Election of President of India

Last Updated on June 18, 2017 by Bharat Saini

President of the Republic of India is the Head of State of India and the Commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The President is the head of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary of the country.  The 13th and current President Mr Pranab Mukherjee was elected on 22 July 2012, and sworn in on 25 July 2012. A presidential election will be held in India before 25 July 2017, the day when the incumbent President’s term expires.

Article 53  of the Constitution Of India 1949,  although, states that the President can exercise his powers directly or by subordinate authority, with few exceptions, all of the executive authority vested in the President are, in practice, exercised by the Prime Minister with the help of the Council of Ministers.

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. The nomination of a candidate for election to the office of the President must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and seconded by 50 electors. The voting takes place by secret ballot.

As of 2017, the Electoral College comprises 776 MPs and 4120 MLAs. The total strength of Electoral College is 1098882 votes. After state assembly elections and by-polls of 2017, NDA is short of nearly 20,000 votes to the halfway mark.

Article 55 of the Constitution provides the manner of election of President.

Article 56 of the Constitution provides that the President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office.

Article 57 of the Constitution provides a person who holds, or who has held, office as President shall, subject to the other provisions of this Constitution, be eligible for re election to that office.

Eligibility: Article 58 of the Indian Constitution says that the presidential candidate must:

• Be a citizen of India.
• Have completed the age of thirty-five years.
• Be qualified for elections as a member of the Lok Sabha.
• Not hold any office of profit under the Union or any State government, or any local or other authority.

The oath of the President is administered by the Chief Justice of India, and in his absence, by the senior most judge of the Supreme Court.

The President resides in an estate known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President’s Palace, situated in Raisina Hill in New Delhi. The presidential retreats are in Chharabra, Shimla and Rashtrapati Nilayam, the President’s Place, in Hyderabad.