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DAILY
CLASS NOTES
INDIAN POLITY

Lecture – 26
Fundamental Duties (Part
2) and The President
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Fundamental Duties (Part 2) and The President

The President:
❖ The President is the head of the union executive and he is also the head of the state.
❖ Article 53, vests the executive power of the union in the President.
❖ He/she discharges his/her function either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance
with the Constitution.
❖ He has the highest Constitutional dignity.
❖ He always comes first in the warrant of precedence issued by the state.
➢ A warrant of precedence is a list of dignity in a hierarchical order.
❖ He is the supreme commander of the armed forces.
❖ He alone enjoys the power of declaration of war and peace.
❖ He enjoys the administration, legislature, emergency, military, judicial and diplomatic powers.
❖ He is regarded as the first citizen of India.
❖ He is the nominal head of the country whereas the prime minister is the real head of the country.
Election of the President:
“The election of the President is governed by Article 52, 54 and 62 and the President and Vice President Election
Act 1952.”
❖ The President is elected by the people indirectly.
❖ He is elected by an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both houses of parliament and
the elected members of the state legislative assemblies.
❖ After the 70th amendment act 1992, the elected members of the legislative assemblies of Delhi and
Puducherry (Pondicherry) have also been included in the electoral college of the president.
❖ These two union territories started participating in the election of the President since 1997.
❖ The President is elected by the system of proportional representation and by means of a single transferable
vote.
➢ Proportional representation system: Under the proportional representation system the states are
represented in the electoral college in proportion to their population strength.
➢ Further, all the states on one hand (including the above two union territories) and the Parliament on the
other hand equally represented in the electoral college.
❖ This is to suggest that the president by getting elected by the parliament represents the entire population of
India and by getting elected by the states.
❖ He represents the states at the federal level.
❖ The Constitution provides two formulas for calculating the value of the vote of MLAs and the MPs.
Value of the vote of an MLA:
❖ The value of the vote of an MLA is equal to 1/1000 multiplied by the population of the state/total number of
elected MLAs of that state.
➢ The population of the state should be as per the 1971 census figures and it will continue to 2026.
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Value of the vote of an MP:

❖ The value of the vote of an MP is equal to the value of the votes of all MLAs/ total number of elected MPs
Single Transferable Vote:
❖ Under this system, an elector has the right to indicate more than one preference of the candidates in his
ballot paper.
❖ He can indicate has many preferences as many candidates are contestants.
❖ However, it is not mandatory for the elector to exhaust all his preferences.
❖ A candidate is declared elected if he obtains more than 50% of the value of the votes polled.
❖ In the first round of counting only the first preferences of the votes are taken into consideration.
❖ If none of the candidates obtain the necessary majority of votes then the candidate who obtains the least
number of first preference of the vote is eliminated from the race and ballots polled in his favour are
distributed among the other candidates.
❖ In the second round, the counting as per second preference indicated in his ballet.
❖ The process continues till a candidate is declared elected.
❖ The system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote is followed in India in the
election of the Vice-president and the election of the members of the Rajya Sabha and the election of the
members of the legislative councils.
❖ In the presidential election held in 1997, N. Sanjeeva Reddy was declared elected unopposed (the first and
only candidate to be elected unopposed).
❖ In the 1969 presidential election, V.V Giri was declared elected at the end of the second round of counting.
❖ In all other presidential elections, the successful candidate was identified at the end of the counting of the
first round itself.
Qualifications:
❖ Under the Constitution a Presidential Candidate:
1. He must be a citizen of India.
2. He must not be less than 35 years of age.
3. He should be qualified to be elected as a member of the Lok Sabha.
4. He should not hold any office of profit under the state.
▪ However, for the purpose of the election of the President of India the president, the vice president,
the governor of a state, the minister of the union or of the state are not regarded as holding offices
of profit i.e they can contest elections without resigning.
5. The President shall not be a member of either House of the Parliament or the House of a State
Legislature.
▪ If a Member of Parliament or a state legislature is elected as a president he is deemed to have
vacated his seat in the house (where he is a member) upon entering his office.
❖ The President enters upon his office by taking an oath of office and an oath of secrecy in the presence of
the Chief Justice of India.
❖ He takes an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law.
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Dispute Relating to the Election of a President:

❖ Under Article 71 the disputes relating to the election of a president are resolved by the Supreme Court
where the decision is final and binding.
❖ After the 11th Amendment Act of 1961, the election of a President cannot be disputed on the ground of:
➢ Vacancies of seats in the electoral college of the President or a state legislative assembly are dissolved.
➢ However, the members of the suspended legislative assembly under Article 356 can participate in the
election of the president.
❖ If the election of the president is declared void by the Supreme Court then the Acts done or decisions taken
in the name of the president, before his election is declared as void shall not be invalid on this ground.
❖ Under the President and Vice-president's Election Act- 1952 only an elector or a candidate who contested the
presidential election can dispute the election of the President before the Supreme Court.
❖ Under this Act the nomination papers of a presidential candidate shall be proposed by not less than the 50
electors and it shall be seconded (approved) by not less than another set of fifty (50) electors.
❖ Each presidential candidate shall make a security deposit of 15000 rupees then, the secretary general of
the Lok Sabha and the secretary general of the Rajya Sabha act as the returning officer in the
presidential election alternatively.
Term of Office:
❖ The president is elected for a term of 5 years and he can be re-elected any number of times (no restriction).
❖ There can be a vacancy in the office of the president before the completion of the 5 year term due to
resignation, impeachment or death of the President.
❖ A vacancy shall be filled up within 6 months.
❖ Till the vacancy is filled up the vice president acts as a President of India.
❖ The president may continue beyond the normal 5 year term if his successor is not able to enter upon his
office.
Note:
❖ The election of the President should be held before the completion of a 5-year term.
Impeachment of the President:
❖ Under Article 61, the President is impeached by the parliament on the ground of violation of the
Constitution.
❖ Impeachment of the President is a Quasi-Judicial procedure.
❖ It is for the Parliament to decide what acts of the President amount to a violation of the Constitution.
❖ The impeachment process can be initiated only by introducing a resolution to that effect in either House of
Parliament.
❖ However, for its introduction, the resolution must be supported by not less than ½ th of the total
membership of the House.
❖ The resolution can be taken up for passage only after the expiry of 14 days' notice served on the president.
❖ The resolution would be deemed to have been passed if it is supported by not less than ⅔ rd of the total
strength of the House. The resolution moves to the other House which acts as the investigating house.
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❖ It investigates the charges against the President by itself ( i.e it may constitute a Parliamentary Committee
to investigate) or it may cause the charges to be investigated.
❖ The president enjoys the Right of defence before the second House.
❖ After such investigation, if the second House also passes the resolution by a majority of not less than ⅔ rd
of the total strength of the house then the president stands impeached from his office from the day on
which the second House passed the resolution
Note:
❖ Under the Indian Constitution, only the President is impeached and all others are removed but not
impeached.
Difference between Impeachment and Removal:
Impeachment Removal
❖ It is a formal Act ❖ It may or may not be a formal Act
❖ It is a legislative Act ❖ It is essentially an executive Act
Assent to Legislation and Veto Power of the President:
❖ All bills passed by the parliament shall have to get the assent of the president to become law.
The President Passes Four Kinds of Bills:
1. Under Article 368, after the 24th Amendment Act of 1971, a Constitutional Amendment Bill is presented
to the President, and he shall give his assent to the Bill. Thus, he is Constitutionally obliged to give his
assent.
2. Under Article 110, when a money bill is presented to the President for his assent, he can declare that he
gives assent or that he withholds assent.
➢ However, in the convention established in England, the President shall give his assent to the money bill
presented to him.
➢ He has no choice under the money bill he shall give his assent under the convention.
➢ Whereas under the Constitutional Amendment Bill, he should give his assent under the
Constitutional obligation.
3. In the case of an ordinary or financial bill, the president has the following options when they are presented
to his assent:
➢ He can declare that he gives assent.
➢ He declares that he withholds assent, the exercise of this option is called “the application of absolute
veto” and the President permanently blocks the legislature from becoming an Act.
▪ However, the Indian President is not an executive President he applies absolute veto not on his
decision but only on the advice of the council of ministers.
▪ Bills are of two types:
1. Private members bill
2. Government bill
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❖ The President may refer the bill i.e ordinary or financial bill to the reconsideration of Parliament with or
without his suggestion. The choice of president is called “Suspension veto”.
➢ If the Parliament passes the bill for the second time and when it is represented to the President then the
President shall give his assent or the President is bound to give his asset.
➢ Example: President used his power of suspension veto on the office of profit bill in 2006.
❖ The Constitution does not prescribe any time limit for the president to give his assent to a bill because of
this the President may allow a bill to lie on his table for an indefinite period without taking any decision
on it. This is called “Pocket veto.”
Note:
❖ The President applies the suspension veto and pocket veto only on his discretion and not on the advice
of the Council of Ministers.
❖ Dr Rajendra Prasad applied pocket veto on the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU)
(appropriation) Bill 1956.
❖ Dr Jail Simgh applied pocket veto on Indian Postal (Amendment) Bill 1985.
❖ R. Venkataraman applied pocket veto on Salaries, Allowances and Pensions of the MPs (Amendment)
Bill 1991.
Note:
❖ The Indian President does not enjoy the power of absolute veto on its own and he does so only on the
advice of the Council of Ministers.

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