How Is The President Of India Elected?

The President of India, recognized legitimately as the president of the Republic of India, is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the titular head of the executive, plus the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces.

The president’s office was created after India developed into a republic on 26 January 1950, when its constitution was implemented. The president is elected indirectly via an electoral college encompassing both houses of the Parliament of India and the legislative assemblies of every Indian state and territory, who are all directly elected.

Ram Nath Kovind has been serving as the 14th and existing president, taking office since 25 July 2017.

How is the president elected?

Eligibility

Article 58 of the constitution lays down the principal qualifications that one must oblige to be qualified to the president’s office. A president should be:

• a citizen of Indian Nationality
• of 35 years of age or beyond
• eligible to be a member of the Lok Sabha

A person shall not be qualified for election as president if he enjoys any office of profit in the Government of India or the Government of any Indian State or any local or other authority subject to any of the said governments’ regulation.

Few definite office-holders, nevertheless, are permitted to contest as presidential candidates. These are:

• The existing vice-president
• The governor of any Indian state
• A Minister of the Union or any Indian  state (comprising prime minister and chief ministers) 

Conditions for the Presidency

According to Article 59 of the Indian constitution, certain provisions exclude an otherwise qualified citizen from standing in the presidential elections. The stipulations are:

• The president should not be a member of either house of the parliament or a house of the legislature of any state. If a member of either house of the parliament or a house of the legislature of any state is elected president, he should be considered to have quit his seat in that house on the date on which he starts his office as president.

• The president should not enjoy any other office of profit.

• The president should be permitted without payment of rent to the use of his official residences and should be moreover entitled to such emoluments, grants and privileges as may be established by Parliament by law and until stipulation in that behalf is so made, such payments, grants, and privileges as are stipulated in the Second Schedule.

• The emoluments and grants of the president shall not be lessened throughout his term of office. 

Election procedure

• When the office becomes unoccupied, the new president is elected via an electoral college comprising of the chosen members of both houses of parliament (M.P.s), the chosen members of the State Legislative Assemblies (Vidhan Sabha) of all Indian States and the chosen members of the legislative assemblies (MLAs) of Indian union territories through legislatures, i.e., National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Pondicherry. 
• The elect President’s procedure is a more comprehensive procedure than the prime minister’s, who is also voted indirectly (not chosen by people directly) by the Lok Sabha members simply. While the President being the constitutional head with duties to defend, protect and safeguard the constitution and the rule of law in a legal democracy with constitutional preeminence, is chosen in a comprehensive method by the members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and Indian state legislative assemblies in a secret ballot process.
• The selection of a candidate for the election of the President should be pledged by no less than 50 electors as proposers plus 50 electors as seconders. In addition, every candidate has to formulate a security deposit of ₹15,000 (US$200) in the Reserve Bank of India. The security deposit is likely to be forfeited if the candidate fails to attain one-sixth of the votes polled.
• The election is contested in agreement with the scheme of proportional representation (PR) through the instant-runoff voting (IRV) scheme. The voting occurs via a secret ballot system. The mode of election of the President is granted by Article 55 of the constitution. 
• Each elector casts a dissimilar number of votes. However, the common standard is that the total number of votes given by Members of parliament equals the entire number of votes cast by State Legislators. Moreover, legislators from larger states give more votes than those from smaller states. Lastly, the number of legislators in state influences; if a state has only some legislators, then each legislator has additional votes; if a state has several legislators, then every legislator has fewer votes.
• The authentic computation for votes cast by a specific state is estimated by dividing that state’s population by 1000, divided yet again by the number of legislators from the State casting vote in the Electoral College. This number represents the number of votes per legislator in a particular state. Each elected member of the parliament obtains the same number of votes, which might be attained by dividing the entire number of votes allotted to the members of legislative assemblies by the entire number of chosen representatives of the parliament.
• Though Indian presidential elections engage definite voting by MPs and MLAs, they are inclined to vote for the candidate sustained by their relevant parties. 

Conclusion

In India, the government pursues the cabinet system. Therefore, a bright leader is significant to directing and running the country. However, if Presidents were to be chosen directly, it would become very complex. It would, in reality, be a failure because the public doesn’t have the utter precision of how the president-ship runs or if the candidate suits the sketch of a president.