This chapter is unlike every other one in the book: it has almost no prose of its own. It is nine comparison tables that pull the same handful of facts, who is eligible, who appoints, what age is required, who administers the oath, how long the term runs, who fixes the salary, whom a resignation goes to, how removal happens, and to whom reports are submitted, out of the scattered articles covering dozens of different constitutional offices and bodies, and lines them all up side by side. Every individual fact below already lives in this site's own note on that specific office; what this chapter (and this note) adds is the side-by-side comparison itself, which is exactly the shape UPSC's own "match the following" and "which one is different from the rest" questions take. This note keeps the book's own nine-table structure and focuses each table on the offices most frequently drawn into that kind of comparison question, rather than reproducing all forty-plus rows of the original.
| Body | Composition | Article |
|---|
| Lok Sabha | Maximum 550 (up to 530 from states, up to 20 from Union Territories) | 81 |
| Rajya Sabha | Maximum 250 (up to 238 elected by state/UT legislatures, 12 nominated by the President) | 80 |
| State Legislative Assembly | Maximum 500, minimum 60 (Sikkim 32, Goa/Mizoram/Nagaland smaller by specific provision) | 170 |
| State Legislative Council | Maximum one-third of the Assembly's membership, minimum 40 | 171 |
| Finance Commission | Chairman plus four members | 280 |
| UPSC | Chairman plus members, number decided by the President | 316 |
| Election Commission | Chief Election Commissioner plus other Election Commissioners as the President decides | 324 |
See Parliament, Speaker, Committees and Legislative Procedure, State Legislature, Finance Commission (Constitutional and Statutory Bodies), Union Public Service Commission and Election Commission and Elections for each body's own full detail.
| Functionary/Body | Appointed by | Article |
|---|
| President | Elected by an electoral college (elected MPs and elected MLAs) | 54 |
| Vice-President | Elected by an electoral college of both Houses of Parliament (MPs only, elected and nominated) | 66 |
| Prime Minister | Appointed by the President | 75 |
| Governor | Appointed by the President | 155 |
| Chief Minister | Appointed by the Governor | 164 |
| Attorney General of India | Appointed by the President | 76 |
| Advocate General of a State | Appointed by the Governor | 165 |
| Judges of the Supreme Court | Appointed by the President | 124 |
| Judges of a High Court | Appointed by the President | 217 |
| CAG | Appointed by the President | 148 |
| Chairman/Members, UPSC | Appointed by the President | 316 |
| Chief Election Commissioner/Election Commissioners | Appointed by the President | 324 |
See Vice-President, Prime Minister, Governor of a State, Chief Minister, Advocate General of the State, Supreme Court and Judiciary, High Court and Comptroller and Auditor General of India for each office's own appointment procedure and qualifying conditions.
| Functionary | Prescribed age | Article |
|---|
| President | Not below 35 years | 58 |
| Vice-President | Not below 35 years | 66 |
| Governor | Not below 35 years | 157 |
| Member, Rajya Sabha | Not below 30 years | 84 |
| Member, Lok Sabha | Not below 25 years | 84 |
| Member, State Legislative Council | Not below 30 years | 173 |
| Member, State Legislative Assembly | Not below 25 years | 173 |
| Judge, Supreme Court | No minimum age prescribed; retires at 65 | 124 |
| Judge, High Court | No minimum age prescribed; retires at 62 | 217 |
| Voter (Union and State elections) | Not below 18 years | 326 |
The Constitution fixes a minimum age for eligibility to most political offices, but for judges it fixes only a retirement age and leaves the minimum unspecified, a genuinely useful contrast this table exists to highlight.
| Functionary | Oath administered by | Article |
|---|
| President | Chief Justice of India (or, in their absence, the senior-most available Supreme Court judge) | 60 |
| Vice-President | President | 69 |
| Governor | Chief Justice of the concerned High Court (or, in their absence, its senior-most available judge) | 159 |
| Prime Minister/Union Ministers | President | Third Schedule |
| Judges of the Supreme Court | President | 124 |
| Judges of a High Court | Governor of the state | 219 |
| Chief Minister/State Ministers | Governor | Third Schedule |
| CAG | President | 148 |
| Functionary/Institution | Term/duration | Article |
|---|
| President | 5 years, eligible for re-election, continues beyond term until a successor assumes office | 56 |
| Vice-President | 5 years, eligible for re-election | 67 |
| Lok Sabha | 5 years from its first meeting, unless dissolved sooner (extendable only during a proclaimed Emergency) | 83 |
| Rajya Sabha | A permanent, continuing body; one-third of members retire every two years | 83 |
| Governor | 5 years, holds office at the President's pleasure regardless | 156 |
| Judge, Supreme Court | Until age 65 | 124 |
| Judge, High Court | Until age 62 | 217 |
| CAG | 6 years or until age 65, whichever is earlier | 148 |
| Chairman/Member, UPSC | 6 years or until age 65, whichever is earlier | 316 |
| Chief Election Commissioner/Election Commissioners | 6 years or until age 65, whichever is earlier | 324 |
| Finance Commission | As specified by the President in the order constituting it | 280 |
| Functionary | Salary determined by | Article |
|---|
| President | Parliament (charged on the Consolidated Fund of India) | 59 |
| Vice-President | Parliament (charged on the Consolidated Fund of India) | 97 |
| Governor | Parliament (charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State) | 158 |
| Judges of the Supreme Court | Parliament (charged on the Consolidated Fund of India), cannot be reduced during service except during a Financial Emergency | 125 |
| Judges of a High Court | Parliament (charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State) | 221 |
| CAG | Parliament, equal to a Supreme Court judge's salary | 148 |
| Functionary | Resignation submitted to | Article |
|---|
| President | Vice-President | 56 |
| Vice-President | President | 67 |
| Prime Minister/Union Ministers | President | 75 |
| Governor | President | 156 |
| Chief Minister/State Ministers | Governor | 164 |
| Speaker, Lok Sabha | Deputy Speaker | 94 |
| Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha | Speaker | 94 |
| CAG | President | 148 |
| Chairman/Member, UPSC | President | 316 |
| Functionary/Body | Removed by/dissolved by | Article |
|---|
| President | Impeachment: a resolution passed by a special majority in one House on a charge of constitutional violation, investigated and sustained by a similar special-majority resolution in the other House | 61 |
| Vice-President | Resolution of the Rajya Sabha (passed by a majority of all its then members) agreed to by the Lok Sabha, no impeachment procedure | 67 |
| Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts | Order of the President, after an address by both Houses of Parliament (each by a special majority) on grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity | 124 |
| Governor | Dismissed at any time at the pleasure of the President, no fixed procedure or grounds required | 156 |
| CAG | Same procedure as a Supreme Court judge | 148 |
| Chairman/Member, UPSC | By the President, only after the Supreme Court, on reference, finds the person guilty of misbehaviour | 317 |
| Chief Election Commissioner | Same procedure as a Supreme Court judge | 324 |
| Other Election Commissioners | By the President, on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner | 324 |
| Lok Sabha | Dissolved by the President | 85 |
| State Legislative Assembly | Dissolved by the Governor | 174 |
The recurring pattern worth holding across this whole table is that "removed like a Supreme Court judge" is the Constitution's own shorthand for the strongest, most insulated removal procedure it offers, and it is deliberately extended to the CAG and the Chief Election Commissioner specifically to protect their independence from the executive that appointed them.
| Functionary/Body | Report submitted to | Article |
|---|
| CAG (Union accounts) | President, who causes it to be laid before Parliament | 151 |
| CAG (State accounts) | Governor, who causes it to be laid before the State Legislature | 151 |
| Finance Commission | President, who causes it to be laid before Parliament | 281 |
| UPSC | President, who causes it to be laid before Parliament | 323 |
| State Public Service Commission | Governor, who causes it to be laid before the State Legislature | 323 |
| National Commission for Scheduled Castes | President, who causes it to be laid before Parliament | 338 |
| National Commission for Scheduled Tribes | President, who causes it to be laid before Parliament | 338A |
| National Commission for Backward Classes | President, who causes it to be laid before Parliament | 338B |
- Compositions: Lok Sabha max 550, Rajya Sabha max 250, State Assembly max 500/min 60, State Council max one-third of the Assembly/min 40.
- Age: 35 for President, Vice-President and Governor; 30 for Rajya Sabha and State Council; 25 for Lok Sabha and State Assembly; 18 to vote. Judges have no prescribed minimum age, only a retirement age (65 Supreme Court, 62 High Court).
- Oaths: the President's own oath is administered by the CJI; everyone the President appoints at the Union level (Vice-President via the President directly, PM and ministers) is sworn in by the President; the equivalent state-level offices are sworn in by the Governor, except High Court judges, whose oath is administered by the Governor even though the President appoints them.
- Term: 5 years is the standard political term (President, Vice-President, Lok Sabha, Governor); "6 years or age 65, whichever is earlier" is the standard formula for CAG, UPSC and the Election Commission alike.
- Salary: Parliament fixes the salary of every one of these offices, Union or state, since all such salaries are charged on a Consolidated Fund rather than voted annually.
- Removal: "removed like a Supreme Court judge" (a special-majority parliamentary address on proved misbehaviour) is the Constitution's strongest removal safeguard, extended deliberately to the CAG and the CEC to insulate them from the executive; the Governor sits at the opposite extreme, removable at the President's pleasure with no grounds needed at all.
- Reports: the pattern is consistently President-to-Parliament for Union-level bodies and Governor-to-State-Legislature for the equivalent state-level bodies.