SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 18 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 17 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 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

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 correctly applies the weighted voting mechanism under Article 279A(9) of the Indian Constitution?

(a)The Centre holds 75% of the voting power in the GST Council.
(b)A GST Council decision can be passed solely with the support of the Centre and one State.
(c)The States collectively have twice the voting weight of the Centre in the GST Council.
(d)Each State has equal weightage as the Centre in GST Council voting.

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Article 279A(9) decides every GST Council question by at least three-fourths of the weighted votes of members present and voting, weighted as:

Centre: one-third of the total votes cast
All States together: two-thirds of the total votes cast

2⁄3 ÷ 1⁄3 = 2, so the States collectively carry twice the Centre's voting weight → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
The Centre holds 75% of the voting power in the GST Council. — 75% is the pass mark, not the Centre's share. A decision needs three-fourths of the weighted votes, while the Centre's own weight is one-third of the votes cast.
(b)
A GST Council decision can be passed solely with the support of the Centre and one State. — One State cannot carry it. The Centre's 1⁄3 plus one State's share of the States' 2⁄3 falls short of 3⁄4 whenever two or more States vote.
(d)
Each State has equal weightage as the Centre in GST Council voting. — The two-thirds is shared by all the States voting, while the Centre alone holds one-third. Article 279A(9) gives one-third to the Centre, not to each State.

Concept

The GST Council (Article 279A) decides by weighted voting, not one member, one vote.

Under clause (9), every decision needs at least three-fourths of the weighted votes of members present and voting. The Centre's vote counts for one-third, and all the States together for two-thirds.

Neither side can pass anything alone, since 1⁄3 and 2⁄3 are both below 3⁄4. The Centre plus States holding 5⁄8 of the States' votes just reaches it: 1⁄3 + 5⁄8 × 2⁄3 = 3⁄4.

Key facts

Article 279A(9): decisions need not less than three-fourths of the weighted votes of members present and voting.
The Centre's vote carries one-third of the total votes cast, and all States together two-thirds.
Article 279A(7): one-half of the Council's members form the quorum.
Article 279A(2): the Union Finance Minister chairs the GST Council.

Study next

Composition of the GST Council under Article 279A(2)Whether GST Council recommendations bind the Union and the StatesThe 101st Amendment Act, 2016 and the GST rollout on 1 July 2017

Common traps

Reading 75% as the Centre's voting share, when it is the majority every decision needs.
Thinking each State's vote equals the Centre's, when the States share two-thirds between them.

The three-fourths rule is asked directly at 13 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.14, and the Council's chair at 19 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.13. GA Q.25 of this shift asks whether the Council's recommendations are binding.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: General Policy — all 308 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.