President of India

Also called: President, Article 52 · Topic: Union Executive: President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and Council of Ministers · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 10 "Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance"; Class 7, Ch 6 "The State, the Government, and You"; Class 8, Ch 5 "Universal Franchise and India's Electoral System"; Class 8, Ch 6 "The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive"; Class 11, Ch 4 "Executive"

Meaning

The President of India is the elected head of the Indian state. Article 52 creates the office, and Article 53 formally gives the Union's executive power to the President. The President is elected indirectly for a fixed five-year term. In almost all matters, the President must act on the advice of the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister (Article 74).

The office matters because it shows India's chosen model. India is a republic, meaning its head is elected and not born into the office. It also has a parliamentary executive, meaning the head of state is a nominal head and the real power lies with ministers who answer to the Lok Sabha.

Explanation

How the office works: nominal head, real executive

• Executive is the branch of government that carries out laws and runs the administration.
• Executive power is vested in the President (Art. 53(1)):
• The President uses this power directly or through officers below the President.

• It must be used in line with the Constitution.

• Supreme command of the Defence Forces is also vested in the President (Art. 53(2)):

• Its use is regulated by law.

• But the President is a nominal head, which means a head in name only:

• The real executive is the PM and the Council of Ministers.

• They come from the legislature and stay in office only while the Lok Sabha supports them.

• India uses the same model in the states:

• The Governor is the nominal head.
• The Chief Minister and Council of Ministers are the real executive.

How ministerial advice reaches the President, step by step

1. The Cabinet decides and advises the President (Art. 74(1)).
2. The President may send the advice back once for reconsideration. This proviso was added by the 44th Amendment, 1978.
3. The Cabinet reconsiders and sends the advice again, changed or unchanged.
4. The President must act on it. The word "shall" was added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976.
5. No court can ask whether any advice was given, or what it was (Art. 74(2)).

• What "shall" means (NCERT Class 11): the duty is compulsory. The 1978 proviso allows only a one-time delay. It is not a veto, which would be a power to block the decision.

Why the framers chose this model

• Past experience:
• Indians had already worked parliamentary institutions under the Government of India Acts of 1919 and 1935.

• A familiar system was easier to run.

• Responsibility over stability: Ambedkar explained the choice in the Constituent Assembly Debates (CAD) on 4 November 1948.

• A presidential system gives more stability, because the President cannot be removed easily.
• A parliamentary system gives more responsibility, because ministers must answer to the legislature every day.

• The Draft Constitution chose "more responsibility".

• Fear of a personality cult:

• A directly elected President with a fixed term could build a cult around one person.

• A PM is only "first among equals" in a cabinet that the Lok Sabha controls.

• A rejected alternative:

• On 17 July 1947, Begum Aizaz Rasul proposed a Swiss-style executive.
• The legislature would have elected it by single transferable vote, a form of proportional representation in which voters rank candidates.
• The proposal was not adopted.

What the President can still do: limits and exceptions

• Discretion in rare cases, where the President acts on the President's own judgment:
• choosing a PM when no party has a clear majority in the Lok Sabha (a hung Parliament);

• dismissing a government that has lost its majority but refuses to resign.

• Bagehot's three rights:

• Walter Bagehot, a British writer, said the British monarch has the right to be consulted, to encourage and to warn.

• In India, the President is entitled to information about Union affairs from the PM. The President can use it to give private advice and warnings.

• Continuity: the President stays in office for a fixed five-year term while governments change.

• Symbol: the President stands for the unity of the nation, above party politics.

In the Constitution and practice

Provision	What it does
Art. 52	There shall be a President of India.
Art. 53(1)	Vests the Union's executive power in the President.
Art. 53(2)	Vests supreme command of the Defence Forces in the President, with its use regulated by law.
Art. 74(1) (1950)	Creates a Council of Ministers, with the PM at the head, "to aid and advise" the President.
42nd Amendment, 1976	Adds that the President "shall act in accordance with such advice", which makes the advice binding.
44th Amendment, 1978	Lets the President send advice back once. The reconsidered advice is binding.
Art. 74(2)	No court may inquire into the advice.

• Making of Art. 74:
• Art. 74 was draft Article 61. The Constituent Assembly adopted it on 30 December 1948 [2].
• The Assembly rejected three amendments [2]:
  • one limiting the Cabinet to 15 ministers chosen by proportional representation;
  • one deleting "with the Prime Minister at the head";
  • one giving the President discretion without Cabinet advice, on the lines of the 1935 Act.

• The PM was written into the text for two reasons. It secures collective responsibility (all ministers stand or fall together in the Lok Sabha), and it stops the President from having undue influence over individual ministers [2].

• Ram Jawaya Kapur v. State of Punjab (1955):

• India has a cabinet system, so the Council of Ministers is the real executive.

• Executive power is what remains after legislative (law-making) and judicial (deciding disputes) functions are taken away.

• U.N.R. Rao v. Indira Gandhi (1971):

• Art. 74(1) says "there shall be" a Council of Ministers, so one must exist at all times, even after the Lok Sabha is dissolved.
• The President can never act without one.

• So an outgoing PM continues until a new PM is sworn in.

• Shamsher Singh v. State of Punjab (1974, seven-judge bench):

• Decided on 23 August 1974 and reported as [1975] 1 SCR 814 [3].
• Facts: a subordinate judge on probation was removed by an order issued in the Governor's name, with no reasons given [3].
• Question: are the President and Governors bound by advice under Arts. 53(1), 154(1) and 166(3)? [3]

• Holding: the President and the Governor are constitutional (formal) heads. They act on the aid and advice of their Councils of Ministers, except where the Constitution itself gives the Governor discretion [3].

• First test: Rajendra Prasad:

• India's first President doubted whether the President must always follow advice. The dispute arose over the Hindu Code Bill, a set of laws reforming Hindu family law, in the early 1950s.

• The convention of acting on advice held. Parliament wrote it into Art. 74 in 1976.

• Office-holders:

• Pratibha Patil (2007) was the first woman President.
• Droupadi Murmu (2022) is the 15th President and the first from a Scheduled Tribe.

Don't confuse with

• US President (presidential executive): the US President is both head of state and head of government, is elected separately and serves a fixed term. The legislature cannot remove the US President by a simple no-confidence vote. India's President is head of state only, and real power lies with the PM.
• Prime Minister: the PM heads the Council of Ministers and is the real executive. The PM stays only while the Lok Sabha supports the government. The President is "head of the State but not of the Executive" (Ambedkar).
• British monarch: both are nominal heads acting on ministerial advice. But the UK monarch is hereditary, while India's President is elected for a fixed term, which makes India a republic.
• Governor: the Governor follows the same model in the states. But the Governor has a wider area of discretion than the President, which is why Centre–state disputes arise over the Governor's role.

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 52 creates the office. Art. 53 vests the Union's executive power and supreme command of the Defence Forces in the President.
• 42nd Amendment (1976): made advice binding ("shall act in accordance"). 44th Amendment (1978): allows one return for reconsideration. Trap: the 44th did not remove the binding nature of advice.
• Art. 74(2): courts cannot inquire into what advice was given to the President.
• Case–principle pairs:
• Ram Jawaya Kapur (1955): defines executive power as what remains after legislative and judicial functions are taken away.
• U.N.R. Rao (1971): a Council of Ministers must exist even after the Lok Sabha is dissolved.

• Shamsher Singh (1974, seven judges, decided 23 August 1974): the President and Governors are constitutional heads [3].

• Art. 74 was draft Article 61, adopted on 30 December 1948 [2]. In the CAD on 4 November 1948, Ambedkar chose "more responsibility" over "more stability".

• Firsts: Pratibha Patil (2007) was the first woman President. Droupadi Murmu (2022) is the 15th President and the first from a Scheduled Tribe.

Mains Points

• Responsibility vs stability:
• India chose daily accountability to the Lok Sabha over a fixed-term executive.
• The cost showed in the coalition years, when governments fell in 1979, 1990 and 1996-98.

• The gain is that no government can rule without the House's confidence, which guards against a personality cult.

• Nominal head, not a rubber stamp:

• Arts. 74(1) and 74(2), and Shamsher Singh (1974), bind the President to advice.
• Still, the one-time return of advice, the right to be informed and discretion in a hung Parliament let the President act as a "conscience-keeper".

• The office has "authority and dignity" but no "real power" (CAD).

• 42nd vs 44th Amendment as a lesson:

• The 1976 change wrote a convention into the text during the Emergency.
• The 1978 proviso restored a small check, the right to ask ministers to think again.
• Together they show how India balances cabinet supremacy with a dignified head of state.

Related concepts

• Aid and advice of the Council of Ministers
• Samsher Singh case

Read more

• Why India chose a parliamentary executive: the President's constitutional position