In India, we have the Parliamentary form of Government where the head of the state is the President while the head of government is the Prime Minister. Both the dignified posts are fulfilled by-election, conducted by the Election Commission( Article 324), but have different procedures. Here, we are going to discuss the election procedure of the President of India. With the nomination of two candidates for Presidential election, the election process has already started. Let’s deal everything in details:
Article 52 provides that there shall be a President of India.
The election of the President is regulated by the Constitution and the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 and The 1952 Act is supplemented by the provisions of the Presidential And Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974.
Who elects the President of India?
According to Article 54 of the Constitution The President is elected by an Electoral College, which consists of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all the States and also of NCT of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
Qualifications-
Article 58 provides qualifications to be the President of India.
Qualification for a person to become the President of India are:
- Must be a citizen of India,
- Must have completed 35 years of age,
- Must be eligible to be a member of the Lok Sabha,
- Should not be holding 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.
For this purpose, a person shall not be deemed to hold any office of profit by reason only that he is the President or Vice-President of the Union or the Governor of any State or is a Minister either for the Union or for any State.
Term of the Office and the time of election-
Article 56 provides that the President shall hold office for a term of 5 years from the date on which he enters upon his office. He shall, however, continue to hold office notwithstanding the expiry of his term, until his successor enters upon his office.
According to Section 4(3) Of the President And Vice -Presidential Elections Act, 1952, In the case of an election to fill a vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office of the President, the notification shall be issued on, or as soon as conveniently may be after, the sixtieth day before the expiration of the term of office, of the outgoing President and the dates shall be so appointed under the said sub–section that the election will be completed at such time as will enable the President thereby elected to enter upon his office on the day following the expiration of the term of office of the outgoing President.
Nomination of the Candidates-
A nomination paper of a candidate for the election has to be made in the prescribed form (Form 2 appended to the Presidential and Vice -Presidential Elections Rules, 1974)and it has to be subscribed by at least fifty electors as proposers and at least fifty electors as seconders. The nomination paper duly completed in all respects has to be presented to the Returning Officer, between 11 AM and 3 PM on any day other than on a public holiday appointed for the purpose by the Election Commission, either by the candidate himself or by any of his proposers or seconders. Here “Electors” mean elected MPs and elected MLAs who are electors for Presidential Election.
Security Deposit-
The Security Deposit for the election, of Rs.15000/- should also be deposited either in cash with the Returning Officer or a receipt showing that the amount has been deposited by the candidate or on his behalf in the Reserve Bank of India or in a Government Treasury should be furnished along with the nomination paper.
Value of Votes-
The manner of calculation of the value of votes is laid down in Article 55.
In the Presidential election, the value of the votes of MLAs varies from states to states. The value of votes of the MLAs of a particular state is calculated by dividing the population of that state by the total number of elected members of the Legislative Assembly of the state, and further dividing the quotient by 1000. If the remainder after division by 1000 is less than 500, that is to be ignored, and if the remainder is 500 or more, the value of vote will be increased by 1. The value of votes of the MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is the same irrespective of the state to which they belong. Value of votes in their case is determined by dividing the total value of votes of all the MLAs of all states and NCT of Delhi and Puducherry by the number of elected members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha(If the remainder after division by 1000 is less than 500, that is to be ignored, and if the remainder is 500 or more, the value of vote will be increased by 1).
e.g.-
Election structure-
The election of the President shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot. In this system, the elector has to mark preference against the names of the candidates on the ballot paper. An elector can mark as many preferences as the number of candidates in the fray. Preference has to be marked in figures only. It can be in the international form of Indian numerals (1,2,3……), or in Roman form or in the form used in any of the recognized Indian languages. The preference cannot be marked in words. While the marking of first preference is mandatory for the ballot to be valid, the subsequent preferences are optional. No other mark should be put on the ballot paper. Other marks may lead to the invalidation of ballot at the time of counting.
Place and Time of Poll-
The Presidential Poll is conducted in the Parliament House in New Delhi, and in the premises of each of the Legislative Assemblies of the states and NCT of Delhi and Puducherry. The location is decided by the Commission in terms if Rule 7 of the 1974 Rules. The time is normally fixed from 10AM to 5PM by the Commission.
Secrecy-
The Constitution has already provided that the election to be done by secret ballot. Rule 18 of 1974 Rules also talks about the same as Maintenance of secrecy of voting by electors within place of polling and voting procedure.
It says that
Every elector to whom a ballot paper has been delivered under shall maintain secrecy of voting within the place of polling. After marking the vote in the Voting Compartment, the elector is required to fold theballot paper and insert it in the Ballot Box. Any violation of the voting procedure will entail cancellation of ballot paper by the presiding officer.
Counting of votes and Quota for votes for winning the Election-
The counting of votes is done in the office of Returning Officer in New Delhi. All the Ballot Boxes are brought in New Delhi. The Commission fixes the date and time for counting.( Rule 27 of the 1974 Rules) For calculating the quota of votes required for being elected, all the votes polled by all the candidates shall be added and the total value so obtained shall be divided by 2, and the quotient, after ignoring remainder, if any, increased by 1.
e.g.- if the total number of valid votes polled is 10,00,000 then the quota will be-
(10,00,000 /2) + 1 = 5,00,000 + 1 = 5,00,001
Sources:
http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/Presidential_Election/index.html
[1] http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/Presidential_Election/index.html
[1] http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/Presidential_Election/data/Manual_PresidentialElection.pdf
Indeed Superb…. very well explained…