Indian President Elected Method

Indian President Election:

The President of India is head of the state and ‘First Citizen’ of the Country. The post of President is taken from the UK. The method of Indian President election is taken from the Constitution of Ireland. The Indian President is elected indirectly. The main reason behind the indirect election of the President is that in India there is a Parliamentary system, where the President is a nominal executive and the real head of executive is the Prime Minister. 

So, the members of the constituent Assembly did not find it important to spend so much money, time and resources on the election of the President. Secondly, if the Indian President would have been elected directly then there may arise conflicts between the President and Council of Ministers. 

What are the qualifications for the Indian President?

Article 58 of the Constitution mentioned the qualifications for the Indian President.
a) He shall be a citizen of India. 

b) He must attain the age of 35 years. 

c) He shall not hold any office of profit. 

d) He shall be qualified for election as a member of Parliament. 

Conditions for the Post of President

• The President should not hold any office of profit.

• The President should not be a member of either the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha or any state legislature.

• The allowance of the President should not be diminished if he still holds the office.

What is the Election Method for an Indian President?

Articles related to the election of an Indian President are described in our constitution, which are;

Article 52– Post of the President 

Article 53– Executive Power of the Union

Article 54– Election of President

Article 55– Manner of Election of President

Article 56– Tenure of the President

Article 57– Eligibility for Re-election

Article 58– Qualification for election as President

Article 59– Conditions for post of President

Article 60– Oath of President

Article 61– Impeachment of President

Article 71–  Conflict Regarding the Election of President and Vice-President

Instead of the constitution, the President Election Act was also passed in 1952 by Parliament to clarify the election procedure. According to this Act, the Presidential candidate needed at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as supporters.

Tenure and Oath of the President:

The President can hold the office for five years. He can be re-elected as president. The oath to the President is given by the Chief Justice of India.

Election of President in India is Indirect–

It implies that the Indian President is not elected directly by the public, but by an Electoral College. This electoral college consists of;

• Elected Members of Lok Sabha
• Elected Members of Rajya Sabha
• Elected Members of State Legislative Assemblies
• Elected Members of Delhi and Puducherry

Assembly Electors in Rajya Sabha= 233

Electors in Lok Sabha=543

Electors in State Assemblies=4120

Total electors= 4896

Note- Legislative Council of States does not play any role in the election.

The electors cast their vote by the Secret Ballot system, so no political party can issue a whip. (A whip is an order by a political party to its members to vote in a particular way)

Value of vote of one MLA-

In this formula, the population used is based on the 1971 census to give equal share to all states in the election of the President, as with the passage of time the population of northern states increased while the population of southern states was very much controlled.

Value of vote of one MP-

This formula is based on the principle that the total votes of all MPs equals the total votes of MLAs of all State Legislative Assembly.

In order to win the election candidates have to secure Quota value in the election.

Single Vote–   It means that one voter has only one vote to cast.

Preferences-   In the Indian President election, electors have to give rankings to the candidates according to their preferences. If any candidate fails to get the majority in the election, then the least voted candidate is removed from the election and his votes are transferred to other candidates according to second preferences. So this is called a Transferable Vote.

In India, Presidential elections generally finish in the 1 round where one candidate gets the majority.

But in 1969, there was also round 2 when V.V. Giri got only 50.9% votes, while Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy got 49.1%.

Impeachment Process of the President:

According to Article 61 of the Constitution, the President can be removed from his or her post by impeachment. The process of impeachment is mentioned as follows:

The process of impeachment can either be started in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. In order to start this resolution, it needs 1/4 of the votes.

Let us suppose that the resolution of impeachment is started in the Lok Sabha. When it is passed with a 2/3 majority, it will be sent to the Rajya Sabha for investigation.

The President has been given notice within 14 days of the resolution so that he can represent him in front of the investigating house, which is the Rajya Sabha.

If the Rajya Sabha finds the guilty and again passes the resolution with a 2/3 majority, then the President is removed from his post.

Some facts:

1. Both elected and nominated members of Parliament are allowed to take part in the impeachment of the President.
2. It is to be noted that no President has been impeached until now.