<P> Affecting the Westminster system for governing the state, the union government is mainly composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, in which all powers are vested by the Constitution in Parliament, the Prime Minister and the Supreme Court . The President of India is the Head of State and the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces while the elected Prime Minister acts as the chief executive (of the executive branch) and is responsible for running the union government . There is a bicameral Parliament with the Lok Sabha as a lower house and the Rajya Sabha as an upper house . The judicial branch systematically contains an apex Supreme Court, 24 high courts, and several district courts, all inferior to the Supreme Court . </P> <P> 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 Indian Penal Code, and the Criminal Procedure Code . Similar to the union government, individual state governments each consist of executive, legislative and judicial branches . The legal system as applicable to the union and individual state governments is based on the English Common and Statutory Law . 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, and both names appears on legal banknotes, in treaties and in legal cases . The Union Government, Central Government or Government of India (Bharat Sarkar) are often used in an official and unofficial capacity to refer to the Government of India . Because the seat of government is in New Delhi, "New Delhi" is commonly used as a synonym for the Central Government . </P> <P> The powers of the legislative branch in India are exercised by Parliament, bicameral legislature consisting of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha . Of the two houses of Parliament, the former is considered to be the upper house or the Council of States and consists of members appointed by the President and elected by the state and territorial legislatures . The latter is considered the lower house or the House of the people . </P> <P> Parliament does not have complete control and sovereignty, as its laws are subject to judicial review by the Supreme Court of India . However, it does exercise some control over the executive branch . The members of the cabinet, including the prime minister and the Council of Ministers, are either chosen from parliament or elected thereto within six months of assuming office . The cabinet as a whole is responsible to the Lok Sabha . The Lok Sabha is a temporary house and can only be dissolved when the party in power loses the support of the majority of the house . Whereas the Rajya Sabha is a permanent house which can never be dissolved by the members of the Rajya Sabha who are elected for a six - year term . </P>

Indian administrative structure at centre and state levels