A person who is not a member of Parliament can be appointed as Minister by the President for a maximum period of how many months?

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

UPSSSC PET Official Paper (Held On: 28 Oct, 2023 Shift 1)

Answer 1

The correct answer is 6 month.

Key Points

A person who is not a member of any House of the Parliament can become a Prime Minister or Minister for a time period of 6 months.
In 1997, the Supreme Court of India held that a person who is not a member of either house of Parliament can be appointed as Prime Minister or Minister for six months but he will need to gain the membership of any house within six months of the oath-taking otherwise, he ceases to be the Prime minister or minister.
Constitutionally, The Prime Minister may be a member of any of the two Houses of the Parliament.
For example, three Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi, Deve Gowda, and Manmohan Singh were members of the Rajya Sabha.
In Britain, the Prime Minister should be a member of the Lower House not a member of the Upper House.