Daily Current Affairs UPSC: News Based MCQs Quiz | 22nd July 2025

Answer: (B) 2 only

Detailed Explanation

• Article 64: The Vice-President to be ex officio Chairman of the Council of States.—The Vice-President shall be ex officio Chairman of the Council of the States and shall not hold any other office of profit:
• Provided that during any period when the Vice-President acts as President or discharges the functions of the President under article 65, he shall not perform the duties of the office of Chairman of the Council of States and shall not be entitled to any salary or allowance payable to the Chairman of the Council of States under article 97.

Answer: (A) Only one

Detailed Explanation

Answer: (A) 1 only

Detailed Explanation

• NISAR is a sun-synchronous satellite.

Answer: (D) Statutory and may be elevated to Constitutional

Detailed Explanation

• The legal status of the right to vote has been a subject matter of debate in various cases in our country. In the N. P. Ponnuswami case (1952), a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held that the right to vote is a statutory right and subject to limitations imposed by it. In the Jyoti Basu case (1982), the court reiterated that the right to vote is neither a fundamental right nor a common law right but a simple statutory right. Subsequently in many cases, the same ratio was followed and upheld by the court. In the PUCL case (2003), Justice P. V. Reddy observed that the right to vote, if not a fundamental right, is certainly a ‘constitutional right.’
• However, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the Kuldip Nayar case (2006), again held that right to vote is only a statutory right.
• In the Raj Bala case (2015), a division bench of the Supreme Court, based on the ratio in the PUCL case, held that the right to vote is a constitutional right. However, in the Anoop Baranwal case (2023), the majority opinion, reiterated the judgment in the Kuldip Nayarcase, that the right to vote is only a statutory right. Hence, the current legal status of the right to vote is that it is a statutory right.
• Justice Ajay Rastogi, in his partial dissent in Anoop Baranwal, noted that the right to vote is an expression of the choice of the citizen, which is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a). Right to vote is intrinsic to free and fair elections that is part of the basic structure of the Constitution. Even if not considered a fundamental right, this right originates from Article 326 of the Constitution and is shaped by statutes made by Parliament. Considering these factors, the Supreme Court may consider elevating the status of right to vote into a constitutional right.

Answer: (B) Mining

Detailed Explanation

Answer: (B) 2 only

Detailed Explanation