Difference Between President and Prime Minister in India

The worldwide notion of politics has changed fate from the previous eras of monarchs to modern-day republics. And India hasn’t been untouched by that. We have seen multiple eras of political leadership change over the hands. But what has remained in place is the republic system with the President and Prime Minister being the main face of India.

Let’s discuss more of them down below:

President of India and its governing system

• India like many other republics deems the President the head of the state. However, when it comes to governing power, President doesn’t precede the day-to-day operations of the national affairs in India. That power lies with Prime Minister. Such a system can be deemed as a parliamentary system where the President acts as the ceremonial head of the state. As for the rules governing the President of India, only an Indian citizen with an age of 35 or above and qualified to become a member of the Lok Sabha is eligible to become President.

Prime Minister of India

• The Prime Minister of India acts as the de-facto head of the government and looks into all the national matters and current affairs. A prime minister must come from a parliamentary system and should be an Indian citizen and an eligible person to become a member of either of the houses, i.e. Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.

Both the two positions are very much different from each other and bore a lot of points that separate their roles and functions. We will look into it in brief down below:

Difference between President and Prime Minister in India
#	President of India	Prime Minister of India
1	The President of India is regarded as the first citizen of the nation and has the highest office.	The Prime Minister of India is the executive head of the nation and is regarded as one of the most powerful decisions makers of the nation.
2	The President acts as the ceremonial head of India.	The Prime Minister holds the position of Head of Cabinet and also Council of Ministers.
3	Any proposed bills in India are passed only on the assent and the recommendation of the President.	The Prime Minister and his council of ministers approved the passing of the bills and policies.
4	The President holds the judicial power to grant amnesty to criminals charged with the death penalty.	The Prime Minister has no power over the judiciary matters of the nation.
5	The President cannot be removed from his position without the process of impeachment. Such a process of impeachment required a special majority for it to be executed.	The Prime Minister and his cabinet can be dissolved in case of passing off “No-confidence” in the Lok Sabha.
6	The President of India doesn’t belong to any political party.	The Prime Minister of India belongs to the party owning the majority in Lok Sabha.
7	The President is elected by the members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. A parliamentary and legislative assembly votes to elect the President for the next tenure.	The Prime Minister of India is appointed by the acting President of India.
8	The President has the power to declare a state of emergency when required.	The Prime Minister does not hold any power over the calling of a state of emergency.
9	Rajendra Prasad was the first-ever President of Independent India.	Jawaharlal Nehru was the first-ever Prime Minister of Independent India after the removal of the British Raj.

President and Prime Minister are an integral part of the republic system of any nation and India has followed the same since its very independence. India as we aforementioned follows a parliamentary system with President acting as a ceremonial head and Prime Minister helming the executive duties. However, certain powers are vested only to the President of India and vice versa. Despite that there are also a few similarities in form of maximum tenure terms as both the positions can be occupied only for a max of 5 years under one tenure, not taking into consideration the factors like “termination/no-confidence motion and more”.