Concept
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), also known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national authority of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, consisting of 28 union states and eight union territories. The government, seated in New Delhi, has three primary branches: the legislative, the executive and the judiciary, whose powers are vested in a bicameral Parliament, a Prime Minister, and the Supreme Court respectively, with a President as Head of State. Through judicial evolution, the Parliament has lost its sovereignty as its amendments to the Constitution are subject to judicial intervention. Judicial appointments are made with negligible say from the executive or legislature. The Government of India Act 1833, passed by the British parliament, is the first such act of law with the epithet "Government of India". The Government of India is modelled after the Westminster system. The Union government is mainly composed of the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, and powers are vested by the constitution in the prime minister, parliament, and the supreme court, respectively. The president of India is the head of state and the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces, whilst the elected prime minister acts as the head of the executive and is responsible for running the Union government. The parliament is bicameral in nature, with the Lok Sabha being the lower house, and the Rajya Sabha the upper house. The judiciary systematically contains an apex supreme court, 25 high courts, and several district courts, all inferior to the supreme court. The basic civil and criminal laws governing the citizens of India are set down in major parliamentary legislation, such as the civil procedure code, the penal code, and the criminal procedure code. Similar to the Union government, individual state governments each consist of executive, legislative and judiciary branches.