How are the president and the vice-president elected?
Answers
Answer:
Article 54 of the Indian Constitution discusses the election of the President. It says that the President shall be elected by the members of an electoral college, which consists of the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament, and the Legislative Assemblies of the States and the two Union Territories, namely Delhi and Puducherry. The election of the President is held in accordance with a system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote. He can be re-elected to the office of the President.
Composition of the Electoral College for the Election of the President:
The President is elected an Electoral College which consists of:
(a) The elected members of both the Houses of the Union Parliament (All elected MPs), and
(b) The elected members of all State Legislative Assemblies (All elected MLAs). The nominated members of the Parliament and Legislative Assemblies have been denied a share in the Presidential election.
Method of Election of the President:
The Constitution lays down that President of India is to be elected indirectly by an electoral college in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote system and secret ballot. “It specifies two principles for ensuring uniformity and parity in the value of votes of MPs and MLAs.
(i) There is uniformity in the scale of representation of all States:
For securing this objective, the Constitution provides that the value of vote of an MLA of each state is to be in proportion to the population of that state.
In order to determine this, the following formula is used:
Value of vote of an MLA of a State = Total Population of State/Number of Elected MLAs of State ÷1000
By using the formula the value of vote of each MLA of each state is calculated and then the total value of votes of all the MLAs of all the States is aggregated.
(ii) There is parity in the value of votes of all MPs and all MLAs:
For securing parity between the States and the Union, it has been laid down that the total value of votes of all the elected members of Parliament (MPs) shall be equal to the total value of votes of all the MLAs of all states.
This is determined by the following formula:
Value of Vote of an MP = Total value of votes of all MLAs of all States/Total Number of Elected MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
(iii) A Fixed Quota of Votes for a Win:
In order to win a Presidential election, a candidate has to secure a minimum fixed quota of votes which is calculated as follows
Winning Quota = Total number of valid votes Polled/ number of seats + 1 i.e. 1 + 1 +1
(iv) Single Vote System:
In a Presidential election, each voter casts only one vote. However, its value differs from voter to voter. The value of vote of an MP is uniformly the same while the value of vote of an MLA differs from state to state. As for example, the value of vote of an MP from Odisha, like every other MP is the same (around 708) but the value of vote of an MLA from Odisha is different.
(v) Indication of Preferences by the electors:
Each member of the Presidential electoral college while, casting his vote also indicates his preferences I, II, III, IV, V and so on. His vote goes to the candidate to whom he gives his first preference vote. But in case that candidate fails to win the required winning quota and no other candidate also gets the required winning quota of votes, his vote is transferred to the candidate to whom he has given his second preference vote and so on.
(vi) Provision for Transfer of Votes in case no candidate gets the required winning quota of Votes:
When in a Presidential election no candidate gets the required winning quota of votes in the First count, which is done by counting the first preference votes secured by each candidate, the candidate with the lowest number of votes polled gets eliminated. His votes are then transferred to the remaining candidates on the basis of the second preferences as recorded by ‘his voters’.
The process is repeated till one of the contesting candidates secures the required winning quota. This transfer system was used only once at the time of the Fifth Presidential election held in 1969.