Questions are frequently built around appointment versus election, five-year term versus pleasure of President, qualifications, oath, aid and advice, summoning the House, assent to Bills, ordinances, pardoning power and immunity. Bihar-specific questions may use the State's bicameral legislature, the Governor's statutory role as university Chancellor, Bihar's ordinance cases or the 2005 Assembly dissolution.
Use this test for every power: source Article → aid and advice or discretion → condition → legal consequence → scope of review. Do not describe every power vested in the Governor as a personal power.
2. Constitutional position: head of State, not a parallel government
Article 154 vests the executive power of the State in the Governor, to be exercised in accordance with the Constitution directly or through subordinate officers. Article 163 places a Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister to aid and advise the Governor, except where the Constitution requires discretion. Article 164 makes that Council collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly.
Thus, “executive power is vested” does not mean that the Governor normally governs without elected ministers. The Supreme Court's parliamentary-government doctrine treats the Governor as constitutional or formal head in the overwhelming field of State administration. Discretion is an exception grounded in the Constitution, not an unlimited political choice.
3. Core article map
Article
Subject
Prelims cue
153
Governor for each State; one person may be Governor of two or more States.
Common Governor is constitutionally permitted.
154
Executive power of State vested in Governor.
Read with Article 163 aid and advice.
155–156
Appointment by President; tenure, pleasure, resignation and continuance.
Appointed, not elected.
157–159
Qualifications, conditions of office and oath.
Citizen + 35 years; High Court Chief Justice administers oath.
160
President provides for discharge of functions in an unprovided contingency.
Special contingency.
161
Clemency for offences against laws within State executive field.
Not identical to President's Article 72 field.
163–164
Council of Ministers; appointment of Chief Minister/ministers; responsibility.
Parliamentary State executive.
166–167
Conduct of State business and Chief Minister's duties to Governor.
Orders in Governor's name; information channel.
174–176
Sessions, prorogation, dissolution, messages and addresses.
Ordinarily advice-bound.
200–201
State Bills and Bills reserved for President.
Return only a non-Money Bill.
213
Governor's Ordinance power.
Temporary law when Legislature is not in session.
356 and 361
Report on constitutional breakdown; personal constitutional immunities.
Report/action is not beyond constitutional review.
4. Appointment, tenure and qualifications
Point
Constitutional rule
Common trap
Appointment
President appoints Governor by warrant under hand and seal.
No electoral college elects the Governor.
Tenure
Holds office during President's pleasure; subject to that, the term is five years from entering office.
Five years is not an irreducibly guaranteed tenure.
Resignation
Written resignation addressed to President.
Not to Chief Minister or Chief Justice.
Continuance
Continues after the term until successor enters office.
Office does not automatically become vacant on the fifth anniversary.
Qualifications
Citizen of India and completed 35 years of age.
The Constitution does not require residence in that State.
Legislative membership
Cannot remain member of Parliament or a State Legislature; the seat is deemed vacated on entering office.
No separate resignation from membership is needed for the deemed vacancy rule.
Other office
Cannot hold another office of profit.
Constitutional office is not combined with ordinary paid public office.
Emoluments
Cannot be diminished during the term; for a common Governor, allocation among States is fixed by President.
Parliament determines emoluments by law.
5. Oath, vacancy and a common Governor
Under Article 159, the Governor swears to faithfully execute the office, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and law, and devote himself or herself to the service and well-being of the people. The oath is administered by the Chief Justice of the High Court exercising jurisdiction in the State, or in that judge's absence, the senior-most available judge of that Court.
Article 153 expressly permits the same person to serve as Governor of two or more States. Article 160 empowers President to make arrangements for discharge of functions in a contingency not otherwise provided for. These arrangements do not create an elected acting Governor.
6. Aid, advice and discretion
Category
Examples
Controlling principle
Ordinarily on aid and advice
Routine executive action, summoning/proroguing Legislature, policy decisions, most appointments made in Governor's name.
Elected Council governs and is answerable to Legislative Assembly.
Express or constitutionally required discretion
Specified constitutional provisions; Article 200 choices are governed by the current Supreme Court advisory opinion; mandatory reservation under its second proviso.
Discretion must remain within text, purpose and constitutional limits.
Situational constitutional judgment
Appointing a Chief Minister when no party has a clear majority; requiring majority to be proved on the House floor; reporting under Article 356.
Objective material, representative government and floor-test principle—not personal political preference.
Not discretionary merely because signed by Governor
Orders authenticated in Governor's name under Article 166, ministerial appointments on Chief Minister's advice, ordinary administration.
Formal authorship is different from personal decision-making.
7. State executive powers
Power
How it operates
Exam caution
Appointments
Governor appoints Chief Minister; other ministers on Chief Minister's advice. Constitution also assigns appointment functions for Advocate General, State Public Service Commission members and district judges under their respective Articles.
Each office has its own qualification and removal rule.
Executive action
Article 166 requires all executive action of State Government to be expressed in Governor's name; orders are authenticated as rules prescribe.
An order in Governor's name is not proof of personal discretion.
Business rules
Governor makes rules for convenient transaction and allocation of government business, except business constitutionally requiring discretion.
The Council remains politically accountable.
Information
Under Article 167, Chief Minister communicates Council decisions and legislative proposals, supplies information, and may place an individual minister's decision before Council when Governor so requires.
Governor may seek information; this does not create a parallel cabinet.
State clemency
Article 161 covers offences against laws on matters to which State executive power extends.
Scope is defined by the offence/law field, not the prison's location alone.
8. Legislative powers and duties
Provision
Function
Key limit
Article 174
Summons House/Houses, prorogues them and may dissolve Legislative Assembly.
No more than six months may intervene between last sitting of one session and first sitting of next; power is ordinarily exercised on ministerial advice.
Article 175
May address and send messages to House/Houses.
House must consider a matter required by the message with convenient despatch.
Article 176
Special address at first session after each general election to Assembly and first session of each year.
Different from every ordinary session.
Article 171
In a State with Legislative Council, nominates one-sixth of Council members from constitutionally specified fields.
Bihar has a Legislative Council; nomination is not to Legislative Assembly.
Articles 200–201
Acts on Bills passed by State Legislature and on Presidential reservation.
Money Bill cannot be returned for reconsideration under first proviso to Article 200.
Article 213
Promulgates Ordinance when constitutional conditions are satisfied.
Temporary legislative power, not a substitute for regular sessions.
10. Current Supreme Court position on assent—20 November 2025 advisory opinion
In In re: Assent, Withholding or Reservation of Bills by the Governor and the President of India (2025 INSC 1333), the Constitution Bench stated that Article 200 gives three options: assent; reserve for President; or withhold and return a non-Money Bill with comments. It held that choosing among these options involves Governor's discretion and is not open to a merits review before the Bill becomes law.
The Court also held that constitutional courts may issue a limited mandamus where inaction is prolonged, unexplained and indefinite, requiring discharge of the Article 200 function without directing its substantive outcome. It declined judicially fixed timelines and rejected “deemed assent” under Article 142. Article 361 protects the Governor personally, but does not erase this limited review of the constitutional office. These 2025 conclusions must be used instead of older notes that present fixed judicial deadlines as the current rule.
11. Article 201: when a Bill is reserved for President
Stage
Constitutional rule
Presidential choice
President declares assent or withholding of assent.
Non-Money Bill
President may direct Governor to return it with a message to House/Houses.
State reconsideration
House/Houses must reconsider within six months from receiving the message.
Repassed reserved Bill
If passed again, it is presented again to President for consideration; Article 201 does not say President must assent.
12. Ordinance power under Article 213
Point
Rule
When available?
When Legislative Assembly is not in session; in a bicameral State, when both Houses are not simultaneously in session (one or both are out of session), and immediate action is considered necessary.
Effect
Same force and effect as a State Act assented to by Governor, subject to constitutional limits.
Legislative control
Must be laid before State Legislature; ceases six weeks after reassembly, or earlier on the constitutionally specified disapproval resolutions.
Withdrawal
Governor may withdraw it at any time, constitutionally operating on aid and advice in the ordinary course.
President's instructions
Required before promulgation in the categories where a similar Bill would need President's previous sanction, mandatory reservation, or Presidential assent to be valid.
Judicial control
Satisfaction and use are subject to constitutional review; routine re-promulgation to bypass Legislature is impermissible.
13. Bihar and the ordinance cases
D.C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (1987) arose from repeated re-promulgation of Ordinances in Bihar. Supreme Court held that the Executive cannot use an emergency power to take over the Legislature's law-making function and repeatedly bypass democratic enactment. Exceptional fresh circumstances must not be confused with a routine “Ordinance Raj”.
Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar (2017) reaffirmed that re-promulgation is a fraud on the Constitution and that an Ordinance must be laid before the Legislature. The Court rejected a blanket theory that rights and liabilities created by every expired Ordinance automatically endure; consequences and public-interest relief require constitutional judicial assessment.
14. Clemency: Governor and President compared
Feature
Governor—Article 161
President—Article 72
Basic acts
Pardon, reprieve, respite, remission, suspension or commutation within its field.
Same named clemency forms within constitutionally specified fields.
Subject link
Offence against a law relating to a matter to which State executive power extends.
Union executive-law field, court-martial cases, and express death-sentence clause.
Exercise
Constitutional power exercised on aid and advice of State Council of Ministers.
Constitutional power exercised on aid and advice of Union Council of Ministers.
Review
Limited judicial review is available for mala fides, irrelevant considerations, arbitrariness or other constitutional illegality; court does not act as a fresh clemency authority.
15. Government formation, majority and floor test
After an election with a clear majority, appointment of the leader able to command that majority is straightforward. In a hung Assembly, the Governor must make a constitutionally fair assessment of who is likely to command confidence, without manufacturing a majority or deciding political legitimacy privately. The proper place to prove a disputed majority is ordinarily the floor of the Legislative Assembly.
If credible material shows that a ministry may have lost confidence, an early floor test may be required. The Governor cannot replace the Speaker, prescribe ordinary legislative agenda for political advantage, or treat subjective reports as an alternative to a floor test where the House can determine confidence.
16. Article 356 report and Bihar's 2005 dissolution
Under Article 356, President may act on a Governor's report or otherwise; a Governor's report is therefore not constitutionally indispensable. It is also not conclusive proof immune from review. Objective material must support the conclusion that State government cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution.
In Rameshwar Prasad v. Union of India (2006), Supreme Court held the 23 May 2005 Proclamation dissolving Bihar Legislative Assembly unconstitutional. Because a fresh election process had advanced, the Court did not restore the dissolved Assembly. The case shows both judicial review of material behind a Proclamation and the distinction between declaring illegality and choosing a practical remedy.
17. Article 361: personal immunity and official accountability
Protection
Rule
Official answerability
Governor is not answerable to a court for exercise/performance of official powers and duties.
Criminal proceedings
No criminal proceedings may be instituted or continued against Governor during the term.
Arrest or imprisonment
No court process for arrest or imprisonment may issue during the term.
Personal civil proceedings
For personal acts, civil proceedings during the term require two months after written notice containing constitutional particulars.
Government action
Article 361 does not restrict a person's right to appropriate proceedings against Union or State Government, nor bar review of constitutional validity through proper proceedings.
18. Governor and President: high-yield comparison
Point
Governor
President
Method
Appointed by President.
Indirectly elected by constitutional electoral college.
Removal
Holds during President's pleasure; no impeachment.
May be removed by impeachment for violation of Constitution.
Minimum age
35 years.
35 years.
Aid and advice
State Council headed by Chief Minister.
Union Council headed by Prime Minister.
Ordinance
Article 213 for State legislative field and conditions.
Article 123 for parliamentary legislative field and conditions.
Bills
May reserve State Bill for President; mandatory in specified High Court-power case.
Acts under Articles 111 and 201; does not reserve Union Bill for Governor.
Oath administered by
High Court Chief Justice/senior-most available judge.
Chief Justice of India/senior-most available Supreme Court judge.
Immunity
Article 361 supplies parallel personal protections during office.
19. Verified case timeline
20. Bihar relevance
22. Prelims traps
23. Official PYQ status
No question is reproduced as an official BPSC PYQ because its complete wording and all options were not verified from an official question booklet during this preparation. The following are original BPSC-style practice questions.