India, a Union of States, is a Sovereign, Secular, and Democratic Republic with a Parliamentary system of Government. The Indian polity is governed in terms of the Constitution, which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950. January 26, which has since come to be known as Republic Day, is therefore one of India's two National Days, the other, of course, being Independence Day, which falls on August 15.

The Union Executive consists of the President, the Vice-President and Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President.

The President is the Constitutional Head of Executive of the Union. Real executive power vests in a Council of Ministers, with the Prime Minister as Head. Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President who shall, in exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice. The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, the House of the People.

In the States, the Governor, as the representative of the President, is the head of Executive, but real executive power rests with the Chief Minister who heads the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers of a state is collectively responsible to the elected Legislative Assembly of the state.
The Constitution governs the sharing of legislative power between Parliament and the State Legislatures, and provides for the vesting of residual powers in Parliament. The power to amend the Constitution also rests with the Parliament.

The Lok Sabha is composed of representatives of the people chosen by direct election on the basis of universal adult suffrage. As of today, the Lok Sabha consists of 545 members with two members nominated by the President to represent the Anglo-Indian Community. Unless dissolved under unusual circumstances, the term of the Lok Sabha is five years.

STATE GOVERNMENTS

The system of government in states closely resembles that of the Union. There are 28 states and seven Union Territories in the country.

The President, through an Administrator appointed by him, administers the Union Territories. Until 1 February 1992, the Union Territory of Delhi was governed by the Central Government through an Administrator appointed by the President of India. Through a Constitutional amendment in Parliament, the Union Territory of Delhi has now become the National Capital Territory of Delhi as of 1 February 1992. The first general elections to the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory were held in November 1993.

POLITICAL SYSTEM

A recognised political party is classified as a National Party or a State Party. If a political party is recognised in four or more states, it is considered as a National Party.
The Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal, Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) are major National Parties, while among some of the prominent State Parties can be numbered the following:

• Telugu Desam in Andhra Pradesh
• Asom Gana Parishad in Assam
• Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Bihar
• Maharashtrawad Gomantak Party in Goa
• National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir
• Muslim League in Kerala
• Shiv Sena in Maharashtra
• Akali Dal in Punjab
• All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam andDravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu
• Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh
• All-India Forward Block in West Bengal

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