UPSC Prelims 2025, Question 58

The answer: I and II only

Article 368(2)'s proviso lists a closed set of provisions that need ratification by not less than half the State Legislatures before presidential assent: election of the President (Articles 54-55), extent of Union and State executive power (Articles 73 and 162), distribution of legislative powers (Chapter I of Part XI), the Union Judiciary and High Courts (Chapter IV of Part V and Chapter V of Part VI), any List in the Seventh Schedule, representation of States in Parliament, and Article 368 itself. List I, the Union List, sits directly in the Seventh Schedule, so any change to it needs ratification. Extent of the executive power of a State is precisely what Article 162 defines, so it too is entrenched. The Governor's office, however, is governed by Chapter II of Part VI, which the proviso does not touch, so it needs only Parliament's special majority.

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.