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Q89 (IAS/2020) Polity & Governance › State Executive & Legislature › Legislative disqualifications Official Key

Consider the following statements : 1. According to the Constitution of India, a person who is eligible to vote can be made a minister in a State for six months even if he/she is not a member of the Legislature of that State. 2. According to the Representation of People Act, 1951, a person convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for five years is permanently disqualified from contesting an election even after his release from prison. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?

Result
Your answer: —  ·  Correct: D
Explanation

The correct answer is Option 4 (Neither 1 nor 2) because both statements contain factual inaccuracies regarding constitutional and legal provisions.

  • Statement 1 is incorrect: Article 164(4) allows a non-legislator to be a minister for six months. However, the eligibility to vote (18 years) is not the same as the eligibility to be a minister. To be a minister, one must meet the qualifications for the State Legislature under Article 173, which requires a minimum age of 25 years (for Legislative Assembly). Thus, a 19-year-old voter cannot be a minister.
  • Statement 2 is incorrect: Section 8(3) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, states that a person convicted and sentenced to at least two years is disqualified from the date of conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release. It is not a permanent disqualification.

Since both statements are legally flawed, Option 4 is the right choice.

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Don’t just practise – reverse-engineer the question. This panel shows where this PYQ came from (books / web), how the examiner broke it into hidden statements, and which nearby micro-concepts you were supposed to learn from it. Treat it like an autopsy of the question: what might have triggered it, which exact lines in the book matter, and what linked ideas you should carry forward to future questions.
Q. Consider the following statements : 1. According to the Constitution of India, a person who is eligible to vote can be made a minister i…
At a glance
Origin: Books + Current Affairs Fairness: Moderate fairness Books / CA: 5/10 · 5/10
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This is a 'Precision Test' disguised as a simple Polity question. Statement 1 is a classic 'Age Trap' (Voter=18 vs Minister=25), while Statement 2 tests your knowledge of the 'Reformation Principle' in Indian law (bans are rarely permanent). If you mentally auto-corrected 'eligible to vote' to 'qualified to be a member', you walked into the trap.

How this question is built

This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.

Statement 1
Under the Constitution of India, can a person who is not a member of a State Legislature be appointed as a State Minister and is such a person required to become a member within six months?
Origin: Direct from books Fairness: Straightforward Book-answerable
From standard books
Indian Polity, M. Laxmikanth(7th ed.) > Chapter 32: State Council of Ministers > APPOINTMENT OF MINISTERS > p. 331
Presence: 5/5
“The same Amendment also extended the above provision to the newly formed states. Usually, the members of the state legislature, either the legislative assembly or the legislative council, are appointed as ministers. A person who is not a member of either House of the state legislature can also be appointed as a minister. But within six months, he/she must become a member (either by election or by nomination) of either House of the state legislature, otherwise, he/she ceases to be a minister. A minister who is a member of one House of the state legislature has the right to speak and to take part in the proceedings of the other House.”
Why this source?
  • Explicitly says a person who is not a member of either House of the state legislature can be appointed as a minister.
  • Explicitly requires that such a person must become a member (by election or nomination) of either House within six months or else cease to be a minister.
Laxmikanth, M. Indian Polity. 7th ed., McGraw Hill. > Chapter 31: Chief Minister > APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF MINISTER > p. 325
Presence: 4/5
“However, on the death of a Chief Minister, the ruling party usually elects a new leader and the governor has no choice but to appoint him/her as Chief Minister. BThe Constitution does not require that a person must prove his/ her majority in the legislative assembly before he/she is appointed as the Chief Minister. The governor may first appoint him/her as the Chief Minister and then ask him/her to prove his/her majority in the legislative assembly within a reasonable period. A person who is not a member of the state legislature can be appointed as Chief Minister for six months, within which time, he/she should be elected to the state legislature, failing which he/she ceases to be the Chief Minister.”
Why this source?
  • States a person who is not a member of the state legislature can be appointed as Chief Minister for six months.
  • Specifies that the person must be elected to the state legislature within that six-month period or cease to hold office, reinforcing the six-month requirement for state executive appointments.
Introduction to the Constitution of India, D. D. Basu (26th ed.). > Chapter 11: The Union Executive > 3. The Council of Ministers > p. 227
Presence: 3/5
“Ministers may be those members of either House and a Minister who is a member of one House has a right to speak in and to take part in the proceedings of the other House though he has no right to vote in the House of which he is not a member [Article 88]. Under our Constitution, there is no bar to the appointment of a person from outside the Legislature as Minister. But he cannot continue as Minister for more than six months unless he secures a seat in either House of Parliament (by election or nomination, as the case may be), in the meantime.”
Why this source?
  • Confirms the constitutional principle that a non-member may be appointed as a minister but cannot continue for more than six months unless he/she secures a seat in either House (here stated for Parliament).
  • Provides a parallel Union-level formulation of the same six-month rule, supporting the general constitutional practice.
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