Prime Minister

This article deals with ‘Prime Minister of India .’ This is part of our series on ‘Polity’ which is important pillar of GS-2 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Introduction

Prime Minister is De facto head of the nation

According to various political scholars, position of Prime Minister of India is as follows :-

Lord Morley	Primus Inter Pares( first among equals)
Jennings	Sun around which Planets revolve
H.J Lasaki	Pivot around which entire government machinery revolves
Munro	Captain of the ship of the state

Appointment of Prime Minister of India

Article 75	– PM shall be appointed by the President (but he is not free to appoint anybody as PM) – Can be member of any house ie Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha
Delhi High Court Judgement , 1980	Person need not prove his majority before he is appointed as PM . President first can appoint PM and ask him to prove his majority in Lok Sabha in reasonable time
Supreme Court Judgement, 1997	Person who is not member of any house of Parliament can be appointed as Prime Minister & within 6 months he must become member of any of the house of Parliament   Note – But only those who have qualification to get elected within 6 months can be elected. Eg Non Citizen etc cant be elected under this provision.

Term of Prime Minister

• Term is not fixed
• But doesn’t mean he holds office with pleasure of President
• He remains in office till he enjoys majority in Lower House (Lok Sabha)

Powers of Prime Minister

1 . In relation to Council of Ministers

• Recommends President who can be appointed as Minister
• Allocate and reshuffles various portfolios among them
• Presides over the meetings of Council of Ministers
• He can ask minister to resign or advise President to dismiss him
• He can collapse Council of Ministers by resigning from his office

2 . In relation to President

It is duty of Prime Minister to

• Communicate the President all decisions taken by Council of Ministers relating to administration of the affairs of Union
• Furnish such info relating to the administration of affairs of union & any proposal of legislation as   President may call for
• Submit for consideration of Council of Ministers any matter on which decision has been taken by Minister but not considered by Council
• Advise President in appointment of Attorney General ,CAG, Chairman & Members of UPSC

3. Relation to Parliament

• Advises President with regard to summoning & proroguing of sessions of Parliament
• Announces government policies on floor of Parliament

4. Other powers

• Chairman of  NITI Ayog ,National Integration Council, Inter-State Council etc
• Play significant role in foreign policy of nation
• Chief spokesman of Union government
• Leader of party in power
• Political head of services