The government of India, also known as the Union of India (according to Article 300 of the Indian constitution),[2] is modelled after the Westminster system.[3] The Union government is mainly composed of the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, and powers are vested by the constitution in the prime minister, parliament, and the supreme court, respectively. The president of India is the head of state and the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces, whilst the elected prime minister acts as the head of the executive and is responsible for running the Union government.[4] The parliament is bicameral in nature, with the Lok Sabha being the lower house, and the Rajya Sabha the upper house. The judiciary systematically contains an apex supreme court, 25 high courts, and several district courts, all inferior to the supreme court.[5]
The basic civil and criminal laws governing the citizens of India are set down in major parliamentary legislation, such as the civil procedure code, the penal code, and the criminal procedure code.[6] Similar to the Union government, individual state governments each consist of executive, legislative and judiciary branches. The legal system as applicable to the Union and individual state governments is based on the English common and statutory law.[7] The full name of the country is the Republic of India. India and Bharat are equally official short names for the Republic of India in the Constitution,[8] and both names appears on legal banknotes, in treaties and in legal cases. The terms "Union government", "central government" and "bhārat sarkār" are often used officially and unofficially to refer to the government of India.[citation needed] The term New Delhi is commonly used as a metonym for the Union government,[9] as the seat of the central government is in New Delhi.
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