SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 14 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

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SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which of the following statements regarding the constitutional responsibility of the Council of Ministers (CoM) is/are correct? 1) The Union Council of Ministers is collectively accountable to the Lok Sabha. 2) In states with bicameral legislatures, the State CoM is collectively responsible to the Legislative Council.

(a)Only 1
(b)Only 2
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Statement 1 is Article 75(3): "The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People", which is the Lok Sabha.

Statement 2 fails on Article 164(2): a State Council of Ministers is collectively responsible "to the Legislative Assembly of the State". Having a Legislative Council does not change that, so only statement 1 stands: option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Only 2 — Statement 2 is the false one. Article 164(2) makes a State Council of Ministers responsible to the Legislative Assembly, not the Council, and statement 1 is true.
(c)
Both 1 and 2 — "Both" fails on statement 2. Even in a state with a Legislative Council, Article 164(2) names the Legislative Assembly as the house the ministry answers to.
(d)
Neither 1 nor 2 — Statement 1 is true almost word for word: Article 75(3) makes the Union Council of Ministers collectively responsible to the House of the People, the Lok Sabha.

Concept

Collective responsibility means the Council of Ministers answers as one body to the house the people elect directly.

At the Union that house is the Lok Sabha, under Article 75(3). In a state it is the Legislative Assembly, under Article 164(2), whether or not the state also has an upper house.

The upper house of a state legislature is the Legislative Council, or Vidhan Parishad. Article 164(2) still names only the Legislative Assembly, so a bicameral state changes nothing about whom the ministry answers to.

Key facts

Article 75(3): the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People.
Article 164(2): a State Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State.
Article 75(1): the President appoints the Prime Minister, and the other Ministers on the Prime Minister's advice.
Article 164(1): state Ministers hold office during the pleasure of the Governor.

Study next

Articles 168 and 169: bicameral state legislatures and how a Legislative Council is created or abolishedArticles 75(1A) and 164(1A): the fifteen per cent cap on the size of a Council of MinistersNo-confidence motions and the Lok Sabha's hold over the Union ministry

Common traps

Reading "bicameral" as "answerable to both houses": Article 164(2) names only the Legislative Assembly.
Rejecting statement 1 because it says "accountable" where Article 75(3) says "responsible": the meaning is the same.

Here two articles are paired as statements, one true and one with the house swapped. Article 75 also appears at 19 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.3 (who appoints the Prime Minister), and the Vidhan Parishad at 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.14.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: General Policy — all 218 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.