Which Article of the Constitution of India provides that ‘there shall be a Vice President of India’?
- (a)Article 61
- (b)Article 63
- (c)Article 65
- (d)Article 62
Answer
Why
Correct — B. Article 63 is the one-line Article that creates the office: there shall be a Vice-President of India. The stem quotes it almost word for word.
It sits in Part V, which deals with the Union, and it is the exact counterpart of Article 52, which creates the office of President in the same one-line form.
The Articles after it fill the office in — 64 makes the Vice-President ex officio Chairman of the Council of States, 66 provides for the election → option (b).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Article 61 — Article 61 lays down the procedure for impeachment of the President — the charge preferred by one House, investigated, then passed by a two-thirds majority. It creates no office.
- (c)Article 65 — Article 65 covers what happens when the President's office falls vacant: the Vice-President acts as President. It presumes the office exists, and Article 63 is what creates it.
- (d)Article 62 — Article 62 fixes the timing of the election to fill a vacancy in the office of President, and the term of the person so elected. It is a President Article, not a Vice-President one.
Concept
Part V of the Constitution deals with the Union, and its Articles on the two highest offices run in a fixed order best learnt as a ladder.
52 — there shall be a President of India.
61 — procedure for impeachment of the President.
63 — there shall be a Vice-President of India.
64 — the Vice-President is ex officio Chairman of the Council of States.
65 — the Vice-President acts as President during a vacancy.
66 — election of the Vice-President.
Article-number questions of this kind are answered by holding the ladder, because the wrong options are its immediate neighbours.
The quoted words are the whole of Article 63 — one of the shortest Articles in the Constitution. All four options here are drawn from the Articles around it, which is what makes recall of the sequence, rather than of the subject, decisive.
Key facts
- Article 63 provides that there shall be a Vice-President of India.
- Article 64 makes the Vice-President the ex officio Chairman of the Council of States.
- Article 65 provides for the Vice-President to act as President when the office falls vacant.
- Article 66 provides for the election of the Vice-President by the members of both Houses of Parliament.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing Article 65, which is about the Vice-President acting as President, not about creating the office.
- Mixing the President's Articles (52 to 62) with the Vice-President's (63 onwards).
SSC approaches the Vice-President from several angles. The Part of the Constitution dealing with his election is asked at 26 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.18, and who administers his oath at 19 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.12.
A neighbouring President item — the Article expressly providing for re-election — is asked at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.15.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.