Ch2 -The Union Executive President and Vice-President
The president of India holds the highest elective office in India. The union
executive in India consists of the president, the vice-president, the prime minister
and the union council of ministers. The president is the nominal executive, which
means he/she only holds some ceremonial powers. The prime minister is the real
executive. It is the prime minister who takes all the important decisions for the
country.
The President
Article 53 of the Constitution of India states that the executive power of the union
shall be vested in the president. He/ She exercises this power either directly or
through officers subordinate to him/her in accordance with the Constitution.
However, in practise the president has to abide by the decision of the council of
ministers with the prime minister as its head.
Qualifications for election
A candidate should satisfy the following requirements to contest the election to the
office of the president.
1. He/She must be a citizen of India.
2. He/She must be 35 years of age or above.
3. He/She must be eligible to be a member of the Lok Sabha.
4. He/She must not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or the
government of any state. Certain office holders, however, are permitted to stand
as presidential candidates. They are the president and vice-president, governor
of a state and ministers of union or state.
5. A person, who holds or has held office as president, is eligible for re-election to
that office subject to other provisions of the Constitution.
Composition of Electoral College
According to Article 55(3) of the Constitution of India, the election of the president
shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by
means of single transferable votes. The voting at such elections shall be done by
secret ballot. The president shall be elected by the members of an electoral college
consisting of
the elected members of both the Houses of the Parliament and
the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the states
Thus, the president is elected indirectly by the representatives of the people.
A nomination paper of a candidate for the election has to be subscribed by at
least fifty electors as proposers and at least fifty electors as seconders.
A security deposit of ₹15,000 should also be deposited along with the
nomination paper.
Procedure for Election of the President
The Indian Constitution provides for maintaining uniformity in the scale of
representation of the different states in the election of the president.
1. In order to calculate the total value of votes of all the members of the state
assembly, the population of the state is divided by the total number of elective
seats in the assembly. The resultant number is then divided by 1000. The
remainder thus obtained is the value of the vote of each member of the state
assembly. If the remainder is equal to or more than 500, then the vote of each
member is added by 1. To obtain the total value of votes of the state assembly,
the remainder thus obtained is multiplied by the total number of elected
members of the assembly.
2. The value of the vote of a Member of the Parliament (MP) is obtained by
dividing the total number of votes assigned to the Members of the Legislative
Assemblies (MLAs) of the states by the total number of the elected members of
the Parliament.
Single Transferable Vote
The president is elected according to the system of proportional representation by a
means of single transferable vote. The members of the electoral college vote by the
secret ballot system in which voters are required to cast their vote in favour of
individual candidates.
The ballot papers contain the names of the candidates contesting the
election. The voters have to indicate their preferences by marking their first
preference and the succeeding preferences with the appropriate numerals against
the names of the candidates printed on the paper.
Reasons for Indirect Election
The process of election of the president of India was considerably debated in the
Constituent Assembly. Some members favoured the system of direct election by
the people because such a system would be democratic. This was, however, not
accepted. The main reasons that influenced the deliberations of the Assembly for
determining indirect presidential election were:
• The size of the electorate in India is too big, which makes direct election
unrealistic. It is difficult to devise a suitable electoral system for the direct
election of the president.
• Direct election would be too expensive and put strain on the economy and
administrative machinery.
• A directly elected chief executive may not be content with the position of a
mere constitutional head and can claim to derive his/her authority directly from
the people So, if he/she wanted to assume real power, it would lead to a
constitutional deadlock and an inevitable clash with the cabinet or the real
executive.
Term of Office
• The president shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which
he/she takes up office.
• Even after the expiry of this term, the president shall continue to hold office
until his/her successor assumes responsibility.
Vacation of Office
• The president may submit his/her resignation letter to the vice-president. The
resignation will be communicated to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha by the vice-
president.
• The president may be removed from the office by the process of impeachment
for the violation of the Constitution.
Procedure for Impeachment of the President
The president of India may be removed before the expiry of his/her term through
the process of impeachment. The only reason for the impeachment of the president
is violation of the Constitution.
• The process of impeachment may be initiated in either House of the Parliament
by first bringing the charges against him/her. The charges are contained in a
notice that has to be signed by at least one-fourth of the total members of that
House. This notice is then sent to the president and fourteen days later, it is
taken up for consideration.
• To impeach the president, a resolution has to be passed by two-third majority of
the total members of the originating House.
• It is then sent to the other House. The other House investigates the charges that
have been made. During this investigation, the president has the right to defend
himself/herself.
• If the second House also approves the charges by two-third majority of the total
members, the president stands impeached. He/She needs to vacate the office
from the date when the resolution is passed.
