Important Things You Should Know About Presidential Elections in India
The tenure of our president is going to end and Election Commission has already notified new presidential elections. As an SSB Aspirants you must know about the process of presidential election in India.
The key questions are:
- Who elects the president in India?
- What is the eligibility for presidential election?
- What is voting pattern in presidential election?
- What is the vote value of MPs and MLAs?
On 24th July, 2017 the term of president incumbent (Shri) Pranab Mukherjee is going to end officially. The nomination process has ended already.
Introduction
President of India is the head of the Union Executive. He is also the first citizen of India. The different aspects related to his power and office are included in Article 52 to 78 in part V of constitution.
In regards to his functions, the president is assisted and advised by a council of ministers (headed by PM).
Presidential Election is quite different from election of MLAs and MPs. Here, weightage system is used to bring about parity between the votes of the MPs and MLAs.
Eligibility
Conditions according to Article 58
The candidate for Presidential Election:
- Should be a citizen of India
- Should have completed the age of 35 years.
- Should meet the eligibility criteria for the election of Member of Lok Sabha (LS)
- Should not hold any office of profit under the control of Union Government or any State Government or even any local & other authority.
Conditions according to Article 59
The president should not be a member of any house of Union or State legislature.
Election Process
(Guidelines given in Article 55)
The President of India is elected by an electoral college consisting of: Elected members of the two Houses of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of the States - Article 54.
It includes the national capital territory of Delhi and the Union territory of Pondicherry.
For the nomination of a candidate for election to the office of the President, it is mandatory that his nomination is supported by at least 100 electors, i.e. 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders to the proposers.
The security deposit amount for the nomination is Rs 15, 000 which is required to be deposit in RBI. The security amount is liable to be forfeited in case the candidate fails to secure one-sixth of the votes polled.
The Presidential election in India is held in accordance with a system of "proportional representation" by means of a single transferable vote and the voting is held by a secret ballot. It simply means that, the value of the vote of each MP or MLA will be proportional to the population of the state from where he/she has been elected and secondly, the political parties cannot whip their members to vote for a particular candidate as it is through a secret ballot.
Calculation for Vote Value
There is a value given to vote of each MP and MLA.
Value of vote of MPs:
It is calculated by dividing the total value of votes of all MLAs of the complete country, divided by the total number of elected MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Value of Vote of MLAs:
It is calculated by dividing the total population of the state by the number of elected members of legislative assembly of that state, which is further divided by 1000.
As of now, the value of each MLA’s vote is fixed. The population data of 1971 Census is taken into consideration while calculating the vote value.
The maximum vote value for an MLA is for the state of Uttar Pradesh, i.e. 208, because of its highest population and minimum value of the MLA vote is in Goa, which is 08.
System of Voting
The basic difference between the system of voting for the Presidential elections and the conventional voting is that, rather giving the vote to a single person, the voters are mark the nominated candidates in the order of their preference.
Let us assume there are three candidates: ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C' in the race.The MLA/MP will vote for them as per their preference i.e. the most preferred candidate on top and the least preferred candidate to be marked at the bottom of the list.
It is mandatory that the first preference is always marked, otherwise the vote is deemed invalid. However, he/she has the choice to leave the other preferences blank.
Counting of votes
In conventional elections of MP and MLA, the candidate who gets the maximum votes are elected. However, in Presidential elections the winner is decided on the basis of a quota criterion, which is obtained by dividing the total number of valid votes by two and adding one to the quotient.
Terms and Conditions for Presidents
- The oath of office to the President is administered by the CJI (Chief Justice of India). In his absence, by the senior most judge of the Supreme Court available administer the oath process.
- An election should be held to fill the vacancy of Presidential post before the expiration of President’s term.
- The President holds office for a 5 year term from the date on which he/she enters the office.
- President can resign at any time by addressing the resignation letter to the Vice-President of India.
- When a vacancy occurs in the President’s office due to his/her death, resignation or removal or otherwise, the Vice-president acts as the President until a new President is elected.
- In case the office of Vice- President is also vacant, the Chief Justice of India or if his office is also vacant, the senior most Judge of the Supreme Court, acts as the President.
- An election to fill such vacancy should be held within six months from the date of occurrence of such vacancy. A person is eligible for re-election to Presidential office.
Hope this article was helpful. In case if you have any doubt then feel free to comment.
The key questions are:
- Who elects the president in India?
- What is the eligibility for presidential election?
- What is voting pattern in presidential election?
- What is the vote value of MPs and MLAs?
On 24th July, 2017 the term of president incumbent (Shri) Pranab Mukherjee is going to end officially. The nomination process has ended already.
Introduction
President of India is the head of the Union Executive. He is also the first citizen of India. The different aspects related to his power and office are included in Article 52 to 78 in part V of constitution.
In regards to his functions, the president is assisted and advised by a council of ministers (headed by PM).
Presidential Election is quite different from election of MLAs and MPs. Here, weightage system is used to bring about parity between the votes of the MPs and MLAs.
Eligibility
Conditions according to Article 58
The candidate for Presidential Election:
- Should be a citizen of India
- Should have completed the age of 35 years.
- Should meet the eligibility criteria for the election of Member of Lok Sabha (LS)
- Should not hold any office of profit under the control of Union Government or any State Government or even any local & other authority.
Conditions according to Article 59
The president should not be a member of any house of Union or State legislature.
Election Process
(Guidelines given in Article 55)
The President of India is elected by an electoral college consisting of: Elected members of the two Houses of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of the States - Article 54.
It includes the national capital territory of Delhi and the Union territory of Pondicherry.
For the nomination of a candidate for election to the office of the President, it is mandatory that his nomination is supported by at least 100 electors, i.e. 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders to the proposers.
The security deposit amount for the nomination is Rs 15, 000 which is required to be deposit in RBI. The security amount is liable to be forfeited in case the candidate fails to secure one-sixth of the votes polled.
The Presidential election in India is held in accordance with a system of "proportional representation" by means of a single transferable vote and the voting is held by a secret ballot. It simply means that, the value of the vote of each MP or MLA will be proportional to the population of the state from where he/she has been elected and secondly, the political parties cannot whip their members to vote for a particular candidate as it is through a secret ballot.
Calculation for Vote Value
There is a value given to vote of each MP and MLA.
Value of vote of MPs:
It is calculated by dividing the total value of votes of all MLAs of the complete country, divided by the total number of elected MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Value of Vote of MLAs:
It is calculated by dividing the total population of the state by the number of elected members of legislative assembly of that state, which is further divided by 1000.
As of now, the value of each MLA’s vote is fixed. The population data of 1971 Census is taken into consideration while calculating the vote value.
The maximum vote value for an MLA is for the state of Uttar Pradesh, i.e. 208, because of its highest population and minimum value of the MLA vote is in Goa, which is 08.
System of Voting
The basic difference between the system of voting for the Presidential elections and the conventional voting is that, rather giving the vote to a single person, the voters are mark the nominated candidates in the order of their preference.
Let us assume there are three candidates: ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C' in the race.The MLA/MP will vote for them as per their preference i.e. the most preferred candidate on top and the least preferred candidate to be marked at the bottom of the list.
It is mandatory that the first preference is always marked, otherwise the vote is deemed invalid. However, he/she has the choice to leave the other preferences blank.
Counting of votes
In conventional elections of MP and MLA, the candidate who gets the maximum votes are elected. However, in Presidential elections the winner is decided on the basis of a quota criterion, which is obtained by dividing the total number of valid votes by two and adding one to the quotient.
Terms and Conditions for Presidents
- The oath of office to the President is administered by the CJI (Chief Justice of India). In his absence, by the senior most judge of the Supreme Court available administer the oath process.
- An election should be held to fill the vacancy of Presidential post before the expiration of President’s term.
- The President holds office for a 5 year term from the date on which he/she enters the office.
- President can resign at any time by addressing the resignation letter to the Vice-President of India.
- When a vacancy occurs in the President’s office due to his/her death, resignation or removal or otherwise, the Vice-president acts as the President until a new President is elected.
- In case the office of Vice- President is also vacant, the Chief Justice of India or if his office is also vacant, the senior most Judge of the Supreme Court, acts as the President.
- An election to fill such vacancy should be held within six months from the date of occurrence of such vacancy. A person is eligible for re-election to Presidential office.
Hope this article was helpful. In case if you have any doubt then feel free to comment.
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