President in India is not directly elected by the people but by the representatives elected by the people. It is a bit complex process and held by proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. Article 52 states that there shall be a President of India. The executive powers of the Union shall be vested in the President. He, as the head of a state, symbolises the nation. In some democratic systems, the head of the state is also the head of the government and, therefore, he will also be the head of the political executive.
The Indian President is elected indirectly by an electoral college. The members of this college consist of:
- the elected members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha
- the elected members of the legislative assemblies of every state and the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the Union territory of Puduchery and the national capital territory of New Delhi. Nominated members to the two houses are not eligible to receive any votes.
The following qualifications are essential for a candidate seeking election to the office of the President:
- A citizen of India
- Of 35 years of age or above
- Qualified to become a member of the Lok Sabha
- He should not hold any office of profit, and
- He should not be a member of the Parliament or of a State Legislature.
Procedure for the Election of the President:
Every elected member of the two houses of Parliament will be given a number of votes. This is equal to the total of the votes given to the members of the state assemblies divided by the number of members of Parliament who are voting. For the purposes of calculating the votes, the population as ascertained by the last census will be taken into account.
To put it in simpler words, each member of the electoral college who is a member of a State Legislative Assembly will have a number of votes calculated as follows:
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.
The following illustrations explain the method of calculation:
(i) “The population of Andhra Pradesh is 43,502,708. Let us take the total number of elected members in the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh to be 294. To obtain the number of votes which each such elected member will be entitled to cast at the election of the President we have first to divide 43,502,708 (which is the population) by 294 (which is the total number of elected members), and then to divide the quotient by 1,000. In this case the quotient is 147,968.3945. The number of votes which each such member will be entitled to cast would be 147,968.3945/1000 i.e. 148.
(ii) Again, the population of Punjab is 1,35,51,060. Let us take the total number of elected members of the Legislature of Punjab to be 117. Now applying the aforesaid process, if we divide 1,35,51,060 (i.e. the population) by 117 (i.e. the total number of elected members), the quotient is 115821.0256. Therefore, the number of votes which each member of the Punjab Legislature would be entitled to cast is 115,821.0256/1000 i.e. 116.
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
Here to note is that the 12 Nominated members elected by President in Rajya Sabha are not allowed to vote in the election process.
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
The Election Process
The election happens through a ballot paper, green ballot paper for MPs & Pink ballot paper for MLAs. This election happens through the proportional representation process. Hence each voter can mark as many preferences, as the number of candidates contesting the election. These preferences for the candidates are to be marked by the voter, by marking the figures 1,2,3, 4, 5 and so on, against the names of the candidates, in the order of preference.
Counting Process
The winning candidate has to secure the required quota of votes to be declared elected, i.e., 50% of valid votes polled +1. After the valid ballot papers are segregated from the invalid ones, the valid ballot papers are distributed among the contesting candidates on the basis of first preference marked on each of them for those candidates. The value of votes which each contesting candidate gets in this process is ascertained by multiplying the number of ballot papers on which the first preference is marked for him, by the value of vote which each ballot paper of a member (MP or MLA) represents. The total votes secured by each contesting candidate are then ascertained by adding together the value of votes secured by him from the MPs and the MLAs. This is the first round of counting.
For ascertaining whether there is a winner after the first round of counting, the value of votes credited to each contesting candidate in the first round of counting is added up to determine the total value of valid votes polled at the election. This total value is divided by two and one is added to the quotient to determine the required quota for victory. If any of the candidates receives this number of votes in the first round, he is declared a winner.
If however, after the first round of counting, no candidate secures the required quota of votes, then the counting proceeds on the basis of a process of elimination and exclusion, whereby the candidate credited with the lowest number of votes in the first round is excluded and all his ballot papers are distributed among the remaining candidates on the basis of the second preferences marked thereon. The value of such transferred ballot papers will be the same as the value at which the excluded candidate received them. The ballot papers on which second preference is not marked is treated as exhausted ballot papers and shall not be further counted, even if the third or subsequent preferences are marked. This process is continued until there is a clear winner with 50% +1.
