Political system of India

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According to the constitution, which came into force on January 26, 1950, India isa parliamentary-democratic republic with federal order. It consists of 29 states, 7 union territories and the capital territory .

In the   2019 Democracy Index of the British magazine  The Economist,  India ranks 51st out of 167 countries and is therefore considered an “incomplete democracy”. In the country report  Freedom in the World  2017 by the US  non-governmental organization  Freedom House  , the country's political system is rated as “free”.

prehistory

In 1877 Queen Victoria of Great Britain accepted the title of "Empress of India". The Empire of India in personal union with Great Britain comprised today's India, Pakistan , Bangladesh , Sri Lanka (the former Ceylon) and Myanmar (Burma) (until 1937) and existed until 1947.

In 1885, Hindus and Muslims jointly founded the Indian National Congress (INC), which advocated India's independence. Because of the growing influence of the Hindus in the INC, the rival Muslim League was founded in 1906 . INC and Muslim League jointly drafted a declaration in 1916 calling for Indian independence. This was answered by the British government in August 1917 with a political declaration of intent to allow India a gradual transition to self-government. During the First World War , 1.3 million Indian soldiers fought on the British side. Still under British rule, India was one of the founding members of the League of Nations in 1920 .

Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) there was active but non-violent resistance to British rule in the interwar period. Gandhi had supported the campaign to maintain the caliphate in 1919/1920 , which led to the delimitation of the then rather secular Muslim League with Ali Jinnah at its head.

In 1930 the British Prime Minister at the time, Ramsay MacDonald , convened a conference in London with the leaders of the Indian National Congress , at which he offered India responsible government (but not independence).

Within the INC there were disputes over the use of force against British rule in the late 1930s. In 1935, the Government of India Act (1935) initiated elections to provincial parliaments, which the INC won in 1937 in seven out of eleven provinces.

The leading political forces in India declared that they would only enter the war if India would gain independence in return. However, at the outbreak of World War II, the British Governor General declared a state of war between the Indian Empire and Germany without consulting Indian politicians. In 1945 Britain was almost insolvent; the British Empire was shaken to its foundations by the years of war.

see also History of India # The Road to Independence (1945–1949)

Constitution

India's Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly of the Dominion of India and came into force on January 26, 1950. As a western-style democratic constitution, it is committed to the ideals of justice, freedom, equality, the separation of powers and federalism.

Central government institutions

legislative branch

The legislature of India, the parliament , consists of two chambers , the Council of States (English. Council of States , Hindi Rajya Sabha ) and the House of the People (English. House of the People , Hindi Lok Sabha ). According to the constitution, the president represents the third part of parliament, so he is part of the legislature. However, its legislative powers are severely limited.

houses of Parliament

The members of the Rajya Sabha (First Chamber) are elected indirectly, that is, by the parliaments of the states and some Union territories. The Rajya Sabha currently consists of 245 emissaries. 233 are indirectly elected and twelve other members are appointed directly by the President. According to the constitution, they should be representatives of the arts, sciences and social services. According to the constitution, the Lok Sabha (Second Chamber) does not have more than 550 directly elected representatives. Since 1989, the number of MPs elected in single-person constituencies according to relative majority voting has been 543. It was not until 1950 that women in India received full voting rights . The constituency boundaries are set at irregular intervals by the Delimitation Commission of India . Two MPs are also appointed by the President and are supposed to represent the Anglo-Indian minority. While the Lok Sabha can be dissolved at any time, but is re-elected after five years at the latest, the Rajya Sabha is a permanent institution, the third part of which is redefined every two years. The representatives of the two chambers must be Indian citizens and at least 30 (Rajya Sabha) or 25 years (Lok Sabha) old. You may not belong to the other chamber or a state parliament at the same time.

The Indian Vice President presides over the Rajya Sabha, while the Lok Sabha is presided over by a speaker chosen by the members. The Vice President or spokesperson must abstain from voting, but his vote is decisive in the event of a tie.

The legislative procedure provides that a draft law can be introduced in one of the two chambers, but in any case requires the consent of both chambers. If one of the chambers rejects the draft law or if they cannot agree on a compromise, the president can convene a joint meeting in which a simple majority decides. However, this case of a joint session of both chambers only occurred three times in the history of independent India, the last time in 2002 when a controversial anti-terror law was passed. Special rules apply to those bills that affect certain financial matters such as tax matters or the taking out and granting of loans. These so-called “ money bills ” may only be brought into the Lok Sabha; The Rajya Sabha may then only propose changes, which the Lok Sabha does not have to accept. In any case, once a law has been passed in Parliament, it must receive the approval of the President in order for it to come into force.

Since March 2010 there has been a quota for women in parliament. One third of the MPs must be women.

Legislative competence of the president

According to Article 123 of the Indian Constitution, the President also has limited legislative power. According to this, the President may issue ordinances during the breaks in parliament, which have the force of law but have to be submitted to parliament retrospectively. Parliament can reject these ordinances with immediate effect, otherwise they will automatically expire six weeks after the first parliamentary session since enactment. The President can also revoke the ordinances himself.

executive

president

The head of state and commander-in-chief of the army is the Indian president , who is elected for five years by the Electoral College , a body made up of all members of the Union and state parliaments. Re-election is possible. He must be an Indian citizen, be at least 35 years old, and not hold any other government post at Union or State level. As formally the highest representative of the executive branch, he appoints the Prime Minister and, on his proposal, the members of the Council of Ministers.

In the event of a breach of the constitution, parliament can bring charges against him ( impeachment ) and remove him from office with a two-thirds majority. The vice-president acts as a deputy in the absence or illness of the president, who in the event of the death, early resignation or impeachment of the president also temporarily assumes the highest office until a new president has been elected.

prime minister

The Prime Minister is the head of government of India, but according to the constitution, as is usual in most parliamentary-democratic republics, he is subordinate to the president. The constitution only outlines the prime minister's office. Thus, with the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister should "assist and advise" the President, and the President should act in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister. In practice this means that the prime minister sets the guidelines for government policy . He makes the most important political decisions that the President has to follow.

The prime minister is appointed by the president if, as the leader of a party or party alliance, he has an absolute majority in the lower house behind him. He does not necessarily have to have a seat in the lower house himself, but can also be a member of the upper house. If no party and no party alliance can achieve an absolute majority, the president appoints the party leader of the strongest parliamentary group in the lower house as prime minister, who then has to face a vote of no confidence .

→ see also List of Prime Ministers of India

Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers is the cabinet of the Union government chaired by the Prime Minister. He is collectively responsible to Parliament. There are three different ranks of ministers: Cabinet ministers head one or more ministries, as do the ministers of state with an independent mandate, while all other ministers of state, as the highest officials in their ministries, report to the cabinet ministers. A special case is the Prime Minister, who, although he also has the rank of Cabinet Minister, has the right to give instructions to all other members of the Council of Ministers. As a rule, he does not head an independent ministry, but he may be responsible for all ministries that are not under the direction of another minister. The number of ministers in India is extraordinarily high; according to the constitution, up to 15 percent of the lower house representatives can be members of the Council of Ministers.

Advocate General

An Attorney General , appointed by the President, assists the government in legal matters . He must meet the conditions for appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court. The Advocate General can attend all parliamentary sessions, but has no voting rights. He also has access to all courts in India.

Judiciary

At the head of the judiciary is the Supreme Court ( Supreme Court of India ) in New Delhi with a maximum of 31 judges who are appointed by the president. The Chief Justice of India presides . Disputes between states and central government and between states among themselves fall under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. It is also the highest court of appeal in the country's civil and criminal jurisdiction. Its decisions are binding on all of the country's courts.

Are subordinate to the Supreme Court of the 24 High Courts , the Supreme Courts of the states, which primarily as appellate courts for appeals and revision cases act. A high court can have jurisdiction over several states at the same time. With the exception of Delhi , the direct federal union territories do not have their own high courts , but are subject to the jurisdiction of a different high court . Each high court is presided over by a chief judge who is appointed by the president with the consent of the presiding judge of the Indian Supreme Court and the governors of the states concerned. This also applies to the other judges of the high courts , whose appointment must also be coordinated with the chief judge of the respective high court .

From the third legal level (district level), a distinction is made between civil and criminal courts. Civil litigation in the city districts falls under the jurisdiction of the City Civil Courts , which correspond to the District Courts of the rural districts. The Sessions Courts are responsible for criminal law in urban and rural districts . There are also special courts for special areas such as family and commercial law. The jurisdiction of simple disputes of the lowest level takes place in the panchayats of the villages ( Gram Panchayat ).

As a result of British legal practice during the colonial period, common law is still widely used in India today , which is not based on laws but on decisive judgments by high courts in precedents. The language of the court is English, but the lower levels can also be used in the respective regional official language.

States

The constitutional order of the states is laid down in the Indian constitution. Jammu and Kashmir , which was dissolved in 2019, was an exception ; due to its particular political significance in the Kashmir conflict with Pakistan, it enjoyed special rights and was therefore the only Indian state to have its own constitution. All states have their own parliaments and governments with parliamentary responsibility; The administration is headed by a governor appointed by the president.

legislative branch

The state legislature includes the governor and parliament, which can consist of one or two houses. Unicameral bear the name Legislative Assembly (Engl. Legislative Assembly , Hindi Vidhan Sabha ). In bicameral systems, the Legislative Assembly acts as the lower house; next to an upper house called the Legislative Council exists (Engl. Legislative Council , Hindi Vidhan Parishad ). The states are free to establish or abolish a House of Lords by resolution of parliament. In 2008, six of the 29 states had such a bicameral parliament ( Andhra Pradesh , Bihar , Jammu and Kashmir , Karnataka , Maharashtra , Telangana , Uttar Pradesh ).

The Legislative Assemblies have a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 500 members who are elected directly by the people for a period of five years. If there is an upper house, its deputies, whose number may not exceed one third of the lower house members, are elected in certain quotas by community and district administrations, teachers, university graduates and the lower house; the governor determines a smaller proportion. Each Legislative Assembly is presided over by a spokesperson elected by the members. The upper houses each have an elected chairman. In the case of votes, the vote of the speaker or the chairman only counts in the second ballot if a majority could not be found in the first ballot.

Since March 2010 there has been a quota for women in the parliaments of the federal states. One third of the MPs must be women.

Analogous to the legislative competence of the president, the governor of a federal state can issue ordinances during breaks in the respective state parliament, which he must subsequently have the parliament approve. Under certain circumstances, such ordinances also require the approval of the President.

The state legislative process largely corresponds to that at Union level.

executive

The executive branch of each state is headed by a governor who is appointed by the Indian president for a five-year term. Must be an Indian citizen and at least 35 years old; furthermore, he is not allowed to hold a mandate in the Indian parliament or in the parliament of any state or in any other government or administrative position. In theory, however, it is possible for the same person to be the governor of two or more states at the same time.

The governor is subject to a Council of Ministers with a Chief Minister ( Chief Minister ) . The ministers are appointed by the governor but are accountable to the parliament of their respective state. Similar to the prime minister at the state level, the chief ministers set the guidelines for politics, although according to the constitution they are only supposed to advise and support the governor and have to carry out all official acts on behalf of the governor.

Union Territories

The seven Indian Union Territories are under an administrator who is appointed by the President and exercises his office on his behalf. This office may also be held by the incumbent governor of a neighboring state. The union territories are thus administered centrally. Exceptions exist for the union territories Delhi and Puducherry , which have their own parliaments, councils of ministers and chief ministers. Both areas are thus effectively equal to the federal states, even if they continue to be regarded as union territories according to the constitution. For all other Union territories, except Chandigarh , the President can issue ordinances with the force of law.

The Indian Parliament has the option of setting up its own High Court for a Union territory or raising a local court to the rank of such. So far, only the capital city of Delhi has its own high court .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Democracy-Index 2019 Overview chart with comparative values ​​to previous years , on economist.com
  2. ^ India. Retrieved January 3, 2018 .
  3. ^ Office of the Upper Austrian Provincial Government, Directorate Presidium, Women's Department: 100 Years of Women's Suffrage. Linz 2018, p. 15 ( Memento of the original dated August 5, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.frauenreferat-ooe.at
  4. ^ President summons joint sitting of Parliament. The Economic Times, March 22, 2002, archived from the original on July 31, 2012 ; Accessed April 19, 2015 (English, website archived at WebCite ).
  5. ↑ India decides women's quota , Die Zeit. March 9, 2010.  Retrieved March 29, 2010
  6. ^ Constitution of the Republic of India, Art. 74: “ There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President [...]. "
  7. ^ Time: India adopts quota for women

literature

  • Christian Wagner: The political system of India. An introduction . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-531-14002-5 .

Web links