President of India
We have adopted the British model of parliamentary form of Government. In a parliamentary
system there exists two executives-nominal and real. The president is the nominal executive
and the cabinet headed by the prime minister is the real executive. The union executive
consists of the president, prime minister and council of ministers.
India is a republic. The head of the nation is an elected president. All the executive
powers of the union government is vested in the president. According to article 52 of the
constitution, there shall be a President for the union of India. Article 53 of the constitution
says that the executive power of the union is vested in the president and shall be exercised
by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with the
constitution.
Qualifications:-article 58 of the constitution prescribes the following qualifications for the
office of the President-
1. Must be a citizen of India
2. Must have completed 35 years of age.
3. He must possess all qualifications prescribed for election as a member of lok sabha.
4. He must not hold any office of profit under the union or state governments at the time of
his election.
A candidate's name should be proposed by at least 50 electors and seconded by 50
electors. The candidate should also deposit rupees 15000 as security deposit.
Election procedure:-article 54 speaks about the election of the president of India.
According to this article the president is elected indirectly through an electric college. The
electoral college consists of the elected members of the parliament and elected members of
the state legislative assemblies. The nominated members of parliament and legislative
assemblies are not allowed to cast their vote in the presidential election. Article 55 provides
the formula for the election of the president. The value of votes of MLAs and MP's are
obtained as follows-
Total number of votes to be cast by an elected MLA =
Population of the state 1000
Total number of MLA's
Total number of votes to be caste by an elected MP=
Total number of votes assigned to all elected MLA's
Total number of elected MPs
Election commission of India conducts the election of the president. Any disputes regarding
the presidential election is settled by Supreme court of India.
The election of the president will be held by secret ballot. This is single transferable
preferential voting system. The votersal mark the preferences 1,2,3,..... and so on, in the
ballot against the names of the candidates. To win the election a candidate get a fixed quota
of votes.
Term of office:-the president is elected for a period of 5 years. He is eligible for re-election.
The president may resign before the expiry of his term. Resignation must be addressed to
the vice president who immediately communicates it to the speaker of the lok sabha.
Removal:- The president may be removed from office for the violation of the Constitution by
a process of impeachment. The impeachment process may start in either of the two houses
of the parliament. The house initiates the process by leveling the charges against the
president. 14 days notice has to be given to the president signed by 1/4th of the total number
of members of the house. A resolution to impeach the president has to be passed by a ⅔
majority of the total number of 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 process
the president has the right to defend himself through an authorised counsel. If the second
house also approves the charges, the president stands impeached.
Emoluments:-the President of India receives a monthly salary of rupees 5 lakhs.
Rashtrapati bhavan is the official residence of the president.It is the largest presidential
palace in the world. His salary is paid from the consolidated fund of India. He gets such
other allowances as determined by the law of the Parliament
Oath taking:-before taking charge the president elect is required to take and oath. the
Chief justice of India administers the oath of office.
Powers and functions of the president:-constitutionally President of India enjoys
enormous powers. but in actual practice he does not exercises anypower. he is bind by the
advice of the council of ministers headed by the prime minister. the powers of the president
may be classified into two categories-normal powers and emergency powers. the following
are the important powers and functions of the president of India.
