The President - GetintoIAS.com

When it comes to the Union Government, The Indian President is the nominal head, whereas the real head and powers vested with the union ministers headed by Prime Minister. Common people think that the Indian President does not have powers in his hands, But in reality, he holds some superpowers in national and International terms.

From giving a pardon to the jailed person and signing International Agreements on behalf of India are the least examples to showcase the President power.

So, in this article, we detail the election methods, terms, oath and powers, and facilities of the Indian President.

Election of President

The President is the head of the Indian state. He is considered as the first citizen of India.
The President should act as the symbol of unity, integrity, and solidarity of the nation.
He should not partial on the people, state or in any of the political party.

Election procedure

The President will not be directly elected by the people of India.
He will be elected by the elected members of the Both of the Houses of Parliament and elected members of the state legislative assembly.
The elected members of state legislative assemblies of the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry.

Who will not vote in the President Election

The Nominated members of Both the houses of the Parliament.
The nominated members of state legislative assemblies.
The elected and nominated members of state legislative council (in case of Bicameralism)
The nominated members of the Union Territory Legislative Assembly (Pudhucherry & Delhi) and also
If an Assembly of any state legislature is dissolved, then the members of that state legislative Assembly ceased to vote in the President Election.
Adding to the above point, the fresh election for dissolved legislative assembly should not be held before Presidential Election.

Value of Vote

In the presidential election, each vote of MLA’s and MP’s have some value. To calculate the value of the vote, the below formula is used.

Value of an MLA’s vote = Total population of state / Total no. of elected members in the state legislative assembly x 1/1000

In the same manner, every elected member of either house of the Parliament shall have some value for his votes. The below formula is used to calculate this.

Value of the vote of MP = Total value of votes of all MLA’s of all states / Total number of elected members of Parliament.

Election Type

The presidential election is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
Conducted by the secret Ballot system.
By this election procedure, the successful candidate is returned by the absolute majority of votes.

How he elected

To win in the presidential election, a candidate must secure a fixed quota of votes.
The quota of vote determined by dividing the total number of valid votes polled by the number of candidates to be elected plus one and adding one to the Quotient.
The formula to find out the fixed Quota

Electoral Quota = Total number of valid votes polled / 1+1 = (2) +1

President Election Dispute

All president election dispute will be inquired by the Supreme Court of India.
The presidential election cannot be challenged on the grounds of electoral college incomplete.
All decisions taken by the Supreme Court related to the president election is final.
If the election of president declared void the act done by the President before such declaration is not invalidated and continue to remain in force.

Why people are not allowed to take part in President election?

The president is the nominal power of the nation, hence it is not mandatory to conduct a direct election which cost money and time.
So constitution framers think that conducting a direct election which includes people directly in an unwanted thing.

Qualifications, oath, and conditions of President

The president to be eligible for the election as President should fulfill the following qualifications.

He should be the citizen of India.
He should have completed 35 years of age.
He should be qualified for the election of Lok Sabha.
He should not hold any office of profit under union, state, local or any other public authority.

The nomination of a candidate for presidential election must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors and seconders.
Every candidate has to make a deposit of Rs,15000/- in Reserve Bank of India. This is promoted to avoid non-serious candidates from the election.

Oath

The oath or affirmation of the president is administered by the chief justice of India.
In case of absence of Chief justice of India, another senior most judge of the supreme court will handle the affirmation.
All persons, acting as a president must take oath or affirmation from the chief justice of India.

Conditions of President office

The Indian constitution has lays down the following conditions of the president of India.

He should not be the member of either house of parliament or state legislature. In case, if such person elected he has to resign his post before entering into the office of President.
He should not hold any office of Profit in local or in public authority.
He can use his official residence (Rashtrapathi Bhavan) without paying any rent.
His emoluments and allowances decided by the parliament, and also it cannot be diminished during his term

Salary of Indian President

Indian President gets a monthly salary of Rs. 1.50 lakhs per month
He also gets allowances, fully furnished house, phone facilities, car, medical, travel and secretarial staff.
He gets office expenses up to Rs.60,000 per annum after his retirement.

Salary of retired (former) Indian President

He will get 50% of his salary per month.
In addition to that, fully furnished house, phone, internet, medical, travel, secretarial staff and Rs.60,000 as expenses

Salary of deceased President spouse

The spouse of the deceased president will get the pension at the rate of 50% of the president (retired) with furnished, house, telephone, internet, car medical treatments and office expenses up to Rs.12,000/- per annum.

Proceedings against President

During his term, he enjoys his full immune against civil and criminal proceeding for his official and personal act.
He cannot be arrested or imprisoned.
However, after giving months of notice, civil proceedings can be instituted against his personal acts.

Impeachment of President

A president holds his office for five-year term.
In this period his office can be vacant be several reasons like

On completion of his 5-year term.
By his resignation
Removal or impeachment
Election declared as void

Impeachment process

Among these impeachment process is the vital one that the constitution has some rules and regulations to be followed on the presidential impeachment.
President can be removed in terms of “violation of the constitution”. But the constitution does not define the meaning of “violation of the constitution”
Impeachment can be initiated by one-fourth members of any house.
After 14 days of notice given to the president.
It will be passed by a majority of two-thirds of the total membership of the house.
And then passed to the next house, where the same majority passed, then the president will be removed from his office.

Nominated members in the impeachment

As a notable point,

The nominated members of either house of parliament can participate (But they do not participate in the election)
The elected members of the legislative assemblies of Union territories of Delhi & Pudhucherry do not participate In the impeachment process. (But they participate in the election of the president).

Powers and function of President

These are the powers enjoyed by the president of India

Executive power
Legislative power
Financial power
Judicial power
Diplomatic power
Military power
Emergency power

Executive power

All executive actions of the Government of India are in the name of President.
He appoints Prime Minister and other ministers.
He appoints Attorney General of India. He holds office during his pleasure
He appoints comptroller and auditor general and India. And also he appoints chief election commissioner and other elections commissioners.
The chairman UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) the governors of states are appointed by President.
He can seek information related to Union Government administration from the Prime Minister of India.
He can appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of SC’s/ST’s and other backward classes.
He directly administers the union territories by appointing administrators.

Legislative Power

President is an integral part of parliament, so he has some legislative powers.
He can summon the parliament and dissolve Lok Sabha and also he can summon a joint sitting which is presided over by the speaker of Lok Sabha.
He can appoint any member of the Lok Sabha to preside over the proceedings when the office of both speaker and deputy speaker falls vacant.
Similarly, he can appoint any member Rajya Sabha to preside over its proceedings when the office of both the chairman and deputy chairman fall vacant.
He nominates 12 members from amongst person having special knowledge in literature, art, and social service.
He can nominate 2 Anglo-Indians to the Lok Sabha
Introduce certain types of bills the president permission is required.

Example: – Bill involving expenditure from consolidated fund.

Bill altering the boundaries of state or new state creation.

Financial powers

Money Bills can be introduced in the parliament only with his prior permission.
He can make advances from the contingency fund of India to meet any unforeseen expenditure.
He constitutes the finance commission to recommend the distribution of revenues between center and states.

Judicial Powers

He appoints the chief justice of India and other judges of the supreme court and high court.
He has rights to seek any advice from the supreme court on any question of law or fact.
He can grant pardon, reprieve, respite and remission of punishment or suspend, remit and commute the sentence of any person.

Diplomatic powers

The International treaties and agreements are signed on behalf of the president.
He is the formal head when it comes International agreements and relations.
He represents India in International forums and appoints ambassadors, high commissioners, and other relati8ons.