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Polity · Governor (Powers, Discretion, Role)

UPSC Prelims 2025, Question 54

The concept being tested: Governor's discretionary powers / Article 200 — Governor's assent to bills.

Consider the following statements: I. The Constitution of India explicitly mentions that in certain spheres the Governor of a State acts in his/her own discretion. II. The President of India can, of his/her own, reserve a bill passed by a State Legislature for his/her consideration without it being forwarded by the Governor of the State concerned. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Options

  1. AI onlyCorrect answer
  2. BII only
  3. CBoth I and II
  4. DNeither I nor II

The answer: I only

Article 163(1) states that a Council of Ministers shall aid and advise the Governor "except in so far as he is by or under this Constitution required to exercise his functions... in his discretion" — the phrase "in his discretion" appears in the constitutional text itself, so a discretionary sphere for the Governor is explicit, not inferred. This confirms the first statement. On the second, Article 200 lists reservation of a bill for the President's consideration as one of four options open to the Governor when a State bill is presented to him; there is no separate route by which the President can pull in a State bill and reserve it for himself without the Governor first doing so. Article 201 only comes into play after the Governor has reserved the bill. So only the first statement holds.

What UPSC was testing

UPSC is testing two precise textual facts at once: that Article 163(1) names gubernatorial discretion explicitly rather than leaving it implied, and that Article 200 makes the Governor the sole channel for reserving a State bill for the President — getting either fact wrong flips which combination looks correct.

How often this comes up

This concept has appeared 9 times in UPSC Prelims General Studies Paper I between 2015 and 2025 — in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2025.

The option-by-option autopsy for this question — why each of the other three is wrong, and which neighbouring concept each one was built from — is in the app.

More questions on this

Other past-year questions touching Governor (Powers, Discretion, Role).

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With reference to the Indian polity, consider the following statements: I. The Governor of a State is not answerable to…