This blog is written by Prayas Das, a First-year law student of National Law University, Odisha

INTRODUCTION

Both presidential and parliamentary form of government are the two forms of government in a happening democracy . With every founder of an invention in this world, we also have the founders of these two respective concepts of government. The USA and UK both are known to be the pioneers of Presidential and Parliamentary form of government respectively . The basic difference is the separation of power between them . The constituent assembly, after numerous due deliberation, came to a conclusion that to follow a parliamentary form is equal to more representation, more responsibility from the government and an increase in transparency. Aware of the fact that Indians were ruled by the Britishers for more than 200 years, it was inherent that India looked towards the parliamentary system developed by the British. It led to decrease in confusion among the Indian public regarding the form of democracy they are following while choosing a desired government who will be responsible towards them.

The Parliamentary form of government

Article 52 of the Indian constitution states that there shall be a President who will be the head of the state. We gave this position a term known as titular or nominal head of the state, as in the Parliamentary form of government, the real powers are stuck in the hands of Council of Ministers, which is headed by the Prime Minister. Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head to aid and advise the President, who shall exercise his/her functions in accordance to the advice. The real executive power is thus vested in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head[1]. There is no separation of power concept between the legislature and the executive, as it is subservient to the parliament as well as answerable to the members of the legislature. This form of government follows both periodic and daily responsibilities alike to its Presidential concept counterpart, which follows only periodic responsibility. In a periodic responsibility, the executive is responsible to the voters or it’s citizens only after 4 or 5 years when there is a election knocking on the door, but daily responsibilities, as it’s words indicate, demands the executive to be responsible to its needs on a regular basis, which thus gives them a proper representation in the parliament . The Council of Ministers are collectively responsible to the house of legislature and moves out of the house collectively when they tend to loose the confidence of the house.

Advantages of the Parliamentary form of government

With the requirement of the time, the Prime Minister can be changed even in between his 5 years term, thus making this position no absolute. The parliamentary system also mirrored a lot of flexibility, where if no party attains a majority, a party with different minor parties can form a coalition government. Commendable part is that, here all the varied groups gets there due representation and charge responsibility for the works by their representatives.

Presidential form of government

Here the President is regarded as a real head who holds real powers in his hand. In the Presidential system, we see a clear separation of powers between the executive and legislature where they don’t interfere in each other functioning. In the general elections, the President gets directly elected by the voters, unlike in parliamentary system the elected representatives elect amongst themselves there leader, who is also known as the Prime Minister and also regarded as the senior most minister in the council of ministers. In the presidential form of government, sometimes it’s gets difficult to pass the law as the President may not give his assent to which he is completely independent . The chance of corruption and less minded ministers or secretaries as less here as the President can directly appoint somebody who does has a proper knowledge in the require to hold the office, but the same cannot be said for Parliamentary system as the ministers can only get selected when they are the members of either house of the Parliament, and if not, they have to get elected with six month to hold the office in future, thus creating an atmosphere of less professionality due to less knowledge of the subject and more corruption

Advantages of the presidential form of government

Here the people elect their president directly, thus making him the people’s president. He enjoys a fixed term, which is usually of 4 years, and thus can take more bold decisions as he is not answerable to the parliament. He cannot be removed from his office except by impeachment by the parliament, thus giving him the power to take bold actions. He is fully independent to appoint or remove anybody from the post of secretary of a particular department. This system is more suitable for a multi-party democracy and also shows a strong national unity and integrity .

Conclusion

Both the concepts holds importance among themselves to uphold democracy and demonstrate their responsibility towards the people . One demands daily responsibility and other a periodic responsibility. In case of India, moving towards a Presidential form of government it will create for confusion among the populace. The parliamentary system somewhat gives a representation to the people and makes the government answerable for its action, and since India was under the British colonial rule for many more years it was suitable for Indian soil to take the parliamentary system of governance for its diverse population.

REFERENCES

1. Shruti Singh, 'Presidential System vs Parliamentary System' (2020) iPleaders https://blog.ipleaders.in/presidential-system-vs-parliamentary-system/

accessed 6 September 2024

2. OpenStax, 'Advantages, Disadvantages, and Challenges of Presidential and Parliamentary Regimes' (2023) OpenStax https://openstax.org/books/introduction-political-science/pages/10-4-advantages-disadvantages-and-challenges-of-presidential-and-parliamentary-regimes

accessed on 6th September

3. IILS, 'An Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Parliamentary and Presidential Forms of Government' (2021) IILS https://www.iilsindia.com/blogs/an-analysis-of-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-parliamentary-and-presidential-forms-of-government/ accessed on 6th September.

4. Annenberg Classroom, 'Presidential System' (2024) Annenberg Classroom https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/glossary_term/presidential-system/ accessed 6th September.

5. Britannica, 'Parliamentary System' (2024) Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/parliamentary-system accessed 6th September