Who has more power prime minister or president?

Who exercises real power, the President or the Prime Minister?

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The Prime Minister of India

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The two share equal power.

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The President is mostly more powerful than the Prime Minister, except when National Emergency is invoked.

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World leaders come with many titles such as premier, chancellor etc. But two of the most widely used titles are President and Prime Minister.

The roles and responsibilities of a President and Prime Minister are subject to the country in question. Two forms of government decide whether a country should have one or both executives. They are the Presidential and Parliamentary forms of government.

Since India has a Parliamentary form of government there exist both the President and Prime Minister. For a better understanding, the differences between President and Prime Minister will be highlighted within the context of the IAS Exam.

Difference Between Prime Minister and President

Given below is the detailed difference between the President and the Prime Minister in terms of their role, responsibilities, and power. Aspirants can refer to the tabulated difference between the two, given below:

Differences between the Prime Minister and President

Prime Minister	President
The Prime Minister of India is is the leader of the executive and the most powerful individual of the country	The President of India is the first citizen of the country and holds the highest office.
The Prime Minister is the Head of the Cabinet and the Council of Minister	The President is the ceremonial head of the country
The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers are in charging of deciding what policies and bills to pass	Bills cannot be passed without the assent and recommendation of the President
The Prime Minister has no authority over matters concerning the Judiciary	The furthest extent of the President’s judicial power is granting amnesty to criminals on death row
A Prime Minister can be removed from office if the Lok Sabha passes a ‘no-confidence motion’	The President can only be removed by the process of impeachment which requires a special majority for the removal of the President
The Prime Minister of India is appointed by the President	On the other hand, the President is elected by members of the parliament and legislative assembly. This impeachment process only arises if the President is found to be in violation of the Constitution of India
The Prime Minister belongs to the party that has secured the majority of votes in the Lok Sabha	The President does not have to belong to any party
The Prime Ministers does not have the powers to declare a state of emergency.	The President has the power to declare a state of emergency
Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of Independent India (November 14th 1889 – May 27th 1964)	Rajendra Prasad was the first President of Independent India (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963)

In the UPSC Polity Segment of the UPSC Exams, the ‘President’ and ‘Prime Minister’ are recurring terms. To study this about this segment, aspirants can refer to the following links given below:

UPSC Aspirants can visit the Difference Between Articles page and get over 100 difference between articles for various subjects and fields for the upcoming exam preparation.

Difference Between President and Prime Minister – Download PDF Here

For more UPSC Exam related preparation materials visit the following links given below:

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