How is the President of India Elected? Eligibility and Conditions for the Candidate for the President of India: Article 58 of the Indian Constitution sets the principle qualifications forbecoming the President of India. Accordingly the person to be elected as the President of India must be: a citizen of India of 35 years of age or above qualified to become a member of the Lok Sabha A person shall not be eligible for election as President if he/she holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State or under any local or other authority subject to the control of any of the said Governments, except the following: The current Vice President. The Governor of any State. A Minister of the Union or of any State. The President of India should not: Be a member of either House of Parliament or Be a member of a House of the Legislature of any State ,and if a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of the Legislature of any State be elected President, he shall be deemed to have vacated his seat in that House on the date on which he enters upon his office as President. Hold any other office of profit. Procedures for Election of the President of India: The manner of election of President of India is as per Article 55 of the Constitution of India. Whenever the office becomes vacant, the new President is chosen by an electoral college consisting of: the elected members of both houses of Parliament and the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies. The President of India is elected indirectly by the members of the Indian Parliament and by the individual States' Legislative Assemblies. The election is held in accordance to the system of Proportional Representation by means of Single Transferable Vote method. Each elector casts a different number of votes. The general principle is that the total number of votes cast by Members of Parliament equals the total number of votes cast by State Legislators. Also, legislators from larger states cast more votes than those from smaller states. Finally, the number of legislators in a state matters; if a state has fewlegislators, then each legislator has more votes; if a state has manylegislators, then each legislator has fewer votes. The actual calculation for votes cast by a particular state is calculated by dividing the state's population by 1000, which is divided again by the number of legislators from the State voting in the Electoral College. This number is the number of votes per legislator in a given state. For votes cast by those in Parliament, the total number of votes cast by all state legislators is divided by the number of members of both Houses of Parliament. This is the number of votes per member of either house of Parliament. The Voting will take place by secret ballot system. Although, Indian presidential elections involve actual voting by Members of the Parliaments (MP'S) and the Members of the Legislative Assemblies (M.L.A.'s) , they will tend to vote for the candidate supported by their respective parties.

About Vice President of India

Role of the Vice President

According to the Constitution of India, the office of the Vice President is the second highest constitutional post in independent India. The Vice President is the 'ex-officio' Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. The office of the Vice President in India is complementary to that of the President, in that, the Vice President takes over the role of the President in the latter’s absence. In other words, the role of the Vice President is to assist the President in being the nominal head of the Republic of India. However, one must remember that the office of the President and the Vice President cannot be combined in one person, as per the Constitution of India.


Powers and Functions of the Vice President


The Vice President of India, after the President, is the highest dignitary of India, and certain powers are attached to the office of the Vice President. These are:

• The Vice President shall discharge the functions of the President during the temporary absence of the President due to illness or any other cause due to which the President is unable to carry out his functions.
• The Vice President shall act as the President, in case of any vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation, removal through impeachment or otherwise. The Vice President shall take over the duties of the President until a new President is elected and resumes office.
• The Vice President is the ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States.
• When the Vice President acts as, or discharges the functions of the President, he or she immediately ceases to perform the normal functions of being the Chairman of the Council of States.

The qualifications needed to become a Vice President of India are the following:

• He or she must be a citizen of India.
• He or she must be over 35 years of age.
• He or she must not hold any office of profit.
• He or she must be qualified for election as a Member of the Rajya Sabha or the Council of States.

Salary of the Vice President

The Vice President is entitled to receiving the salary of the Chairman of the Council of States, which presently amounts to Rs 1,25,000 per month. However, when the Vice President performs the functions of the President or discharges the duties of the President, in the latter’s temporary absence, he is entitled to the salary as well as special privileges of the President.

Facilities for the Vice President

The Vice President, unlike the President, is not entitled to any special emoluments and privileges during his term of office. However, when he discharges the duties of the President in the latter’s absence, the Vice President enjoys all the benefits that are enjoyed by the President, during that tenure.

Selection Process of the Vice President

Like the election of the President, the election of the Vice President is indirect and in accordance with the system of proportional representation, through the concept of a single transferable vote by secret ballot. The electoral college, which consists of members of both houses of the Parliament, cast their votes to elect the Vice President. However, there is a slight difference in the election of the Vice President and that of the President. The members of the State Legislatures have no role to play in the election of the Vice President, unlike that of the President.

The Election Commission of India, which holds elections in the country, is responsible for ensuring that free and fair elections to the post of a Vice President are held in the following steps:

• A Returning Officer who is appointed for the elections, sends out public notices issuing the date of election to the office of the Vice President. The elections for the same must be held within a period of 60 days of the expiry of the term of office of the previous Vice President.
• The nomination of candidates to the office of a Vice President must be affirmed by 20 electors (Members of Parliament) who act as proposers, and 20 electors who act as seconders.
• Each candidate must deposit a total of Rs 15,000 to the Reserve Bank of India, as part of the nomination process.
• The Returning Officer carefully scrutinises and adds to the ballot, the names of all eligible candidates.
• The elections are then held by proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote. The nominated candidates can also cast their votes.
• The Returning Officer declares the results to the electoral college, the Central Government and the Election Commission of India, respectively. The name of the Vice President is then officially announced by the Central Government.

Duty Term or Period of the Vice President

The office of the Vice President is for a period of five years. There is no fixed retirement age to the Vice President, as he or she can remain in the post for five years. However, he or she can be re-elected as the Vice President for any number of times. The office of the Vice President can also terminate earlier before the fixed five-year term, either by resignation or by removal by the President. There is no formal process of impeachment for the removal of the Vice President, and a removal proceeding can be initiated when members of the Rajya Sabha vote against the Vice President in an effective majority and members of Lok Sabha agree to this decision in a simple majority. A total of 14 days advance notice must be given prior to the initiation of the removal proceedings of the Vice President. In such cases, when a temporary vacancy in the office of the Vice President is created, the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha takes over the role of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Pension of the Vice President

Although there is no particular fixed pension in the Constitution for the Vice President of India, according to the Vice President’s Pension Act of 1997, the pension of the Vice President is half of the salary that he/she is entitled to, during his term of office.

Residence of the Vice President

Unlike the President, the Vice President is not allotted any special residential privileges while in office. While the President of India stays in the Rastrapati Bhavan, the Vice President is not subject to any such benefits during his or her tenure as the Vice President.

Interesting Facts

• Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the first Vice President of independent India, elected to the office in 1952.
• The only Vice President to be re-elected for a second term was Dr. S Radhakrishnan, who again became the Vice President in the year 1957.
• No Vice President, in the history of independent India, has had to face removal proceedings before the expiry of the term of office.
• K R Narayanan, Shankar Dayal Sharma, R Venkataraman, V V Giri, Zakir Hussain and Dr. S Radhakrishnan, each of whom was a President of India at different points in time, remained Vice Presidents before they were elected as Presidents.
• The present Vice President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, has served as an ambassador to many countries across the world, such as U.A.E, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran and others

How is the Prime Minister Appointed or Elected in India?

Jawaharlal Nehru - The first Prime Minister of India.

At the outset, I would like to make it clear that the Prime Minister is always appointed and never elected in India. But, many people get confused and use the term ‘elected’. It is for this purpose that I have included ‘elected’ in the title of this Post.

Recently, India witnessed Parliamentary elections and naturally, a great number of people got curious as to how the government is formed and more importantly, how the head of the government i.e. the Prime Minister is appointed. Let us understand some of the provisions in this respect.

Constitutional Provisions

Article 74 (1) states that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President. This implies two things.

1. Prime Minister is included within the ‘Council of Ministers’.

2. ‘At the head’ clearly implies that Prime Minister is the head of the Council of Ministers.

Article 75 (1) states that the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President. This is a carte blanche power given to the President. The President has the power to appoint anyone as the Prime Minister. Thus, even a non-Member of Parliament can also be appointed as the Prime Minister.

Article 75 (5) states that a Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of either House of Parliament shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister. This supports the above-mentioned proposition that a non-Member of Parliament can also be appointed as the Prime Minister. However, such Prime Minister shall have to become a Member of Parliament before the expiry of six months period.

Article 88 states that every Minister shall have the right to speak in, and otherwise to take part in the proceedings of, either House, any joint sitting of the Houses, and any committee of Parliament of which he may be named a member, but shall not by virtue of this article be entitled to vote. Thus, a non-Member of Parliament Prime Minister is not entitled to vote.

Article 352 (3) states that the President shall not issue a Proclamation of Emergency without the consent of the Union Cabinet (that is to say, the Council consisting of the Prime Minister and other Ministers of Cabinet rank appointed under article 75). Thus, Article 352 (3) is very clear that Prime Minister is a part of the Union Cabinet as well.

There are few things that are clear by now.

1. Prime Minister is the Head of the Council of Ministers.

2. The President can appoint any person as the Prime Minister.

3. A non-Member of Parliament Prime Minister shall have to become a Member of Parliament within six months.

4. A non-Member of Parliament is not entitled to vote in the Parliament.

5. Prime Minister is an integral part of the Union Cabinet.

Parliamentary Conventions and Best Practices

As stated above, the President can appoint anyone as the Prime Minister. However, the President must remember that the Council of Ministers is directly and collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha [Article 75 (3)]. Therefore, only that person be appointed as Prime Minister who in his best judgment be acceptable to the House. In case of a clear Majority in Lok Sabha, there is no such difficulty. The well-established parliamentary practice in this respect mandates that the President has to invite the Leader of the Majority Party or Alliance to become the Prime Minister.

But, in cases where no single party or alliance commands majority in the House, the role of the President in appointing the Prime Minister becomes complicated. Again, the established parliamentary convention in this respect says that the President has to call the leader of the single largest party or alliance first and ask him/her to seek a confidence vote in the House. If he/she is able to prove his majority, he can be appointed as the Prime Minister.

Constituent Assembly on the Appointment of Prime Minister

This is what Dr. Ambedkar had to say in the Constituent Assembly on the appointment of a non-Member of Parliament as a Minister –

“Now with regard to the first point, namely, that no person shall be entitled to be appointed a Minister unless he is at the time of his appointment an elected member of the House, I think it forgets to take into consideration certain important matters which cannot be overlooked.

First is this and it is perfectly possible to imagine that a person who is otherwise competent to hold the post of a Minister has been defeated in a constituency for 'some reason and which, although it may be perfectly good, might have annoyed the constituency, and he might have incurred the displeasure of that particular constituency. It is not a reason why a member so competent as that should not be permitted to be appointed a member of the Cabinet on the assumption that he shall be able to get himself elected from the same constituency or from another constituency. After all the privileges that he is permitted is a privilege that extends only to six months.It does not confer a right on that individual to sit in the House being elected at all.

My second submission is this that the fact that a nominated Minister is a member of the Cabinet does not either violate the principle of collective responsibility nor does it violate the principle of confidence because he is a member of the cabinet if he is prepared to accept the policy of the Cabinet, stands part of the Cabinet and resigns with the Cabinet when he ceases to have the confidence of the House, his membership of the Cabinet does not in any way cause any inconvenience or breach of the fundamental principles on which parliamentary government is based. Therefore, this qualification in my judgment is quite unnecessary.”

Supreme Court on Appointment of Prime Minister

In the case of S.P. Anand v. H.D. Deve Gowda[1], the Petitioner contended that if a person who is not a member of the House is chosen as Prime Minister, national interest would be jeopardised and the country would run into a great risk. The petitioner also cited the English convention that the Prime Minister should be a member of either House, preferably House of Commons. However, the court said that:

“This is not our constitutional scheme since our Constitution clearly permits a non-member to be appointed a Chief Minister or a Prime Minister for a short duration of six months. That is why in such cases when there is any doubt in the mind of the President, he normally asks the person appointed to seek a vote of confidence of the House of the People within a few days of his appointment.”

By parity of reasoning if a person who is not a member of the State Legislature can be appointed a Chief Minister of a State under Article 164 (4) for six months, a person who is not a member of either House of Parliament can be appointed Prime Minister for the same duration.

The Court also said that conventions grow from longstanding accepted practice or by agreement in areas where the law is silent and such a convention would not breach the law but fill the gap. Thus the court held that the British Convention to which the petitioner referred to is neither in tune with our constitutional scheme nor has it been a recognised practice in our country.