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Vice-President, Prime Minister, Council of Ministers and Attorney General

Union Executive · Part 2 / 2 · Fact-checked on 15 October 2026 · how we check

Written with AI from the sources listed at the bottom of this page, then fact-checked by a separate AI.

How the Vice-President is elected and removed and acts for the President; how the Prime Minister is appointed; the Council of Ministers, its size cap and collective responsibility to the Lok Sabha; the conduct of government business; and the Attorney General.

Part 1 showed that the President is the formal head of the Union executive but acts on advice. This part covers the other executive offices of Part V. The Vice-President is the second-highest office, mainly as the presiding officer of the Rajya Sabha and as a stand-by for the President. The real executive is the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister, which governs in the President's name and stays in office only while it keeps the confidence of the Lok Sabha. The Attorney General, finally, is the Government's chief legal adviser. Who chooses each of them, who can remove them and to whom they answer is the core of this part.

Article 63 says there shall be a Vice-President of India, and Article 64 makes the Vice-President the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha; the office carries no separate salary of its own, and the Vice-President is paid as Chairman. Under Article 66 the Vice-President is elected by an electoral college of the members of both Houses of Parliament, by proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and by secret ballot. Two differences from the presidential election follow: nominated members of Parliament do vote, and members of the State Legislative Assemblies do not. The 11th Amendment (1961) replaced the original wording, a joint meeting of the two Houses, with this electoral college. As with the President, election disputes go only to the Supreme Court (Article 71).

To be Vice-President a person must be a citizen of India, at least 35 years old and qualified for election as a member of the Rajya Sabha (Article 66(3)), and must not hold an office of profit. A member of Parliament or of a State legislature who is elected vacates that seat on entering office. The oath is taken before the President (Article 69). The term is five years, but the Vice-President continues until a successor enters office, and may resign by writing to the President. Removal under Article 67(b) is simpler than impeachment: a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by a majority of all its then members and agreed to by the Lok Sabha, moved after at least 14 days' notice. The Constitution states no ground for removal. Under the 1952 Elections Act, a nomination needs 20 electors as proposers and 20 as seconders.

Article 65 makes the Vice-President the President's stand-in in two situations. When the President's office falls vacant through death, resignation, removal or otherwise, the Vice-President acts as President until a new President, who must be elected within six months, enters office. When the President is unable to discharge the functions because of absence, illness or any other cause, the Vice-President discharges them until the President resumes duty. During that period the Vice-President has all the President's powers, immunities and emoluments, does not perform the duties of Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and draws no Chairman's salary; the Deputy Chairman presides instead. The office resembles the American Vice-Presidency, but with one key difference: an Indian Vice-President does not become President for the rest of the term, only acts until a new President is elected.

Article 75(1) says only that the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President; the Constitution lays down no procedure. By convention the President invites the leader of the party or coalition that commands a majority in the Lok Sabha. When no one has a clear majority, the President uses personal judgement and may ask the person appointed to prove the majority on the floor of the House within a set time. In July 1979 President N. Sanjiva Reddy appointed Charan Singh, who resigned the next month without ever facing the Lok Sabha. The Prime Minister may belong to either House: Indira Gandhi in 1966 and Manmohan Singh were members of the Rajya Sabha. A person who is not a member of either House can be appointed, but must become one within six months (Article 75(5)); H.D. Deve Gowda in 1996 was appointed in this way.

The Prime Minister is the link between the President and the Council of Ministers. Article 78 lays three duties on the Prime Minister: to communicate to the President all decisions of the Council relating to the administration of the Union and proposals for legislation; to furnish such information about these as the President may call for; and, if the President so requires, to submit for the Council's consideration any matter on which a minister has decided but which the Council has not considered. Beyond these written duties, the Prime Minister's power comes from the parliamentary system itself: other ministers are appointed and dismissed on the Prime Minister's advice, portfolios are allotted by the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister chairs the Cabinet. Because the Council exists around its head, the death or resignation of the Prime Minister ends the whole Council of Ministers.

The Constitution speaks only of a Council of Ministers; its ranks come from practice. Cabinet Ministers head the most important ministries and together form the Cabinet, the inner body that takes the big decisions. Ministers of State may hold independent charge of a ministry or work under a Cabinet Minister, and Deputy Ministers assist other ministers. The word 'Cabinet' entered the Constitution only through the 44th Amendment (1978), in Article 352, which requires the Cabinet's written decision before a national emergency is proclaimed. Ministers are appointed by the President on the Prime Minister's advice (Article 75(1)) and take the oath before the President. A minister who is not a member of either House for six consecutive months ceases to be a minister (Article 75(5)), and in S.R. Chaudhuri v. State of Punjab (2001) the Supreme Court held that such a person cannot be re-appointed again and again without being elected. Under Article 88 every minister may speak in both Houses but votes only in the House to which the minister belongs.

The 91st Amendment (2003) put two limits on ministries. First, Article 75(1A) caps the total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister, at 15 per cent of the total number of members of the Lok Sabha; Article 164(1A) sets the same 15 per cent cap for a State, measured against its Legislative Assembly, with a floor of 12 ministers. Second, Article 75(1B) says that a member of either House who is disqualified under the Tenth Schedule for defection cannot be appointed a minister until the end of the member's term or until re-elected, whichever is earlier. The aim was to stop very large ministries being used to reward defectors and hold together unstable coalitions. Suppose a State with a 60-member Assembly: 15 per cent would allow only 9 ministers, so the floor of 12 applies instead.

Article 75(3) makes the Council of Ministers collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, and this collective responsibility is the heart of the parliamentary system. It means the ministers stand or fall together: if the Lok Sabha passes a no-confidence motion, or rejects a confidence motion or a major government bill, the whole Council must resign, not just the minister in charge. It also means that a Cabinet decision binds every minister, including those who argued against it in private; a minister who cannot defend it in public is expected to resign. Responsibility runs only to the Lok Sabha, because it is the House the people elect directly; the Rajya Sabha cannot remove a government. The first no-confidence motion was moved in August 1963 against the Nehru government, and in April 1999 the Vajpayee government fell after losing a confidence vote by a single vote.

Alongside collective responsibility runs individual responsibility. Under Article 75(2) ministers hold office during the pleasure of the President, and since the President acts on the Prime Minister's advice, the Prime Minister can ask any minister to resign or have the minister dismissed, for example over a failure in that minister's department. There is, however, no legal responsibility of ministers in India. In Britain an order of the Crown must be countersigned by a minister, who then answers for it in law; the Indian Constitution has no such requirement, and Article 74(2) bars courts from asking what advice ministers gave. How the work is shared out is governed by Article 77: all executive action is expressed to be taken in the President's name, orders are authenticated as the rules specify, and the President makes rules for the convenient transaction of business and its allocation among ministers. These are the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 and the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961.

Article 76 creates the office of the Attorney General, the highest law officer of the Government of India. The President appoints a person qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court, that is, a citizen who has been a High Court judge for five years, an advocate of a High Court for ten years, or a distinguished jurist in the President's opinion. The Attorney General advises the Government of India on legal matters referred by the President, performs other duties of a legal character, has the right of audience in all courts in India, and holds office during the pleasure of the President, with no fixed term in the Constitution. Under Article 88 the Attorney General may speak and take part in the proceedings of either House, a joint sitting or a committee, but has no vote, and Article 105(4) extends parliamentary privileges to the office. The Attorney General is not a member of the Cabinet. The Solicitor General and Additional Solicitors General assist the Attorney General, but their offices are not created by the Constitution; the State's counterpart is the Advocate General (Article 165).

Put together, Part V builds a parliamentary executive with a clear chain. The people elect the Lok Sabha; the Prime Minister is the leader who commands its majority; the Council of Ministers governs in the President's name but answers collectively to the Lok Sabha and can be removed by it at any time. The President and the Vice-President are chosen indirectly and hold fixed terms, which keeps them above day-to-day politics, while the Attorney General gives the Government independent legal advice.

Exam traps

• Nominated MPs vote in the Vice-President's election but not in the President's; State MLAs vote only in the President's.
• The Vice-President is removed by a Rajya Sabha resolution agreed to by the Lok Sabha, not by impeachment, and the Constitution states no ground for removal.
• The Vice-President takes the oath before the President; the President takes it before the Chief Justice of India.
• Acting as President, the Vice-President does not preside over the Rajya Sabha or draw the Chairman's salary, and acts only until a new President is elected within six months.
• The 91st Amendment's 15 per cent cap is measured against the Lok Sabha alone and includes the Prime Minister; in States the floor is 12 ministers.
• Collective responsibility is to the Lok Sabha only; ministers hold office individually during the President's pleasure (Article 75(2)).
• The word 'Cabinet' appears in the Constitution only through the 44th Amendment, in Article 352.
• The Attorney General has no fixed term, may speak in Parliament but cannot vote, and is not a member of the Cabinet; the Solicitor General is not a constitutional office.

Recap

• Vice-President (Art 63–64): ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, paid as Chairman.
• Elected by all members of both Houses, nominated members included, by single transferable vote (Art 66; 11th Amendment, 1961).
• Qualifications: citizen, 35, qualified for the Rajya Sabha; oath before the President; five-year term.
• Removal (Art 67): Rajya Sabha resolution by a majority of all members, Lok Sabha agrees, 14 days' notice.
• Prime Minister appointed by the President (Art 75(1)); may be from either House; non-member must enter Parliament within six months.
• Council of Ministers: Cabinet, Ministers of State, Deputy Ministers; capped at 15% of the Lok Sabha (91st Amendment, 2003).
• Collective responsibility to the Lok Sabha (Art 75(3)); individual tenure during the President's pleasure (Art 75(2)); no legal responsibility.
• Attorney General (Art 76): qualified to be a Supreme Court judge, holds office during pleasure, speaks in Parliament without a vote (Art 88).

Practice questions

Sources

• Constitution of India, Part V, Chapter I (Articles 62–78) and Articles 88, 105(4), 164(1A), 165 and 352 — https://legislative.gov.in/constitution-of-india/
• Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 (as amended in 1997); Constitution (Eleventh Amendment) Act, 1961; (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978; (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003; Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 and (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 — https://www.indiacode.nic.in
• Supreme Court of India: S.R. Chaudhuri v. State of Punjab (2001) — https://digiscr.sci.gov.in
• Lok Sabha records of Prime Ministers, no-confidence motions and confidence motions — https://sansad.in