📄 From your Polity Notes PDF
🏛️ Position in Government
| Prime Minister (Union) | Chief Minister (State) |
|---|
| Real/de facto executive; nominal head is the President (Part V — Union Executive). | Real/de facto executive; nominal head is the Governor (Part VI — State Executive). |
✍️ Appointment
| Prime Minister (Union) | Chief Minister (State) |
|---|
| Art. 75 — appointed by the President. | Art. 164 — appointed by the Governor. |
| Normal practice: leader of the party/coalition holding a Lok Sabha majority is appointed. | Normal practice: leader of the party/coalition holding a State Assembly majority is appointed. |
| When no clear majority: the President may use personal discretion, then require proof of confidence within a month — a discretion the Delhi High Court affirmed in 1980. E.g. 1979: President N. Sanjiva Reddy appointed Charan Singh after the Janata Party collapsed; 1984: President Zail Singh appointed Rajiv Gandhi after Indira Gandhi's assassination. | The Governor may similarly use individual judgement — especially if a CM dies suddenly with no clear successor. The Delhi High Court (1980) held a nominee need not prove majority before being sworn in; the majority test can follow within six months. |
| Historic "appoint-first" cases: Charan Singh (1979), V.P. Singh (1989), Chandra Shekhar (1990), P.V. Narasimha Rao (1991), H.D. Deve Gowda (1996), I.K. Gujral (1997), and A.B. Vajpayee (1996 & 1998) — all appointed while heading minority/coalition governments. | The same "appoint now, prove majority later" logic governs CM appointments in the States, under the Article 164 framework. |
| The Supreme Court (1990) held the PM must belong to either House of Parliament; if not already a member, must secure a seat within six months or vacate office — e.g. Indira Gandhi, Deve Gowda and Manmohan Singh were all first appointed PM while sitting only in the Rajya Sabha. | The equivalent principle applies at the state level: a CM not already a member of the State Legislature must secure a seat within the same six-month window. |
🙏 Oath, Term and Salary
| Prime Minister (Union) | Chief Minister (State) |
|---|
| Oath administered by the President. | Oath administered by the Governor. |
| Oath content (same for both): swears faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India, to uphold India's sovereignty and integrity, to faithfully discharge duties, and to do right by all people. | Identical oath content, administered at the state level. |
| Term not fixed — holds office "during the pleasure of the President," i.e. for as long as majority support in the Lok Sabha lasts. | Term not fixed — holds office "during the pleasure of the Governor," i.e. for as long as majority support in the State Legislature lasts. |
| Salary not fixed by the Constitution — determined by Parliament, with allowances comparable to an ordinary MP. | Salary not fixed by the Constitution — determined by the State Legislature. |
⚙️ Role Within the Council of Ministers
| Prime Minister (Union) | Chief Minister (State) |
|---|
| Recommends ministers to the President for appointment — only those the PM recommends can be sworn in; allocates and reshuffles portfolios. | Recommends ministers to the Governor for appointment; allocates and reshuffles portfolios in the same way. |
| Can ask a minister to resign, or advise the President to remove one. | Can ask a minister to resign, or advise the Governor to remove one. |
| Presides over COM meetings and steers its decisions; guides, directs, controls and coordinates ministers' work. | Performs the identical role for the state COM. |
| If the PM resigns or dies, the entire Union COM dissolves; if an ordinary minister resigns or dies, only that one seat falls vacant. | The same principle applies at the state level — the CM's exit dissolves the whole state COM, while a minister's individual exit only vacates that seat. |
⚖️ Relationship with the Head of State
| Prime Minister (Union) | Chief Minister (State) |
|---|
| Art. 74 establishes a COM headed by the PM to aid and advise the President — binding advice since the 42nd/44th Amendments. | Art. 163 establishes a COM headed by the CM to aid and advise the Governor, collectively responsible to the State Legislature. |
| Under Art. 78, the PM is the vital link between the COM and the President — must furnish information on administrative/legislative affairs, and place any matter before the full Council if the President directs. | Under Art. 167, the CM performs the identical role for the Governor. |
| Advises the President on appointments such as the CAG, UPSC Chairman/Members, Attorney General, Election Commission and Finance Commission. | Advises the Governor on appointments such as the Advocate General, State PSC Chairman/Members, State Election Commission and State Finance Commission. |
| As the nation's leader, meets people from different states and receives memoranda about their concerns (e.g. August 1979, during President N. Sanjiva Reddy's tenure). | Performs the equivalent role for people within the state. |
📜 Role in the Legislature
| Prime Minister (Union) | Chief Minister (State) |
|---|
| Advises the President on summoning and proroguing Parliament's sessions. | Advises the Governor on summoning and proroguing the State Legislature's sessions. |
| Recommends dissolution of the Lok Sabha to the President. | Recommends dissolution of the State Assembly to the Governor. |
| Announces government policies on the floor of the House. | Announces state government policies on the floor of the House. |
🚩 Other Roles Beyond the Council of Ministers
| Prime Minister (Union) | Chief Minister (State) |
|---|
| Chairs NITI Aayog, the National Development Council, the Inter-State Council, and the National Water Resources Council. | Chairs the State Planning Board; serves as Vice-Chairman of the concerned Zonal Council on a rotating one-year basis; sits as a member of the Inter-State Council (chaired by the PM) and the National Development Council. |
| Plays a significant role in shaping the country's foreign policy. | — |
| Chief spokesperson of the Union Government and crisis manager-in-chief at the political level during national emergencies. | Chief spokesperson of the State Government and crisis manager at the political level during state-level emergencies. |
| Typically the leader of the ruling party and political head of the civil services. | Typically the leader of the state and political head of the state's civil services. |
🗳️ Caretaker Government (applies equally at both levels)
| Prime Minister (Union) | Chief Minister (State) |
|---|
| Not explicitly defined in the Constitution — a temporary government that handles routine business but avoids major policy decisions until a new government is formed; a practical convention examined by the Tarkunde Committee (1974–75), whose guidelines aim to ensure free and fair elections during the transition. | The same convention applies identically when a state government is in a caretaker phase pending fresh elections. |
🎯 Exam Angle
This head-to-head format is exactly how Mains questions are framed — "compare and contrast the PM and CM's constitutional position." The sharpest points to hold onto: both hold office "during the pleasure of" their respective head of state (President/Governor) but in practice both survive only as long as legislative majority holds; and the six-month rule to secure a House seat applies identically to both.
