State

As per Indian Constitution, Kerala Government has three estates namely the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. Each estate has its own functions to perform.

 

Legislature is the law-making body. Kerala follows a unicameral legislative system, i.e. there is only one house for State legislature; namely the Legislative Assembly. The total members in the Kerala legislative assembly is 141. Of these, 140 are elected directly by the people on the basis of adult suffrage and one member is nominated from the Latin Community, which falls under the minority category. The members of the Legislative Assembly elect one of the members as it's Speaker and another as Deputy Speaker. The Speaker presides over the meetings of the House and conducts the business of the government. In his absence, the Deputy Speaker performs the duties of the speaker.

 

The Governor appoints the leader of the majority party in the Legislative Assembly as the Chief Minister. The other ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister is the head of the elected Government and heads the Council of Ministers. The council of ministers is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly.

 

Judiciary is separated from the Executive and the Legislature and the Constitution provides an independent and impartial Judiciary. The judiciary comprises the Kerala High Court and a system of lower courts. The high court holds the seats of Chief Justice and 26 permanent and two additional temporary justices. The High Court of Kerala is the apex court for the State and also hears cases from the Union Territory of Lakshadweep.

 

Auxiliary authorities known as panchayats for which elections are  held in every five years, govern local affairs. After the 74th Amendmend of the Constitution, Kerala is following a three-tier panchayat Raj system, comprising District Panchayat, Block Panchayat and Village Panchayat.