Context: Uttarakhand Chief Minister (CM) Trivendra Singh Rawat tendered his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya.

About the post of CM:

• Appointment:
  • According to the Constitution of India, the Governor is a state's head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister.
  • Following elections to the State Legislative Assembly in a state, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government.
  • The governor appoints and swears in the chief minister, whose Council of Ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly.
• Eligibility:

The Constitution of India sets the principle qualifications one must meet to be eligible to the office of the chief minister. A chief minister must be:

• a citizen of India.
• should be a member of the state legislature. If a person is elected chief minister who is not a member of the legislature, then he/she must take a sign from the governor.
• of 25 years of age or more
• An individual who is not a member of the legislature can be considered as the chief minister provided he/she gets himself/herself elected to the State Legislature within six months from the date of their appointment. Failing which, he/she would cease to be the chief minister.

• Election:
  • The chief minister is elected through a majority in the state legislative assembly.
  • This is procedurally established by the vote of confidence in the legislative assembly, as suggested by the governor of the state who is the appointing authority. They are elected for five years.
  • The chief minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the governor.
• Resignation:
  • In the event of a Chief Minister's resignation, which conventionally occurs after a general election or during a phase of assembly majority transition, the outgoing Chief minister holds the informal title of "caretaker" chief minister until the Governor either appoints a new chief minister or dissolves the assembly.
  • Since the post is not constitutionally defined, the caretaker chief minister enjoys all the powers of a regular chief minister, but cannot make any major policy decisions or cabinet changes during his/her short tenure as caretaker.

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/uttarakhand-cm-rawat-resigns/article34032340.ece

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