Power and position of President

Article 74(1) of the Constitution reads: "There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice," with a proviso that the President may ask the Council of Ministers to reconsider such advice, and shall then act in accordance with the advice tendered after that reconsideration.

The word "shall" here is doing real work: it makes clear that the Council of Ministers' advice is binding on the President. Because there was once genuine controversy about the scope of the President's powers, a specific constitutional amendment made explicit that the advice of the Council of Ministers binds the President; a later amendment then confirmed that, while the President may send the advice back once for reconsideration, the President must accept whatever advice is tendered after that reconsideration.

In a purely formal sense, the President is the head of government and possesses wide-ranging executive, legislative, judicial, and even emergency powers. But in a parliamentary system, these powers are, in reality, used only on the advice of the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister and Council of Ministers command the support of the majority in the Lok Sabha and are the real executive; in most cases, the President simply follows the Council's advice. …