Under the GST Council (Article 279A), the voting weight of the Central Government and State Governments is:

Explanation

Article 279A makes the GST Council a joint forum of the Centre and the States. Its decisions are not taken by a simple headcount: every decision must secure a majority of not less than three-fourths of the weighted votes of members present and voting. In that weighted system, the Centre’s vote carries one-third of the total weight, while the votes of all State Governments together carry two-thirds. This is why option C is correct. The design matters because it prevents either side from treating the Council as an ordinary one-member-one-vote body, while still making States collectively the larger voting bloc in GST decision-making.

Why the other options are wrong

• (A) It reverses the constitutional weighting: the Centre does not have two-thirds weight; that collective weight belongs to the States.
• (B) Article 279A uses weighted votes, so the Centre and each State do not simply have equal voting strength.
• (D) The voting split is not half-and-half; the Centre has one-third weight and the States together have two-thirds.

Concept

This tests constitutional bodies and fiscal federalism under Article 279A. It recurs in RAS because GST Council voting is a standard example of cooperative federalism in Union-State financial relations.

Source

• Goods and Services Tax Council

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