The President

Why a parliamentary executive for India? India already had some experience of parliamentary institutions under the Acts of 1919 and 1935, which showed that the executive can be controlled by people's representatives. The framers wanted a government sensitive, responsible and accountable to the public. A presidential executive concentrates power in one person, risking a personality cult. So the Constitution chose a strong executive with safeguards: a parliamentary system at the national and state levels, with a President as formal head of state and a Prime Minister and Council of Ministers running the government (at the state level, the Governor, Chief Minister and Council of Ministers).

The President. The executive power of the Union is formally vested in the President, but in reality exercised through the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister.

• Election: for five years, indirectly, by the elected MPs and MLAs, using proportional representation with single transferable vote.
• Removal: only by Parliament through impeachment, which needs a special majority; the only ground is violation of the Constitution.
• Article 74(1): there shall be a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President, who 'shall' act in accordance with such advice. 'Shall' makes the advice binding. A later amendment allows the President to ask the Council to reconsider its advice once, but the President must accept the reconsidered advice.
• Formally the President has wide executive, legislative, judicial and emergency powers, but uses them on the Council's advice. As Nehru said, the President was given 'no real power' but a position of authority and dignity.

Discretionary powers. The President has a right to be informed of all important matters, and the Prime Minister must provide information when asked. There are at least three situations where the President acts on their own discretion:

• Sending advice back for reconsideration. The Council may resend the same advice, but the President's request carries weight.
• Veto over bills (other than Money Bills): the President can return a bill to Parliament for reconsideration; if Parliament passes it again, the President must assent. But the Constitution sets no time limit, so the President can keep a bill pending indefinitely: a so-called 'pocket veto'. The book's example is the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill of 1986.
• Choosing a Prime Minister when no one has a clear majority in the Lok Sabha after an election, and several leaders claim support. The President must judge who can actually form and run a government; in 1998, for example, the President asked the leader claiming majority support to provide documents from supporting parties and to win a vote of confidence within ten days.
• Such discretion grows when governments are unstable and coalitions rule, as in the elections from 1989 to 1998.

Why have a President at all? The Council of Ministers can lose its majority and be replaced at any time, so the country needs a head of state with a fixed term who can appoint the Prime Minister and symbolise the whole nation, and who must choose when no party has a majority.

The Vice President is elected for five years in a similar way, but only by MPs (not MLAs). He or she is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and acts as President when there is a vacancy (death, resignation, impeachment) until a new President is elected. The Vice President can be removed by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by a majority and agreed to by the Lok Sabha.