Indian Constitution

State Government, Election

Commission, Imp Amendment and
Emergency Provision

Presenting
by
Dr. Karthik Kumar M B
 The State Government
• Part VI (Articles 152 - 237) of the
Constitution contains provisions for the
functioning of the State Government.
• State Executive (Articles 153 - 167):
The laws made by the legislature are
implemented by this organ
• State Legislature (Articles 168 - 212):
This organ makes the law

• State Judiciary(Articles 214 - 237):

This organ decides cases according to
the laws
• State governments in India are the
governments ruling over 28 states and 8
union territories of India and the head of
the Council of Ministers in a state is
the Chief Minister.
• UTs: Andaman & Nicobar Island,
Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and
Daman & Diu, Delhi, Jammu &
Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and
Puducherry
• Article 152 definition says that the
formation of the states does not include the
state of Jammu and Kashmir
State Executive
 Governor, Chief Minister and
Council of Minister
• Article 153 – 167 of Part VI covers
various aspects of the State Executive.
• The main function of the State executive
is to implement the laws enacted by the
state legislature.
• The state executive of India consists
of the Governor, Chief Minister, and
Council of Ministers.
• Article 153 says, there shall be a
Governor for each state.
 Governor
• Chief Executive Head
• Nominal Head
• Agent or a nominee of the central
government
• The executive powers are vested in the
Governor.
• The executive power is exercise by the
Governor only on the advice of the
Council of Minister.
 Qualification
• The person must be a citizen of India
• The person must have completed 35
years of age
• He/She should be from another state
or UTs
• President is required to consult the
chief minister before appointing a
governor to the state.
• Must not be an MP or MLA/MLC
• Should not have any office of profit
 Appointment
• The Governor of the state is
appointed by the President

• One person can be appointed as

governor of two or more states
(7th Amendment Act, 1956)

• Governor takes oath in front of the

Chief Justice of High Court.
 Tenure (Term)
• The term of the Governor is Five
Years

• His term is insecure as he holds

office during the pleasure of the
President

• Governor is eligible for reappointed

as many as he may wish
 Removal of Governor
• If the Governor resigns (Resignation
can be submitted to President)

• In case of Death – president appoints

chief justice of High court or governor
of other state as temporary governor.

• President can remove Governor at any

time
 Powers and Functions of the
Governor
• Executive Power
• Legislative Power
- Veto Power: Bills cannot become act
without the signature of Governor
• Judicial Power
- He cannot suspend death sentence
• Financial Power

Does not have Military, Diplomatic and

Emergency Power
 Governor of Karnataka
• First Governor of Mysore – Jayachamarajendra
Wadiyar

• First Governor of Karnataka – Mohan Lal

Sukhadia (Rajasthan)
• First Women Governor – V S Ramadevi
(Andra Pradesh)

• Present Governor of Karnataka –

Thawar Chand Gehlot (Madya Pradesh)
 Chief Minister (CM)
• Head of the State Government
• Real executive authority
• Governor appoints the leader of
majority party as Chief Minister of
State.
• Holds the office during the pleasure of
Governor
• CM may be the member of either
Vidhan Sabha or Vidhan Parishad.
• CM takes Oath in front of Governor
 Tenure & Selection
• No Fixed term for the CM. However,
term of Vidhan Sabha is 5 Years.
Hence, CM can stay as long as he has
the majority.
• CM is eligible for reappointed as
many as he may wish
• CM does not have any constitutional
Immunity.
 Powers and Functions of the
Chief Minister
• He can allocate, reshuffle various portfolios
among the minister
• If CM dies Vidhan Sabha dissolves
automatically
• CM may ask the resignation of ministers at
any time
• He advices governor regarding summoning
and proroguing the sessions of state
legislature
• He is a chairperson of State Planning
Commission
• He is a member of NITI Ayog, National
Development Council etc.,
• He is the connection between Governor and
Council of Ministers
 Chief Ministers of Karnataka
• First CM of Mysore– K Changalaraya
Reddy (K C Reddy)
• First CM of Karnataka- S Nijalingappa
• Present CM - Siddaramaiah
 State Council of Minister
• The Council of Ministers is headed by Chief
Minister
• They assist Chief Minister to in taking
important decisions regarding policies of the
government
• They are appointed by the governor on the
advice of Chief Minister
• They are collectively responsible to the
Vidhana Sabha(VS) not Vidhan Parishad(VP)
• They can be either the member of VS or VP
 Composition of Council of
Minister
• The total number of ministers in the
council of ministers must not exceed 15%
of the total number of members of the
Vidhan Sabha
• He can become minister without being a
member of state legislature only for a
maximum period of six months

Council of Minister consist of

-Cabinet Minister
-Ministry of State
-Deputy Minister
Cabinet Ministers

• They head one or more important

ministries such as Home, Finance,
defence, agriculture etc.,

• They constitute cabinet and attends

its meeting
Minister of State

• They may independently head the

ministries/department or they may
attached to the cabinet ministers

• They are not members of cabinet and

hence do not attend the meetings
Deputy Ministers

• They do not have separate charge of

ministries/ department.

• They are attached to the cabinet

ministers or ministry of state to assist
them in administrative and state
legislature functions.
State Legislature
 Parliamentary System

• State Legislature is the legislative organ of the

state government and the Union Territories
(UTs: only Delhi and Puducherry) which enacts
laws in their respective states/UTs.

• Article 168-212 of Part VI of the constitution

covers various aspects of the State Legislature.
• Structure of State Legislature is not uniform
as 22 states have unicameral (Vidhan Sabha)
and 6 states have Bicameral (Vidhan Sabha
and Vidhan Parishad).
Vidhana Soudha
The State Legislature consist of three
parts

• The Governor

• The Vidhan Sabha

(Legislative Assembly)

• The Vidhan Parishad

(Legislative Council)
 Vidhan Sabha
(Legislative Assembly)
• The house of the people, Lower House, First
Chamber

• It represents the people of state as whole at

the state level

• Term – 5 Years

• It is not a permanent body a temporary body

as it is subjected to dissolution after the end
of its term
• Directly elected by the people based on
universal adult franchise
• Maximum Strength – 500
• Minimum Strength – 60 fixed by constitution
However, in the states like Goa, Sikkim,
Arunachal Pradesh (30 each) and Mizoram,
Nagaland (40 & 46 respectively) have less than
60.
• There is a reservation for the SC and ST
people in the election of VS according to their
population ratio
• Governor Nominates one Anglo Indian
(Stopped from 2020)
• At Present, there are 224 constituency in
Karnataka (36 – SC and 15 - ST)
The presiding officer of VS is the Speaker
 Sessions
• The State Legislature must meet at
least twice a year and the interval
between any two sessions should not
be more than six months.
• The governor of the state summons
the houses of the state legislature to
meet. The governor can choose the
time and place for the meeting.
 Speaker of Vidhan Sabha

Present Speaker First Speaker

U. T. Khader Fareed V. Venkatappa
 Vidhan Parishad
(Legislative Council)
• The house of elders, Upper House,
Second Chamber
• They are indirectly elected
• It is a permanent body it cannot
dissolve before the term. But, 1/3rd of
the member of Vidhan Parishad will
retire every second year.
• Maximum Strength – 1/3rd of the total
strength of Vidhan Sabha
• Minimum Strength – 40 as fixed by
constitution

75 is the Present Strength of VP in

Karnataka
• 1/3rd – Local Bodies
• 1/3rd – Vidhana Sabha
• 1/12th – Teacher
• 1/12th – Graduate
• 1/6th – nominated by governor in the field of
literature, arts, science, social service etc.,

Election of Vidhana Sabha member held according

to the ‘Proportional Representation System’ by
means of ‘Single transferable vote

• Term – 6 years but for Vidhan Parishad there is

no term

• The presiding officer of the VP is the Chairman

 Qualification
• Be of a citizen of India
• Age – 30 years for Vidhan Parishad
25 Years for Vidhan Sabha

Disqualification

• Holds any office of profit

• Acquires citizen of other country
• Gets imprisonment for more than two years
• Proved to be guilty of corruptions
 Chairman of Karnataka Vidhana
Parishad (VP)

• First Chairman of state of Mysore - K. T.

Bhashyam
• First Chairman of Karnataka VP – S. D.
Gaonkar
• Present Chairman of VP– Basavaraj
Horatti
 Electoral Process in India
Election Commission
• It is a permanent and independent
body established by the Constitution
of India directly to ensure free and
fair elections in the country
• Article 324 of the constitution
provides the power superintendence,
direction and control of elections to
Parliament, State Legislature, the
office of President of India and the
office of Vice President of India shall
be vested in the Election Commission
• Election Commission is not concerned
with the elections to Panchayats and
Municipalities in the states

Composition
• The election commission consist of the
Chief Election commissioner (CEC)
and two other election commissioner.
• Present Chief Election Commissioner of
India – Shri Rajiv Kumar
• Present Election Commissioner of India -
Shri Gyanesh Kumar and Dr Sukhbir
Singh Sandhu
 Shri Rajiv Kumar

Shri Gyanesh Kumar Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu

 Appointment
• Appointment of Chief Election
Commissioner and other Election
Commissioner shall be made by the
President.
• When other election commissioner is
appointed, the chief election
commissioner act as a chairman of the
election commission.
• President may also appoint other
regional election commissioner after
consulting the election commission to
assist the election commission.
 Tenure and Removal
• Tenure of Chief Election Commissioner is 6
years. However, the CEC retires from office if
he/she attains the age of 65 years before the
expiry of the term
• The CEC can only be removed by office
through the process of impeachment
requiring two-thirds majority of the Lok
Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to be present
and voting for the same, election
commissioners can be removed by the
President on the recommendation of the CEC.
• They can also resign any time writing to
President
 Functions
• Preparation of electoral rolls and to register all
eligible voters.
• Superintendence, direction and conduct of
elections.
• Election of President and Vice-President of India.
• Conduction election to the parliament and state
legislature.
• Fix the qualification for the members of
Parliament.
• Act as a court to settle dispute between the
political parties and allotment of symbols to
them
• To enforce Code of Conduct during elections
• To advise the President whether elections can be
held in a state under President’s rule in order to
extend the period of emergency after one year
 ELECTORAL PROCESS

• Electoral system operates on the basis

of certain well defined rules
• Conduction of election will be in the
hand of

Designation Region
Chief Electoral Officers State
District Election Officers Constituency
Presiding Officers Polling Station
• Chief Electoral Officer of the state will
be appointed by the Commission from
senior civil servants proposed by the
concerned state government.
• Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka –
Manoj Kumar Meena
 Karnataka State Election
Commission
• Karnataka State Election Commission is
an autonomous and statutory body constituted
in Indian state of Karnataka for ensuring
that elections in are conducted in free, fair and
unbiased way.
• It came into existence with the promulgation of
73rd and 74th amendment to the Constitution of
India on 26 May 1993 with an objective of
superintendence, direction and control of the
preparation of electoral rolls and to conduct all
elections to the Urban Local Bodies and Rural
local bodies like Municipalities, Municipal
Corporations, Panchayats and any other specified
by Election Commission of India.
• Karnataka State Election Commissioner
is appointed by Governor of Karnataka.
• State Election Commissioner of
Karnataka - Dr. B. Basavaraju
Steps involve in Electoral Process
1. Delimitation of constituencies –
Delimitation commission will be
appointed by President
2. Preparation of Electoral Rolls
3. Notification of Elections
4. Appointment of Returning Officers
5. Filling of Nomination Paper – Security
deposits will be forfeited in case the
candidate fails to secure atleast 1/6th of
the votes polled
6. Scrutiny of Nomination Paper
7. Withdrawal of Nomination
8. Election Campaign – It should stop 48
hours before the time of actual pooling
9. Pooling of Votes – Pooling station will
be under the charge of presiding
officer
10.Counting of Votes and Results
11.Electoral Disputes – Election results
can be challenged by the defeated
candidate or voter or group of voters.
Election Petition has to be filed before
the high court within a stipulated
period
 Emergency Provisions
Part XVIII and from article 352 to 360 of
the constitution deals with the various
aspects of Emergency Provisions.
There are 3 kinds of emergencies
1. National Emergency (Article 352)
2. President Rule (Article 356)
3. Financial Emergency (Article 360)
 National Emergency
There are 2 kinds of National Emergency

• External Emergency: Imposed based on the ground of

War or external aggression
Example: 1962 – During Indo China War
1971- During Indo Pak War
• Internal Emergency: Imposed based on the ground
internal rebellion
Example: 1975 – Imposed during the period of Smt Indira
Gandhi as a Prime Minister

• President must proclaim the Nation emergency based

on the written recommendation of the Union
Cabinet.
• National emergency must be approved by both the
houses of the parliament by special majority within
one months of proclamation
• It can imposed for the period of 6 months and can be
extended any number of times based on the approval
of the parliament every six months
 President Rule
• It is also called as Constitutional Emergency
or State Emergency
• It can be imposed in case of a Hung
Assembly which means failure of any of the
political party to show the majority.
• President Rule must be approved by both the
houses of the parliament by simple majority
within two months of proclamation.
• It will be imposed for the period of six
months and can extend upto maximum 3
year based on the approval by the parliament
every six months
• President can Revoke the emergency
anytime without the parliament’s approval
 Financial Emergency
• It can be imposed if president satisfies that
there is a threat to the financial stability or
credit of India
• Financial emergency must be approved by
both the houses of the parliament by simple
majority within two months of proclamation
• It will continue for a indefinite period of time
till it is revoked by the President (i.e., there is
no maximum limit)
• President can Revoke the emergency
anytime without the parliament’s approval
• So far no Financial Emergency has been
imposed in India.
Thank You