Government of India

The Government of India (Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or the Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, based in New Delhi, India's capital city. The government is led by the president of India (currently Droupadi Murmu since 25 July 2022) who as head of state holds formal executive power, and thus (following parliamentary elections) appoints, as head of government, the prime minister, as well as other ministers. The government has been formed by the National Democratic Alliance since 2014, as the largest coalition in the Lok Sabha. The prime minister and ministers are members of parliament; they also belong to the Union Council of Ministers, the peak decision-making committee of which is the Indian cabinet.

The government's formal seat is at Parliament House in New Delhi. It has three primary branches: the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. The Constitution of India vests legislative power in the bicameral Parliament of India, executive power (through the President) in the Union Council of Ministers, and judicial power in the Supreme Court of India, with the president as head of state. It is a derivation of the British Westminster system, and has a federal structure.

The Union Council of Ministers is responsible to the lower house of parliament, as is the Cabinet in accordance with the principles of responsible government. As is the case in most parliamentary systems, the government is dependent on Parliament to legislate, and general elections are held every five years to elect a new Lok Sabha. The most recent election was in 2024.

After an election, the president generally selects as Prime Minister the leader of the party or alliance most likely to command the confidence of the majority of the Lok Sabha. In the event that the prime minister is not a member of either house of parliament upon appointment, they are given six months to be elected or appointed to parliament.

The first seeds of elected responsible government were sown during British colonial rule in India in particular by the Indian Councils Act 1909, commonly known as the Morley-Minto reforms. The Act introduced elections to the Imperial Legislative Council (then the unicameral Legislature for British India). Before that, governance was carried by an all-European Legislative Council and Viceroy's Executive Council. As such, no Indians were represented in high levels of government before 1909.

India's current bicameral Parliament has its roots in the Government of India Act 1919, commonly known as the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, which introduced a greatly expanded Imperial Legislative Council. It comprised a lower house, the Central Legislative Assembly, with 145 members (of which 104 were elected and 41 nominated); and an upper house, the Council of State, with 60 members (of which 34 were elected and 26 nominated).

The next structural modification to the governance of British India, the Government of India Act 1935 (the longest ever Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom until this record was surpassed by the Greater London Authority Act 1999) was aimed at subsidiarity and devolution of powers away from London: it sought to do this by establishing provincial governments and the creation of civil service institutions. However, it was unpopular amongst Indians and is considered a failure as it did not give Indians self-rule and permanent dominion status (the form of government followed in Canada, Australia and New Zealand) as was previously promised.

Between midnight on 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950, India was an independent, self-governing dominion of the Commonwealth of Nations, a constitutional monarchy with a Prime Minister and a Governor-General as the viceregal representative of the head of state, George VI. Its unicameral legislature, the Constituent Assembly, was tasked with drafting the country's constitution.