Which one of the following is a feature of our Constitution? (A) Adoption of universal adult suffrage. (B) Equal rights to all citizens. (C) Special privileges for the socially disadvantaged Indians. Choose the correct option.

The correct answer is D, Section 62(5). Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 says that no person shall vote at any election while he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police. A person held in preventive detention is the exception, and such a voter may use a postal ballot. The Supreme Court has upheld the provision, treating the right to vote as a statutory right that the law may restrict. The rest of Section 62 settles who may vote at all: only an elector whose name is on the roll, and only once in a constituency. A is wrong because the Act has no Section 72(5) barring a prisoner from voting. B is wrong because Section 10 deals with disqualification for holding an office under a government company. C is wrong because Section 15 deals with the notification for a general election to a state legislative assembly. Exam tip: link the pair - prisoners cannot vote, Section 62(5) of the RPA, 1951.

The correct answer is B, Manipur. Manipur was the first part of India to hold an election on universal adult franchise, when its state assembly was elected in 1948 under the Manipur State Constitution Act of 1947. Every adult of the princely state, woman and man alike, could vote, and this happened before the Constitution of India came into force and before the first general election of 1951-52. The assembly worked until Manipur merged with the Indian Union in 1949; the area became a Union Territory in 1956 and a full state in 1972. A is wrong because Assam was a British province and first voted on adult franchise in the general election of 1951-52. C is wrong because Bihar, also a British province, voted in that same first general election. D is wrong because Tripura, though a princely state, held no such election before its merger in 1949. Exam tip: Manipur 1948 came first, while the first all India general election was held in 1951-52.

The correct answer is B, parliamentary. India follows the parliamentary system, taken from Britain, in which the real executive is responsible to the legislature. The President is the nominal head of state, while the Council of Ministers led by the Prime Minister exercises real power and stays in office only while it holds the confidence of the Lok Sabha. Ministers are drawn from Parliament, the government falls if a no-confidence motion is passed, and the Prime Minister can advise the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. A is wrong because the Constitution is federal in structure with unitary features, which describes the division of powers between the centre and the states, not the form of government. C is wrong because India is a republic, so the head of state is elected and not a hereditary monarch. D is wrong because in a presidential system the executive is separate from and not answerable to the legislature, as in the United States. Exam tip: separate the two ideas - federal with a unitary bias describes the structure, parliamentary describes the government.

The correct answer is D, Irish. The Directive Principles of State Policy, in Part IV of the Constitution from Articles 36 to 51, were taken from the Constitution of Ireland, which had in turn drawn the idea from Spain. They set out goals for the state in making law and policy, such as equal pay for equal work, a living wage, free and compulsory education for children, village panchayats and the protection of monuments. They are not enforceable in a court, which is how they differ from the Fundamental Rights, but Article 37 calls them fundamental in the governance of the country. A is wrong because the idea of a single citizenship came from Britain, not Norway, which lent nothing of note. B is wrong because Australia gave the concurrent list, freedom of trade and commerce and the joint sitting. C is wrong because Spain is only the earlier source for Ireland, not the direct one for India. Exam tip: remember the chain - the Directive Principles reached India from Ireland, and the method of electing the President also comes from there.

The correct answer is C, Sarkaria commission. The Sarkaria Commission said the Governor should be a detached figure chosen without regard to party, and ideally someone who has not taken an active part in politics in the recent past or belonged to the ruling party at the centre. It was set up in 1983 under Justice R S Sarkaria to review centre-state relations and reported in 1988. It also advised that the Chief Minister of the state be consulted before a Governor is appointed, that Article 356 be used only as a last resort, and that the Inter-State Council be set up, which was done in 1990. A is wrong because the Fazal Ali Commission of 1953 was the States Reorganisation Commission on state boundaries. B is wrong because the Rajamannar Committee of 1969 was appointed by Tamil Nadu, not by the Union. D is wrong because the Mandal Commission of 1979 dealt with reservation for backward classes. Exam tip: tie the names - Sarkaria 1983 for centre-state relations, Punchhi 2007 for the same subject later.