Compare and contrast the veto of the President of India with that of his counterpart in the United States of America.
President of India is a ceremonial institution while the American President has real powers. The veto powers of the Indian President are absolute (rejection), suspensive (returning the Bill for repassage after which it is binding on the President to assent to it) and pocket veto which is not giving a decision as there is no time limit for giving the decision. There is a consensus of opinion in India that Presidential veto is exercisable only on the advice of the Council of Ministers (Art.74) as ours is a British type of Westminster system of parliamentary democracy.
After the Congress passes a bill, the President may take no action on the bill for ten days. It then becomes law. Congress must be in session for a bill to become law in this way. A bill dies after ten days if the President ignores it while Congress is not in session. It is called pocket veto. Congress cannot override a pocket veto. Thus, it is an absolute veto.
Second, the president can issue a regular veto, sending a message to Congress that the bill is unacceptable. Congress can override a presidential veto when at least two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and Senate vote to do so. The bill becomes law after a Congressional override.
