idea of freedom (All-round freedom)
• Subhash Chandra Agarwal case (CPIO, Supreme Court v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal (2019))
• Subhash Desai case (Subhash Desai v. Principal Secretary, Governor of Maharashtra (2023), Maharashtra political crisis case)
• Subhash Kashinath Mahajan case (Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v. State of Maharashtra)
• Sub-nationalism (Sub-national identity)
• Subordinate courts (District courts, Lower courts)
• Subramanian Swamy VVPAT case (Subramanian Swamy v. Election Commission of India (2013))
• Substantive achievements of the Constitution
• Substantive democracy
• Substantive equality
• Substantive motion
• Summary revision of electoral rolls
• Summoning of Parliament (Article 85)
• Sunil Batra case (Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration)
• Suo motu cognizance (Suo motu, Suo motu cognisance)
• Supersession of judges
• Supplementary grant (Article 115)
• Supremacy of the Constitution
• Supreme Court of India (Article 124)
• Supriyo Chakraborty case (Supriyo v. Union of India (2023), Same-sex marriage case)
• Suspended animation
• Suspension of Article 19 during emergency (Article 358)
• Suspension of business motion (Rule 267)
• Suspension of enforcement of fundamental rights (Article 359)
• Suspension of fundamental rights during emergency (Articles 358 and 359)
• Suspension of members
• Suspensive veto
• SVAMITVA scheme
• Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U)
• Swachh Survekshan
• Swaraj (Self-rule)
• Swaran Singh Committee
• Swatantra Party
• Symbol dispute (Paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order)
• Symmetrical representation
• Syndicate (Congress Syndicate)
• Synthesis of parliamentary sovereignty and judicial supremacy
• Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP)

T

• Tagore's critique of nationalism
• Tamil Eelam
• Tamil Nadu's 69% reservation
• Tarkunde Committee (1975)
• Tashkent Agreement (Tashkent Declaration)
• Technical Guidance and Supervision (TGS)
• Technocracy
• Telangana armed struggle (Telangana peasant movement)
• Telangana movement
• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
• Tele-Law
• Tendered vote (Tendered ballot paper)
• Ten Point Programme
• Termination of citizenship
• Term of panchayats (Article 243E)
• Thakkar Sub-committee (Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (other than Assam) Sub-committee)
• Theocracy (Theocratic state)
• Third Judges case (In re Special Reference No. 1 of 1998, Special Reference No. 1 of 1998)
• Third Schedule
• Three Fs of devolution (Funds, functions and functionaries)
• Three generations of human rights
• Three-language formula
• Three-tier panchayat system (Article 243B)
• Three tiers of government (Three levels of government)
• Tibet question
• Tied and untied grants to local bodies
• Time use survey
• T.M.A. Pai Foundation case (T.M.A. Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka)
• T.N. Seshan case (T.N. Seshan v. Union of India (1995))
• Token cut motion
• Token grant
• Totaliser (Totaliser machine)
• Totalitarianism
• Total revolution (Sampoorna Kranti)
• Town area committee
• Trade unions
• Transfer of High Court judges (Article 222)
• Transfer of subjects to the Concurrent List
• Transformative constitutionalism (Constitution as a means of democratic transformation)
• Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019
• Transparency
• Treating equals equally (Equal treatment for equals)
• Trial in absentia (Section 356 BNSS)
• Tribal Sub-Plan (Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes, DAPST)
• Tribal welfare minister (Article 164(1))
• Tribes Advisory Council (TAC)
• Tribunals Reforms Act 2021
• Tribunals under Article 323B (Article 323B)
• Triple test
• Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC)
• Trusteeship
• T.S.R. Subramanian case (T.S.R. Subramanian v. Union of India)
• Tulsiram Patel case (Union of India v. Tulsiram Patel)
• Twelfth Schedule
• Twenty Point Programme
• Two-child norm for panchayat candidates
• Two-nation theory
• Two-party system
• Tyranny of the majority (Dominance of the majority)

U

• UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance)
• UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)
• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)
• Undertrial prisoner (Undertrial)
• Uniform civil code (UCC, Article 44)
• Union Budget (Annual financial statement, Article 112)
• Union Constitution Committee
• Union directions to states (Article 256, Article 257, Obligation of states and the Union)
• Union List (List I)
• Union of States (Article 1, India, that is Bharat)
• Union Powers Committee
• Union Public Service Commission (UPSC, Article 315)
• Union territory (UT)
• Union territory legislature (Article 239A)
• Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
• Unitary system (Unitary government)
• United Front
• United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, UN Refugee Agency)
• United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
• Unity in diversity
• Universal adult franchise (Adult suffrage, Universal adult suffrage, Article 326)
• Universal citizenship (Inclusive citizenship)
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
• University Grants Commission (UGC)
• Unni Krishnan case (Unni Krishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1993))
• UN resolution on Kashmir (1948) (UNSC Resolution 47)
• Unstarred question
• Untouchability (Article 17, Abolition of untouchability)
• Urban area
• Urban bias
• Urban local bodies (Municipalities, Nagarpalikas)
• Utilitarianism (Greatest happiness principle)
• Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code Act 2024
• Uttaramerur inscriptions

V

• Vacation of seat for absence (Article 101(4))
• Value of votes in presidential election (Article 55)
• V-Dem Democracy Report (Varieties of Democracy)
• Veil of ignorance
• Verma Committee on Fundamental Duties (Justice J.S. Verma Committee (1999))
• Vertical accountability
• Vertical division of power (Vertical power-sharing)
• Vertical fiscal imbalance
• Vertical reservation
• Vice-President of India (Vice-President, Article 63)
• Victim compensation scheme (Section 396 BNSS, Section 357A CrPC)
• Vidatha
• Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case (Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India)
• Vimochana Samaram (Liberation struggle (Kerala 1959))
• Vineet Narain case (Jain hawala case, Vineet Narain v. Union of India)
• Virtual courts
• Vishaka case (Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997))
• Vohra Committee (1993) (N.N. Vohra Committee)
• Voice vote
• Vote bank (Vote-bank politics)
• Voted expenditure
• Vote of credit (Article 116)
• Vote on account (Article 116)
• Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT)

W

• Waman Rao case (Waman Rao v. Union of India (1981))
• Waqf
• Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025
• Wards committee (Article 243S)
• Weberian bureaucracy (Ideal-type bureaucracy)
• Weber's types of authority (Traditional, charismatic and legal-rational authority)
• Welfare state
• Western model of secularism (American model of secularism, Mutual exclusion)
• West Indies Federation
• Westminster model
• Westphalian sovereignty (Westphalian system)
• We, the People of India
• Whistle Blowers Protection Act 2014
• Witness Protection Scheme 2018
• Women-friendly panchayat
• Women's political representation
• Women's Reservation Bill 2008 (Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill)
• Women's reservation in local bodies (Reservation for women in panchayats, Article 243D)
• Women's suffrage (Women's franchise)
• Workers' participation in management (Article 43A)
• World Press Freedom Index
• Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI)
• Writ
• Writ jurisdiction
• Writ jurisdiction of High Courts (Article 226)
• Writ of prohibition
• Written constitution

X

• Xaxa Committee (2014)

Y

• Yato Dharmastato Jayah

Z

• Zamindari abolition
• Zero FIR
• Zero Hour
• Zila parishad (Zilla parishad, District panchayat, Zilla panchayat)
• Zonal councils