In the GST Council, what is the voting weightage of the Central Government?

Explanation

Article 279A of the Constitution sets up the GST Council and fixes how its decisions are carried. A GST Council decision needs a majority of at least three-fourths of the weighted votes of members present and voting. Within that weighted voting system, the Central Government's vote has one-third of the total votes cast, while all State Governments together have two-thirds. That is why the Centre has a defined constitutional share but cannot, by itself, carry a resolution. The arrangement is the voting detail behind the usual RAS phrase that GST works through cooperative federalism.

Why the other options are wrong

• (A) Two-thirds is assigned to all State Governments taken together, not to the Central Government.
• (C) One-half is the quorum figure for GST Council meetings under Article 279A, not the Centre's voting weightage.
• (D) One-fourth is not part of Article 279A's voting formula; the Centre's share is expressly one-third of the total votes cast.

Concept

This tests the constitutional design of the GST Council under Article 279A. It recurs in RAS because GST is a key example of fiscal federalism and Centre-State decision-making.

Source

• Legislative Department, Government of India - The Constitution of India

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