Politics of India

Politics of India
National Emblem of India
Polity type	Federal Parliamentary Republic
Constitution	Constitution of India
Legislative branch
Name	Parliament
Type	Bicameral
Meeting place	Sansad Bhavan
Upper house
Name	Rajya Sabha
Presiding officer	Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
Appointer	Electoral College
Lower house
Name	Lok Sabha
Presiding officer	Om Birla, Speaker of the Lok Sabha
Executive branch
Head of State
Title	President
Currently	Draupadi Murmu
Appointer	Electoral College
Head of Government
Title	Prime Minister
Currently	Narendra Modi
Appointer	President
Cabinet
Name	Union Council of Ministers
Current cabinet	Second Modi ministry
Leader	Prime Minister
Appointer	President
Ministries	52
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary
Supreme Court
Chief judge	Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud

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Politics of India
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Government President of India Droupadi Murmu Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi (BJP) Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba (IAS) Union Council of Ministries List of ministers Government Departments List of secretaries
Parliament Parliament of India Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla (BJP) Deputy Speaker Vacant Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh (IAS) House Leader Narendra Modi (BJP) Opposition Leader Vacant Members of Lok Sabha Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar Deputy Speaker Harivansh Narayan Singh Secretary General Pramod Chandra Mody House Leader Piyush Goyal (BJP) Opposition Leader Mallikarjun Kharge (INC) Members of Rajya Sabha Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi
Judiciary Supreme Court of India Chief Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud Judges of the Supreme Court (List) Secretary General of Supreme Court Atul M. Kurhekar Supreme Court Bar Association District Courts High Courts Lok Adalat Gram Nyayalayas Nyaya panchayat Other tribunals Ministry of Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal Law Commission of India Bar Council of India Attorney-General R. Venkataramani Solicitor General Tushar Mehta Additional Solicitor General of India National Legal Services Authority Pendency of court cases in India National Judicial Appointments Commission
Elections and political parties Presidential elections 2022 2017 2012 Vice Presidential elections 2022 2017 2012 Lok Sabha Election (General elections) 2014 2019 2024 Parliamentary constituencies Rajya Sabha Election 2024 2023 2022 Seats of State of Council State Assembly elections 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Political parties National coalitions National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) National parties State parties Electoral College (India) Election Commission of India State election commission (India)
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Politics of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution. India is a parliamentary secular democratic republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the Prime Minister of India is the head of government. It is based on the federal structure of government, although the word is not used in the Constitution itself. India follows the dual polity system, i.e. federal in nature, that consists of the central authority at the centre and states at the periphery. The Constitution defines the organizational powers and limitations of both central and state governments; it is well recognised, fluid (Preamble of the Constitution being rigid and to dictate further amendments to the Constitution) and considered supreme, i.e. the laws of the nation must conform to it.

There is a provision for a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Rajya Sabha (Council of States), which represents the states of the Indian federation, and a lower house, the Lok Sabha (House of the People), which represents the people of India as a whole. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, which is headed by the Supreme Court. The court's mandate is to protect the Constitution, to settle disputes between the central government and the states, to settle inter-state disputes, to nullify any central or state laws that go against the Constitution and to protect the fundamental rights of citizens, issuing writs for their enforcement in cases of violation.^[1]

There are 543 members in the Lok Sabha, who are elected using plurality voting (first past the post) system from 543 Single-member district. There are 245 members in the Rajya Sabha, out of which 233 are elected through indirect elections by single transferable vote by the members of the state legislative assemblies; 12 other members are elected/nominated by the President of India. Governments are formed through elections held every five years (unless otherwise specified), by parties that secure a majority of members in their respective lower houses (Lok Sabha in the central government and Vidhan Sabha in states). India had its first general election in 1951, which was won by the Indian National Congress, a political party that went on to dominate subsequent elections until 1977, when a non-Congress government was formed for the first time in independent India. The 1990s saw the end of single-party domination and the rise of coalition governments. The latest 17th Lok Sabha elections was conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election commission of India. That elections once again brought back single-party rule in the country, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being able to claim a majority in the Lok Sabha.^[2]

In recent decades, Indian politics has become a dynastic affair.^[3] Possible reasons for this could be the party stability, absence of party organisations, independent civil society associations that mobilise support for the parties and centralised financing of elections.^[4] According to the V-Dem Democracy indices India was 2023 the 19th most electoral democratic country in Asia.^[5]