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The President is elected for a period of five years by an electoral college which is composed of (a) the elected members of Parliament and (b) the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies.

With a view to ensuring uniformity of representation of the different States at the Presidential election and parity between the States as a whole and the Union, the Constitution has prescribed an ingenious method.

Normally it should have been possible to achieve this uniformity by the simple device of assigning each member of the Electoral College one vote.

Such uniformity would, however, have been invidious because in different States different ratios prevailed between the population and the number of legislators. For example, in one State it may be one representative for every 50,000 of the population while in another the proportion may be one to 75,000 or more.

The most populous State in the Union, Uttar Pradesh, has only 425 members in the Legislative Assembly for a population of over 160 million while Assam has 108 members for a population of about 23 million. That being so, the problem was to ensure that the votes will have a value in proportion to the population that the votes represented.

According to the special method devised to ensure this, each elected member of the State Assemblies has a certain number of votes on the basis of the relation between the total number of the elected members of the State Assembly and the total population of the State.

The number is worked out in the following manner: Divide the total population of the State, first by the total number of elected members in the Assembly. Divide the quotient obtained by the above division by 1,000.

Fractions of half or more should be counted as one and added to the quotient which will be the number of votes each member of the Assembly will have in the Presidential election.

The following illustration will help to make the process clear. We may work out the actual number of votes a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly had in the Presidential election in 1957.

The number of votes each elected Member of Parliament is entitled to in the Presidential election is arrived at by dividing the total number of votes given to all the elected members of the State Assemblies by the total number of elected members of both Houses of Parliament.

The election is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The voting at the election is by secret ballot.

On the whole, this is a unique system of Presidential election and one is tempted to ask what prompted the Constitution-makers to adopt such a system.

First, in view of the adoption of a Cabinet system of government under which the President was to function as constitutional head of the State, direct election by the entire electorate as in the case of the President of the United States (in practice) was considered neither necessary nor advisable.

Yet, it was thought desirable to have the President elected by as popular a body as possible. Both these purposes are realised under the present system. The election becomes indirect and also simple when the electorate consists of only the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies and Parliament.

The elected members of the State Assemblies are themselves elected on adult suffrage. The House of the People of Parliament is also elected on the same basis.

The Council of States is elected by the State Assemblies which are also elected on adult suffrage. The Electoral College is thus not only broad-based but also is substantially large in size.

In the 1952 election there were 3,559 members in the Electoral College and a total of 616,913 votes were cast. In the 1957 election the total number of valid votes polled was 463,196; of these, Rajendra Prasad secured 459,698, Nagendra Narayan Das, 2,000 and Chowdhry Hari Ram, 1,418.

In 1962 election the Electoral College had strength of 3,920. Of these, S. Radhakrisnan sequred 553,067, Choudhry Hari Ram 6,341 and Yamuna Prasad Trisulia, 3,537 votes.

The most hotly contested Presidential election so far was that of 1969. There were three principal candidates in the election: V.V. Giri, N. Sanjiva Reddy and C.D. Deshmukh.

When the first preference votes were counted, Giri obtained 401,505 votes, Reddy 313,545 and Deshmukh 112,769. As no one got the requisite quota of 50 per cent plus one of the votes polled, second preference votes were counted.

As a result Giri secured 420,077 as against Reddy’s 405,427. Hence Giri was elected President In contrast; in 1977 the Presidential election produced no heat. It was uncontested and Sanjiva Reddy was elected unanimously.

In 1982 the contest was between Gyani Zail Singh and H.R. Khanna. Zail Singh won with a total of 754,113 votes as against 282,685 polled by Khanna.

In 1987 the contest was mainly between R. Venkataraman and V.R. Krishna Iyer. Venkataraman won with a total of 740,148 votes as against 281,550 secured by Krishna Iyer.

The significance of an electoral college composed of not only the members of both Houses of Parliament but also those of the various State Assemblies needs emphasis.

In an election where the Head of the Nation is chosen, if the members of Parliament alone participate, it is possible that a party that has a clear majority in Parliament can easily see its candidate elected.

But when the members of the State Assemblies also participate in the election, the picture is likely to undergo a substantial change.

For, it is quite possible that the party which has won a majority in Parliament may be a minority in many State Assemblies or even in most of them.

Under such conditions, a party supported by a majority of members in Parliament will not by itself be able to get its candidate elected.

The use of the term “proportional representation” was objected to in the Constituent Assembly because only one person was to be elected as President. Critics asked: “What significance has it in the absence of a multi-member constituency?”

It is significant because, first it ensures that an absolute majority of the total number of votes is polled for a candidate to be elected, instead of a simple majority or a plurality of votes as in the elections of Parliament and the State Legislative Assemblies.

Since the President is the head of the State and represents the nation which includes all parties and groups, and since he should stand above party considerations, it is desirable that he is elected with as large a majority as possible.

But under the simple majority system there is no guarantee of this. The present system ensures his election with at least an absolute majority. Secondly, it often helps the smaller parties in Parliament or regional parties who are strong only in some State Assemblies to have some voice in the election of the President.

If no party can claim an absolute majority of the total votes of the Electoral College, a candidate, to win the election, has to seek the support of two or more parties. This gives an opportunity to smaller parties to influence the election.

Although, on paper, the Presidential election is a complicated process, in practice it is a comparatively simple one. Moreover, this method of electing the President seems to be much more in consonance with the federal principle than that which obtains in the United States.

Where the President is supposed to be elected by the electors but, in reality, directly by the people. The election of the American President raises the greatest political battle in the world for the election of any Head of State. But, in India, such a contest will pass off without a ripple of popular excitement.

No doubt, it is a matter of all-India significance. And yet, since those who directly participate in it number just a few thousands (about 4,000) it passes off in a quiet business-like manner.

The Election Statute:

The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 and the Rules framed there under regulate all matters relating to or connected with the election to the offices of the President and the Vice-President of India.

The Act of 1952 was amended in 1974 to make certain changes therein in the light of the experience gained during the elections held earlier. Similarly, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election Rules 1952 were also revised in 1974. The main requirements of the Act are:

(i) A nomination paper for election to the office of President of India should be completed in the prescribed form, subscribed by the candidate as assenting to the nomination and also by at-least 10 electors as proposes and at-least 10 electors as secondary.

The requirements has been held to be in order because Article 58 provides only the qualifications for eligibility and not the requirements for a valid nomination (Charan Lai Sahu vs. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, AIR 1978 SC 499);

(ii) Each nomination paper should be accompanied by a certified copy of the entry relating to the candidate in the electoral roll for the Parliamentary constituency in which the candidate is registered as an elector.

All disputes in connection with the election of the President and Vice President will the settled by the Supreme Court of India.

Although the President is only a constitutional Head of the State who has little effective power at his disposal, the office of the President carries with it great dignity and prestige.

These are reflected in certain legal privileges which the President enjoys. Thus, he is not answerable to any court of law for the exercise and performance of the powers and functions of his office.

No criminal proceedings can be instituted against him nor can he be arrested or imprisoned during the tenure of his office. No civil proceedings even can be instituted against him without, at least, two months’ written notice regarding the relief claimed.

Before entering upon his office, the President has to take and subscribe in the presence of the Chief Justice of India, an oath of affirmation to the effect that as president he will,” preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the laws and devote himself to the service and well-being of the people of India.”

Normally, the President’s office becomes vacant in three ways: death, resignation or removal by impeachment. The Constitution lays down a detailed procedure for the impeachment of the President, which is almost identical to that in the United States except for one major difference.

In India the charge may be preferred by either House of Parliament while in the United States the House of Representatives alone have the power to try the impeachment. The President can be impeached only or the violation of the Constitution, a form which is comprehensive enough to cover crimes such as reason, bribery and other crimes.

Before the charge is preferred by either House of Parliament, the proposal should be embodied in a resolution moved after a notice of at least fourteen days. The notice must be signed by at least one-fourth of the total membership of the House.

The charge shall be preferred only if such a resolution is passed by a two-thirds majority of the total membership of the House. Once the charge has been so preferred in one House, the other House will investigate the charge or appoint a special body for such investigation.

If the result of such investigation is that the charge against the President has been sustained and to this effect a resolution is passed by the House with a two- thirds majority of its total membership, the President ceases to hold the office of President of India from the date of passing such resolution.

When a vacancy arises in the office of the President owing to any one of the above causes, it will be filled by the Vice-President until a new President is elected. But the new President should be elected before six months elapse after the vacancy has occurred.

When a new President is elected in this manner he will hold office for the full term of five years. There is no constitutional bar against the president’s re-election. Every doubt and dispute arising out of the Presidential election shall be finally decided by the Supreme Court of India.