According to the Indian Constitution President is the constitutional head of the country as well as the first citizen also. The people of India do not vote directly to elect the President of India. Only members of the Electoral College can vote to elect the president. Now the question is who are the members of the Electoral College.

All the elected members of "Loksabha", "Rajya Sabha" and "Legislative Assemblies" of all the states and Union Territories of Delhi & Pondicherry are the part of Electoral College. Then the person who wins the majority of the nominees for the office of President shall be nominated for the office of President.

Then according to Article 60 of the Indian Constitution whoever wins the vote will be sworn in as the President. Before knowing how to elect a president, the first thing we need to know is who is eligible to be president and when the election of the president is held.

Eligibility criteria for the President of India:

• Must be the good citizen of India.
• The age of the person must be minimum 35.
• Must be eligible for election as a member of the "Loksabha".
• The person should not hold the office of profit under the Government.

When the election of the President is held:
When the post of the President becomes vacant, a voting process is organized to elect a new President. There are various reasons why the office of President becomes vacant likes:

• For the term of the previous President to expire.
• If the President dies before the end of his/her term.
• If the President resigns.
• If the President is removed by impeachment.

Voting Process for Presidential Election
The President is elected mainly through two steps, the first is nomination and the second is election.

1. Nomination: All persons who are nominated for presidential elections should submit the nomination form and Rs. 15,000 as a security deposit in RBI. From the electoral college, they need the signature of 50 members as proposers and another 50 members' signatures as secondaries on the nomination form.
    
2. Election:
   • An election will be held among all those who have submitted nomination forms for the presidential election.
   • Members of the electoral college will vote for the candidates through secret ballot.
   • Some members of the Electoral College are MPs, and some members are MLAs. The vote value of the MP and MLA is different, even varying from state to state for MLAs.

Vote value of the MLA
= (Total population of the state âž—
Total number of elected member in the state legislative assembly) ✖ (0.001)

Vote value of the MPs
= (Total value of the votes of all MLAs âž— Total number of elected MPs)
According to the 84th amendment of Indian constitution population will be counted as per 1971 cense until 2026.

Oath Taking
Oath of the office of president is administrated by the Chief Justice of India and in his absence the senior most judge of Supreme Court available. It is mentioned under article 60 of Indian Constitution

Now it's a big question. How many votes does a candidate need to win the election:

• It is decided by Electoral Quota.
  Electoral Quota: Minimum number of votes required to win.
  
  
  • Electoral Quota
    = (Total Number of valid votes polledâž— (Number of candidates to be elected + 1) ) +1
    
    SO, for the election of the precedent,
  • Electoral Quota = (Total Number Of votesâž— 2) + 1
     
• voting will be held through system of proportional representation which is Single Transferable Vote.
  Single Transferable Vote: In this type of voting each candidate's name will be written who stands to vote for the president election in the ballot paper. And each the member of Electoral College given their preference to the candidates as 1,2,3..etc. this accordance.
   
• Counting Process:
  
  • At the time of counting in the first page the first preference votes are counted.
  • In the first round the person who crossed the electoral quota and get the most vote is elected as the President.
  • If none of the candidates secures the required electoral quota in the first phase, the ballots of the candidates securing in the least number of the first preference votes are cancelled. And his second preference votes are transferred to the first preference votes of other candidate. This process will be continued until and unless one candidate reach to the electoral quota.

Example:

• Suppose A, B, C, D are the candidates for the presidential election and total 8 members are the in Electoral College. So the 8 members will vote for the 4 candidates.
• uppose vote value of every electoral member is 1.
  So the Electoral Quota = (8âž— (1+1))+1
  = 5
• Ballot Paper will be this type:
  

  Ballot Paper
  A
  B
  C
  D
  E

• And the 8 member will say their preference in this ballot paper. Suppose the members are M1, M2, M3, M8.
   
• Suppose After voting the Ballot Paper will this type:
  

  M1			M2			M3
  A	2		A	4		A	3
  B	4		B	2		B	1
  C	3		C	1		C	2
  D	1		D	3		D	3

 

M4			M5			M6
A	2		A	1		A	4
B	1		B	2		B	2
C	2		C	3		C	3
D	3		D	4		D	1

 

M7			M8
A	2		A	1
B	1		B	2
C	3		C	3
D	4		D	4

• At the time of Counting need to see the first preference both in first phase. Now the counting is:
  A- 2
  B- 3
  C- 2
  D- 1
  Here none of the member can reach to the Electoral Quota so there D will be eliminated.
   
• In second phase counting the vote of the will be transferred to A because there a was the second preference where D was first preference. So it will be:
  A- 2+1
  B- 3
  C- 2
   
• Now C will be eliminated. And vote of C will be transferred to B because where C was 1st preference B was 2nd
  A- 2+1
  B- 3+2
   
• And B will be elected as President because he reached to the Electoral Quota first.
  So finally B will be elected as the president.

Award Winning Article Is Written By: Mr.Mukesh Jana

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