The size of the Council of Ministers was fixed up to 15 percent of the total members of Lok Sabha by which of the following Constitutional Amendments?
- (a)91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003
- (b)92nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2004
- (c)74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992
- (d)86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002
Correct — A, 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003.
The 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003 inserted Article 75(1A), under which the total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers shall not exceed 15 percent of the total number of members of the House of the People.
The same Act inserted Article 164(1A), applying a 15 percent ceiling to a state's Council of Ministers measured on that state's Legislative Assembly, with a floor of twelve ministers including the Chief Minister.
Carry away that the Union ceiling is computed on the strength of the Lok Sabha, even though a minister may sit in either House of Parliament.
The Act also tightened defection law: a member disqualified under paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule cannot be appointed a minister for that period, and paragraph 3 — the old one-third 'split' defence — was omitted.
- (b)92nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2004 — The Ninety-second Amendment works on the Eighth Schedule, not on the executive. It is the right answer to which amendment added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali to the scheduled languages.
Because 91 and 92 are adjacent numbers from the same period, the number by itself is a weak cue. Fix each amendment to its subject rather than to its neighbour on the list.
- (c)74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 — The 74th Amendment deals with urban local government. It is the right answer to which amendment gave constitutional status to municipalities, inserting Part IXA and the Twelfth Schedule.
It is the town-level twin of the 73rd Amendment on panchayats, and neither touches the size of a Council of Ministers.
- (d)86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002 — The 86th Amendment is about schooling. It is the right answer to which amendment made elementary education a fundamental right, inserting Article 21A for children aged six to fourteen.
The same Act recast Article 45 around early childhood care and education below the age of six, and added the fundamental duty in Article 51A(k) on parents and guardians.
As originally adopted, the Constitution said the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers advise on who is appointed, but put no numerical limit on how many ministers there could be. Size was a political choice.
The 91st Amendment converted that political choice into a constitutional ceiling: a fixed percentage of the popularly elected House, applied to the Union in Article 75(1A) and to the states in Article 164(1A).
The cap and the anti-defection provisions in the same Act belong together. A large ministry is a supply of offices, and offices can be used to buy legislators; limiting the supply is part of limiting defection.
The provision sits in the executive chapters — Part V for the Union (Articles 74 and 75) and Part VI for the states (Articles 163 and 164) — and reads alongside the Tenth Schedule, which carries the anti-defection code introduced by the 52nd Amendment, 1985.
For a candidate, the item lives at the junction of two lists that get revised often: the article numbers of the Union and state executive, and the subject attached to each amendment number.
- Article 75(1A) caps the Union Council of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, at 15 percent of the total number of members of the House of the People.
- Article 164(1A) applies the same 15 percent ceiling in a state, measured on the total membership of that state's Legislative Assembly.
- A proviso to Article 164(1A) sets a floor: a state's ministers, including the Chief Minister, shall not be fewer than twelve.
- Articles 75(1B) and 164(1B) bar a member disqualified for defection from being appointed a minister for the relevant period.
- Article 361B, inserted by the same Act, disqualifies such a member from holding a remunerative political post for that period.
- The 91st Amendment omitted paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule, which had shielded a split by one-third of a legislature party from disqualification.
- The ceiling is computed on the House of the People, although a Union minister may be a member of either House of Parliament.
The keyed option is the one that fixes the size of the ministry; the other three carry unrelated subjects.
- Ten percent reads like a plausible ceiling, but the figure written into Articles 75(1A) and 164(1A) is fifteen percent.
- The Union ceiling is measured on the House of the People; folding Rajya Sabha strength into the base inflates the permitted number.
- The state ceiling carries a floor of twelve including the Chief Minister, so a small Assembly does not mechanically produce a three-member ministry.
- 91st and 92nd are neighbouring numbers from the same period; recall each by its subject, not by its position in the sequence.
- The 91st Amendment tightened defection law but did not create it — the Tenth Schedule came in with the 52nd Amendment, 1985.
- The 74th (1992), 86th (2002) and 91st (2003) carry accurate years, but the official short title of the 92nd is the Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003, so the year flags that one option and the subject settles the rest.
The idea turns up in more than one shape. One is a direct match, where the stem states the 15 percent rule and the options are amendment numbers, as here.
A second shape gives the rule as a statement to be judged correct or incorrect, with the percentage or the House quietly altered — a figure such as ten percent in place of fifteen makes that statement false.
Whichever way it is asked, carry Article 75(1A) as the Union limb and Article 164(1A) as the state limb separately from the amendment number.
UPSC_2007_GS1_Q512007The same fact and the same answer, asked in the same amendment-number form. It differs by covering both limbs — the Union cap on Lok Sabha strength and the state cap on Assembly strength — while the UKPSC stem mentions only the Lok Sabha, and its wrong options are higher amendment numbers rather than amendments on unrelated subjects.
UPSC_2009_GS1_Q862009Same rule, same answer, but reached from the wording of Article 75(1A) rather than from the phrase 'size of the Council of Ministers'. Its options are the neighbouring numbers 90th to 93rd, so it tests exact recall of the number; the UKPSC item spreads its options across four different subjects instead.
UPSC_2022_GS1_Q142022The 15 percent ceiling appears here as a statement to be judged rather than as an amendment to be named, paired with a second statement about the ranking of ministers. The amendment number is not asked, so the shared content is the rule itself, not the identification.
CDS_GK_2022_I_Q772022The same ceiling appears there with the figure altered to ten percent — the figure to watch, since the correct constitutional number is fifteen percent. The UKPSC item prints the correct percentage in its stem and puts the difficulty in the amendment number instead.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which article, inserted by the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, caps the Union Council of Ministers at 15 percent of the strength of the House of the People?
- (a)Article 74(1)
- (b)Article 75(1A)
- (c)Article 78
- (d)Article 164(1A)
Answerb — Article 75(1A) carries the Union ceiling on the total number of Ministers including the Prime Minister.Article 74(1) provides for a Council of Ministers to aid and advise the President and predates this amendment. Article 78 sets out the Prime Minister's duty to communicate decisions and furnish information to the President.
Article 164(1A) was inserted by the same amendment, but it applies the ceiling to a state, measured on its Legislative Assembly.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the proviso to Article 164(1A), the number of Ministers in a state, including the Chief Minister, shall not be less than
- (a)six
- (b)ten
- (c)twelve
- (d)fifteen
Answerc — the proviso fixes a floor of twelve ministers including the Chief Minister, so the 15 percent ceiling cannot shrink a small state's ministry below that number.Six and ten are not the figure used in the proviso. Fifteen echoes the main clause, but there fifteen is a percentage of Assembly strength, not a count of ministers.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following changes was made by the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act?
- (a)Omission of paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule, which had exempted a split in a legislature party from disqualification
- (b)Insertion of the Tenth Schedule to provide for disqualification on the ground of defection
- (c)Reduction of the voting age for elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies from 21 to 18 years
- (d)Insertion of Article 21A making education a fundamental right for children aged six to fourteen years
Answera — the 91st Amendment omitted paragraph 3, ending the defence available to a group claiming a split of one-third of the legislature party.The Tenth Schedule itself came in with the 52nd Amendment, 1985, so option b names a different amendment. The voting age was lowered by the 61st Amendment, 1988, and Article 21A was inserted by the 86th Amendment, 2002.
- practice — not a real PYQ
A member of Parliament disqualified on the ground of defection under paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule is, by a provision inserted through the Ninety-first Amendment, also disqualified from
- (a)voting in the election of the President of India
- (b)being appointed a Minister for the relevant period
- (c)ever contesting an election to either House of Parliament
- (d)being enrolled as an elector in any constituency
Answerb — Article 75(1B) bars such a member from appointment as a Minister for the period running from the disqualification, and Article 164(1B) does the same in a state.Option c overstates the bar, which runs for a defined period rather than permanently. Options a and d describe consequences the provision does not attach to defection.
Disqualification under the Tenth Schedule ends membership of the House; what this amendment added is the bar on holding ministerial office.