The framers of India's constitution were heavily influenced by the English system; thus they adopted the parliamentary form of government. There are more parliamentary forms of government than presidential forms in the world. In this system, the Parliament is generally supreme and the executive is responsible to the legislature. It is also known as cabinet form of government.

Features of Parliamentary System:

(i) The Prime Minister along with the Council of Ministers form the executive and the Parliament is the legislature. The prime minister and ministers are chosen from the members of parliament, which means that the executive is made up of the legislature.

(ii) The executive is responsible to the legislature. There is collective responsibility, that is, the responsibility of each minister is of the whole council.

(iii) There are two authorities – the real executive and the nominal executive. The nominal executive is the head of state (president or monarch) while the real executive is the prime minister, who is the head of government.

(iv) A pre-requisite of this form of government is that the proceedings of the cabinet are secret and not open to the public.

(v) The leader of this type of government is the Prime Minister. Normally, the leader of the party that commands a majority in the lower house is appointed as the PM.

(vi) Most of the parliamentary democracies follow bicameral legislature.

(vii) The tenure of the government depends on the support of its majority in the lower house. If the government does not win the no-confidence motion, then the Council of Ministers must resign. Elections will be held and a new government will be formed.