President of India
Under Article 52, there will be a President of India, who will be the first citizen and constitutional President of the country. Under Article 53, the executive power of the Union is vested in the President.
And he exercises it according to the constitution himself or through officers subordinate to him.
Subordinate officers refer to the Union Cabinet. The President does any work only on the advice of the Cabinet.
In this way, the executive power is vested in the President, but in reality the executive power is vested in the Cabinet while the ceremonial power is vested in the President.
The supreme command of the defense forces (the Navy, the Air Force and the Army) is vested in the President. He uses it by the procedure laid down by law.
All the powers of the Center are exercised in the name of the President.
Election of President
The President of India is elected by indirect election method.
Voters in the election of the President are such members who are elected members of both the Houses of Parliament (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) and elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the states.
By the 70th Amendment of the Indian Constitution, 1992, it has now been provided that under Articles 54 and 55, the elected members of all the Legislative Assemblies of the National Capital Delhi, Pondicherry and the Union Territory under the word State shall also be eligible as voters in the election of the President.
The President is elected under the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable secret ballot.
An attempt is made to have uniformity in the scale of representation of all the states participating in the election of the President.
The election of the President cannot be disputed or postponed on the ground of the dissolution of any Legislative Assembly of the State or the vacant posts of its members.
All disputes relating to the election of the President shall be inquired into and settled by the Supreme Court and its decision shall be final.
A person who is neither a candidate nor an elector for the office of President cannot challenge the validity of the election of the President.
Manner of election of the president
Article 55-
As far as practicable, there shall be uniformity in the scale of representation of the States in the election of the President.
The value of the vote of a member of the Legislative Assembly is determined by the following method –
Total population of the state × 1000 / Total number of elected members of the state assembly
The vote value of a member of Parliament is determined by the following method-
Total Sum of Vote Values of Elected Members of State Legislatures / Sum of Elected Members of both the Houses of Parliament
The term population means the population as ascertained in the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published. But by the 84th Constitutional Amendment, it was provided that until the relevant figures of the first census conducted after 2026 are published, the 1971 census will be considered as the basis.
For the presidential candidate, the electoral college consists of 50 proposers and 50 seconders.
The same person can be elected to the office of President as many times as he wants.
Qualifications of President
According to Article 58, a candidate for the office of President can be any person who –
- Be a citizen of India and
- Must have completed 35 years of age and
- He should be qualified to be elected to the Lok Sabha.
He should not be of unsound mind in the capacity of the President and should not be insolvent and should not have been disqualified under any law made by Parliament.
The person must be registered as a voter in a parliamentary electoral college.
The person should not be holding any office of profit. Whether it is the Central Government or the State Government, but those persons who have the status of President, Vice President, Governor of the States and Minister are considered outside the office of profit.
Term for the Presdent
Article 56 provides for the term of the President. According to 56(1), the President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office, provided that-
- The President may resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the Vice-President.
- The President may be removed from office by impeachment in the manner prescribed in Article 61 for violation of the Constitution.
- The President shall continue in office even after the expiry of the term of his office until his successor enters upon his office.
Eligibility for re-election
Article 57 provides that any person who holds or has held office as President shall, subject to the other provisions of this Constitution, be eligible for re-election to that office.
The maximum limit for the presidency has not been fixed by the Indian Constitution, as has been fixed in the American Constitution for a maximum of 10 years.
Removal of the president
Article 61(1) of the Constitution stipulates that for “violation of the Constitution” Parliament can remove the President before the period prescribed by impeachment.
Article 61(2) provides that no such charge shall be made in the House unless-
i) It is not in the form of a proposal and is proposed after at least 14 days’ notice in writing.
ii) Such the proposal must be signed by at least 1/4th of the total number of members of that House.
iii) Such the proposal must be passed by a majority of 2/3 of the total strength of that House.
When an allegation is made by one House of Parliament, it is investigated by the other House and the President shall have the right to be present or send his representative during the inquiry.
If the charge made against the President in the inquiry or proposal is proved and the House conducting the inquiry also passed it by 2/3 majority, then the President shall be deemed to have been removed from the date of passing of the proposal.
If somehow the office of the President becomes vacant, the Vice-President takes over immediately.
If the office of the Vice-President is also vacant for any reason, then the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will take over the office of the President.
The new President must be elected within 6 months from the date of the vacancy.
The salary of the President has now been increased to ₹ 1,50,000 per month.
Before entering upon his office, the President takes oath in the presence of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or in his absence, the senior most judge appointed for the time being.
The terminology related to the oath of the President has been ensured in Article 60.
President of India
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