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UPPCS Polity Gap Sheet: Key Articles of the Constitution.

UPPCS has asked 53 of these. 3 have not been asked yet. Lock the first list, then read the second: it holds what UPPCS has not used yet.

First, the concept

The Articles follow the shape of the state: the Union first (President 52, Parliament 79, Supreme Court 124), then the States in the same order (Governor 153, Legislature 168, High Court 214), then money, services, elections and emergencies.

Learn the pairs: every Union Article has a State twin. President's pardon 72 ↔ Governor's 161; President's ordinance 123 ↔ Governor's 213; Supreme Court writs 32 ↔ High Court writs 226.

✅ Already asked (53)

Union and territory

  • Article 1 · India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States
  • Article 3 · Parliament may form new States or change boundaries and names

Union executive

  • Article 52 and 53 · There shall be a President; executive power vests in him
  • Article 54 and 55 · President's electoral college and manner of election
  • Article 61 · Impeachment of the President
  • Article 63 and 64 · Vice-President; ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
  • Article 72 · President's power to pardon
  • Article 74 · Council of Ministers to aid and advise the President
  • Article 75 · PM appointed by the President; collective responsibility to the Lok Sabha
  • Article 76 · Attorney General of India
  • Article 78 · PM's duty to keep the President informed

Parliament

  • Article 79 · Parliament = President + Rajya Sabha + Lok Sabha
  • Article 80 and 81 · Composition of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha
  • Article 85 · No more than six months between two sessions
  • Article 108 · Joint sitting of both Houses
  • Article 110 · Definition of a Money Bill; Speaker decides
  • Article 112 · Annual Financial Statement (the Budget)
  • Article 123 · President's ordinance when Parliament is not in session

Judiciary

  • Article 124 · Establishment of the Supreme Court; removal of judges
  • Article 129 · Supreme Court a court of record
  • Article 131 · Original jurisdiction: Centre–State disputes
  • Article 137 · Supreme Court may review its own judgments
  • Article 141 · Law declared by the Supreme Court binds all courts
  • Article 143 · President may seek the Supreme Court's advice
  • Article 214 and 226 · High Courts; their writ power (wider than Article 32)
  • Article 227 · High Court's superintendence over lower courts

States

  • Article 153 and 155 · Governor of each State; appointed by the President
  • Article 161 · Governor's power to pardon
  • Article 163 and 164 · State Council of Ministers; Chief Minister
  • Article 165 · Advocate General of the State
  • Article 169 · Creating or abolishing a Legislative Council
  • Article 200 and 201 · Governor's assent; Bill reserved for the President
  • Article 213 · Governor's ordinance
  • Article 371 · Special provisions for some States (371A Nagaland, 371F Sikkim…)

Centre–State, finance, services

  • Article 249 · Parliament may make law on a State List subject if the Rajya Sabha resolves (two-thirds)
  • Article 262 · Inter-State river water disputes
  • Article 263 · Inter-State Council
  • Article 265 · No tax except by authority of law
  • Article 266 and 267 · Consolidated Fund; Contingency Fund
  • Article 280 · Finance Commission, every five years
  • Article 300A · Right to property, now a legal right (44th Amendment)
  • Article 312 · All India Services; Rajya Sabha resolution
  • Article 315 · Public Service Commissions for the Union and States

Elections, groups, language, emergency

  • Article 148 · Comptroller and Auditor General
  • Article 324 · Election Commission
  • Article 326 · Adult suffrage (18 years, 61st Amendment)
  • Article 330 and 332 · Seats reserved for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies
  • Article 338, 338A, 338B · National Commissions for SCs, STs, Backward Classes
  • Article 343 · Hindi in Devanagari, the official language of the Union
  • Article 350A and 350B · Primary education in the mother tongue; Special Officer for linguistic minorities
  • Article 352, 356, 360 · National, State (President's Rule) and Financial Emergency
  • Article 368 · Power and procedure to amend the Constitution
  • Article 370 · Jammu and Kashmir; made inoperative in August 2019

❌ Not asked yet (3)

Items marked 'asked in other exams' have come in UPSC or other state exams, not yet in UPPCS.

🔒 3 items not asked yet

Union and territory: 1 · Parliament: 1 · States: 1

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⚠️ Article 32 (Supreme Court) is only for Fundamental Rights; Article 226 (High Court) covers other legal rights too, so it is wider. Article 72 is the President's pardon, 161 the Governor's. Article 356 is President's Rule, not National Emergency (352).

'Asked' and 'not asked' are checked against every UPPCS question on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.

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