Head of the state, Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and the titular leader of a country—being the President of India has its own perks and charm. A fascinating post for any citizen of India, we can’t help but wonder how the president of India is elected for the topmost job. It’s a simple, but lengthy process. In July 2012, we elected Mr. Pranab Mukherjee as the 13th president of India. His term ends on July 24 this year. This means the voters are all set to elect the 14th President of India!
Here’s all that you ought to know about presidential elections 2017.
5 Facts about Presidential Elections in India Revealed…
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The Electoral College Elects the Indian President.
For those who don’t know, the Indian president is indirectly elected by the members of Electoral College: a body that comprises of the lawmakers. The Electoral College contains—
- Few selected MPs from both the Houses of the Indian Parliament (Rajya Sabha + Lok Sabha),
- The elected MLAs of every state (there are 29 states in India), New Delhi—the capital of India and the union territory of Pondicherry.
As of 2017, there are 4120 MLAs and 776 MPs in the Electoral College, which has a total strength of 10, 98,882 votes. The winning candidates need to have majority votes, that is 5, 49,442.
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The Statutory Process of Electing a President is Complicated.
The presidential elections are guided by the Article 55 of the Constitution of India. The nominated candidates have to be approved by 50 voters as proposers and seconders each. The manner of election is of ‘proportional representation’ (equal representation of all classes and groups).
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Since the Entire Country cannot Vote for The President, We’ve Decided upon a Peculiar ‘Vote Quota’ System.
Knowing that it’s impossible to involve all citizens in the most important elections of the country, the Indian constitution defines a unique ‘vote quota’ system. Under this system, all MLAs and MPs have fixed value of votes, which is calculated according to the census of 1971.
We consider the census of 1971 because the number of seats in each house of the Parliament including legislative assemblies for various states was specified in 1971. The old rule states that the areas having a population of 10 lakhs would get an MP. Accordingly, the number of MP/MLAs was decided for each area.
The 84th Amendment of 2001 froze the number of seats as per the census of 1971. The number may rise/dip in 2026, in accordance with the census of 2021.
The value of the votes of an MLA is calculated as follows:
- The total population of a state (in 1971) divided by (1000 x total number of MLAs for that state). If the number is higher than 500, the candidate gets an extra vote.
The value of the votes of an MP is calculated as:
- The total value of votes of all MLAs of the country divided by the number of MPs elected in both the houses of Parliament. The worth of the state vote is calculated by multiplying the number of MLAs elected in a state with the vote worth of 1 MLA.
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Voting Takes Place on a Ballot Paper.
The ballot paper of presidential election contains two columns. The first column has candidate name whereas the second is left blank. The voter can indicate his or her order of preference. The vote is cast before the current president leaves the office because the country shouldn’t remain without a president even for a day. If at all an emergency occur, the vice president or the Chief Justice of India may step into the President’s shoes.
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The Vote is Transferable until we Get a Candidate with Majority Votes.
A person who is the first preference of most members doesn’t become the president. The total number of valid votes decides the majority. To calculate the number, we divide the number of valid votes by 2 and then add 1 to it. For example: if 10000 people have preferred candidate ‘x’, their preference is equal to 5,001 votes or (1000/2)+1 votes.
Since the winner ought to get 5, 49,442 votes, if the candidates fail to achieve the vote quota, the members remove the candidate having the least number of votes. Fresh voting is conducted where voters decide their third preference. The cycle is repeated until we get the winning candidate.
So, this is how voters elect the president of India. The newly elected president takes his oath in the presence of Chief Justice of India or the most senior judge of the Supreme Court of India. After the country declares the new president, he/she shifts to the Rashtrapati Bhawan near Raisina Hill in New Delhi, to serve his term that lasts for 5 years.
