In India, how many times the President can ask the Council of Ministers to reconsider their advise ?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 2:

The correct answer is "only once," as this provision is enshrined in the Indian Constitution, governing the relationship between the President and the Council of Ministers (CoM). Article 74(1) of the Constitution, as amended by the 44th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1978, outlines this specific power. Before the 44th Amendment, the President was generally bound by the advice of the CoM (a position solidified by the 42nd Amendment of 1976, which made the President’s obligation absolute). However, the 44th Amendment introduced a crucial safeguard: it empowered the President to return the advice given by the CoM for reconsideration. This is a limited power intended to allow the President to act as a constitutional check, ensuring that the CoM fully deliberates on its recommendations, especially those involving complex policy or legal matters. Crucially, the amendment explicitly states that if the Council of Ministers sends the advice back to the President after such reconsideration—whether or not they have changed it—the President must accept it. Therefore, the power of reconsideration is restricted strictly to a single instance, maintaining the supremacy of the parliamentary executive while providing the head of state with a valuable, albeit singular, veto power in this advisory capacity. This provision underlines India's adherence to the Westminster model, where the President is a constitutional head and must ultimately act on the advice of the elected government.

The incorrect option is 1:

Option 1, "not even once," is incorrect because it reflects the constitutional position *before* the 44th Amendment Act of 1978. While the 42nd Amendment (1976) had explicitly made the President absolutely bound by the advice of the Council of Ministers, rendering the reconsideration power non-existent, this was later modified. The 44th Amendment restored a limited discretion to the President, allowing them to ask the Council of Ministers to reconsider their advice exactly one time. To say "not even once" would be to ignore the explicit language and intent of the 44th Constitutional Amendment, which introduced this limited power of suspension or reconsiderative veto.

The incorrect option is 3:

Option 3, "thrice," is incorrect. Allowing the President to ask the Council of Ministers (CoM) for reconsideration multiple times, such as three times, would fundamentally alter the balance of power within the Indian executive framework. India follows the Cabinet system of government, where the real executive power lies with the CoM, headed by the Prime Minister. If the President had the power to continually return advice, it would undermine the authority of the democratically elected government and introduce political instability, potentially turning the President from a constitutional head into an actual decision-making authority, contrary to the basic structure of the Constitution. The provision was deliberately limited to only one instance to respect the CoM’s ultimate responsibility to Parliament.

The incorrect option is 4:

Option 4, "number is not fixed," is incorrect because the limit on the President's power to seek reconsideration is clearly and explicitly fixed in the constitutional text. The language inserted into Article 74(1) by the 44th Amendment Act uses definitive wording to establish that the President can ask the CoM to reconsider, but after that, the President must act in accordance with the advice tendered after reconsideration. If the number were not fixed, it would grant the President arbitrary power over the elected government's policy decisions, effectively creating an indefinite power struggle and destroying the mandatory nature of the CoM's advice, which the framers of the Constitution intended.