The Constitution of the Republic came into effect on 26 January 1950. The Constitution provides for single and uniform citizenship for the whole nation and confers the right to vote on every person who is a citizen of India and 18 years of age or older. The Fundamental Rights of every Indian citizen include the freedom of speech, expression, belief, assembly and association, migration, and choice of occupation or trade. These rights also protect every Indian from discrimination on grounds of race, religion, creed or sex, and are enforceable in courts of law. The executive authority is responsible to the elected representatives of the people in the Parliament for all its decisions and actions.
Sovereignty rests ultimately with the people.
The Parliament is bi-cameral. The Council of States consists of not more than 250 members, of whom 12 are nominated by the President of India and the rest elected. It is not subject to dissolution, one-third of its members retiring at the end of every second year. The elections to the Council are indirect. The allotted quota of representatives of each State are elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly of that State, in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.