1) How are the chief minister and his council answerable to the people?
Answers
Answer:
In the Republic of India, a chief minister is the elected head of government of each state out of the 28[1] states and sometimes a union territory (currently, only the UTs of Delhi and Puducherry have serving Chief Ministers). According to the Constitution of India, the Governor is a state's head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister.
Following elections to the State Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) in a state, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints and swears in the chief minister, whose Council of Ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Based on the Westminster system, given that they retain the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term can last for the length of the assembly's life maximum of five years. There are no limits to the number of terms that the chief minister can serve.[2] A chief minister heads a state government's council of ministers and can be deputized in that role by a deputy chief minister. The chief minister generally selects the State Chief Secretary and also can allot departments as per their own wish to the Cabinet Ministers of their state and Ministers of State. They also direct the Chief Secretary to transfer, suspend, or promote officers of their state.
Explanation:
Various states throughout the history have appointed Deputy Chief Ministers. Despite being not mentioned in the constitution or law, the Deputy-Chief minister office is often used to pacify factions within the party or coalition. It is similar to the rarely used Deputy-Prime minister post in Central government of India. During the absence of the Chief minister, the deputy-CM may chair cabinet meetings and lead the Assembly majority. Various deputy chief ministers have also taken the oath of secrecy in line with the one that chief minister takes. This oath has also sparked controversies.[