Polity Notes about The President & Vice-President of India

Today we will be covering a very important topic from the general knowledge section that is about The President & Vice-President of India in the Indian Constitution these points will be helpful for your upcoming exams like SSC & Railways Exams.

The President of India in the Indian Constitution

(1)Article 52 – There shall be a President of India
(2)Article 53 – Executive power of the Union: The executive power shall be vested in the President and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers’ sub-ordinate to him.
(3)He is the supreme commander of the defence forces in India.
(4)Though he’s only the constitutional head, or titular head, de jure head or nominal executive or just a symbolic head.

Election of the President

1. The President shall be elected by the members of an ELECTORAL COLLEGE consisting of:

      (a)The ELECTED MPs
      (b)The ELECTED MLAs of the states
      (c)The ELECTED MLAs of National Capital territory of Delhi (added by 70^th Amendment Act, 1992 and with effect from 1-06-1995) and Union territory of Puducherry.

2. Thus, nominated members of parliament and legislative assemblies and members of legislative councils do not participate in presidential election.
3. Article-55 provides for manner of election and there should be uniformity and representation throughout the Nation as per the constitution. Hence, MPs and MLAs have been assigned votes as per their representation.
4. Election is held in accordance with system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote and voting is done by secret ballot.
5. All doubts and disputes arising out of the Presidential elections are decided into and enquired by the Supreme Court whose decision is final.
6. The elections are monitored and conducted by the Election Commission of India.
7. Only one President, that is, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy has been elected unopposed so far.
8. Dr. Rajendra Prasad is the only President to have been elected twice.
9. Two Presidents – Dr. Zakir Hussain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed have died in the office.

 Term of office (Article 56) and Re-election (Article 57)

1. Term – 5 years.
2. Resignation is addressed to the Vice-President.
3. The President is eligible for re-election for any number of terms.

Qualification (Article 58), Conditions (Article 59) & Oath (Article 60)

1. Eligibility -

      (a)citizen of India
      (b)35 years
      (c)Is eligible for election as an MP of the House of the People.

1. Shouldn’t hold any office of profit.
2. The President shall not be a member of either House of Parliament of any Legislature. Even if such a member is elected, he is deemed to have vacated that seat.
3. The nomination of a candidate for election must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders.
4. Oath administered by the Chief Justice of India or in his absence the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court available.
5. Emoluments, allowances and privileges etc. as may be determined by the parliament and which can’t be diminished during his term.
6. He is immune from any criminal proceeding during his term. He can’t be arrested or imprisoned. However, after two-month’ notice civil proceedings can be initiated against him during his term in respect of his personal acts.

Impeachment of the President (Article 61)

1. A formal removal of the President from his post by constitutional means.
2. He is impeached for the ‘Violation of the Constitution’. However, the term is defined nowhere in the constitution.
3. The charges can be preferred by either house of the parliament. However, a 14-days’ notice shall be served to the President before the acceptance of such a resolution.
4. Also, that notice must be signed by at least one-fourth members of the total members of that house which initiated the charges.
5. After the acceptance of that bill in that house, that impeachment bill must be passed by the majority of 2/3^rd of the total membership of that house.
6. Then that bill goes in another house which should investigate the charges and the President shall have the right to appear and to be represented at such an investigation.
7. If another house sustains the charges and finds the President of violation, and passes that resolution by 2/3^rd of the total membership of that house, the President stands removed from the date the resolution is so passed.
8. Hence, impeachment is a quasi-judicial process. And though, the nominated members of Parliament do no participate in his election, they take part in the impeachment process. Also, states’ legislatures do not have a role in the impeachment process.

Powers of the President

Executive Powers

1. All executive actions are taken in his name. He is the formal, constitutional, titular head or de jure head of the Government.
2. Appoints the P.M and other ministers on P.M’s advice.
3. Appoints the Attorney General of India, CAG, Chief Election Commissioner and other Commissioners, the chairman and members of UPSC, Governors of states, Chairman and members of Finance Commission etc.
4. He appoints Inter-State Council and he is the one who can declare any area as scheduled area and decides on the matter of declaration of any tribe as scheduled tribe.

Legislative Powers

1. Summons and Prorogues the Parliament and dissolves the Lok Sabha.
2. Summons the joint sitting of the two houses of Parliament (which is presided over by the Speaker of Lok Sabha).
3. Nominates 12 members to Rajya Sabha from amongst people having achievements in art, literature, science and social service and may nominate 2 members to Lok Sabha from the Anglo-Indian Community.
4. His prior recommendation is required in case of presentation of certain types of bills such as money bills, bills seeking expenditure from the consolidated fund of India etc.
5. He can withhold his assent to bills, return the bills to the legislatures, apply pocket veto to bills etc.
6. He can promulgate ordinances when the parliament is not in session.
7. He lays the reports of Finance Commission, CAG, and UPSC etc. before the Parliament.
8. No demand for grant can be made except on his recommendation. Also, he constitutes a Finance Commission every five years for distribution of revenues between center and states.

Judicial Powers

1. Appoints the Chief Justice and other judges of the Supreme Court and High courts.
2. Seeks advice from the Supreme Court on any question of law.
3. He can grant pardon etc.

Emergency Powers

1. National Emergency (Article 352)
2. President’s Rule (Article 356)
3. Financial Emergency (Article 360)

Veto Powers

  The President of India has three types of Veto powers, namely

1. Absolute Veto- Withholding the assent to the bill. The bill then ends and does not become an act. Example- in 1954, Dr. Rajendra Prasad withheld his assent to the PEPSU Appropriation Bill. Also, in 1991 R. Venkataram withheld his assent to the MPs Salaries, allowances bill.
2. Suspensive Veto- Returning the bill for reconsideration. In 2006, President APJ Abdul Kalam used suspensive veto in office of profit bill. However, the President can return the bill for reconsideration to the legislature only once, after which he has to give his consent.
3. Pocket Veto- Taking no action on the bill sent to the President. There’s no time limit provided in the constitution within which the President has to give his assent or sign the bill. Hence, he has a ‘bigger pocket’ than the American President. In 1986, President Zail Singh applied Pocket Veto to Indian Post Office Amendment bill.

NOTE: The President has no veto power in case of a constitutional amendment bill. He is bound to give his assent to such bills.

Ordinance Making Powers (Article 123)

1. An ordinance can be issued by the President only when both houses of Parliament are not in session or when only one house is in session.
2. The ordinance must be approved by the Parliament within six weeks of its reassembly.
3. Hence, maximum life of an ordinance is – six months + six weeks.
4. He can issue an ordinance only on the advice of the council of ministers headed by the P.M

Pardoning power of the President (Article 72)

1. The President has the power to grant pardon, reprieve, commutation, remission, respite to any persons convicted in any Union Law, or by a court martial or in cases of death penalty.
2. It is an executive power. And the Governor also has those powers under Article 161, however, the Governor can’t pardon a death sentence nor can he interfere in court martial cases.
3. The President exercises this power on the advice of the Union Cabinet.

Discretionary Powers of the President

1. Appointment of the P.M when no party has a clear majority in the Lok Sabha or when the P.M in office dies suddenly and there’s no obvious successor.
2. Dismissal of the council of ministers when it can’t prove the confidence of the Lok Sabha.
3. Dissolution of the Lok Sabha if the council of ministers has lost its majority.
4. Use of Suspensive Veto in case of bills.

List of the Presidents of India

 The Vice- President of India in the Indian Constitution

The Vice-President of India (Important Articles covered: 63-71)

Part V of the Constitution of India under Chapter I (Executive) also discusses the office of the Vice-President of India. The Vice-President of India is the second highest constitutional office in the country.

Article 63: The Vice-President of India

• There shall be a Vice-President of India.
• This article mentions about the CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICE of the VICE-PRESIDENT of India.
• As we shall see subsequently that the post was created to maintain a continuum in the hierarchy in Indian political system. The V.P does not have very major functions or powers as such.
• The post has been inspired by the Constitution of the U.S(QUESTION HAS BEEN ASKED)

Article 64: The Vice-President is to be an ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States.

• The Vice-President shall be ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States and shall not hold any other office of profit:
• This is probably the most important function of the V.P. Ex-officio means by VIRTUE OF HOLDING THE OFFICE. That is,a person automatically becomes THE CHAIRPERSON OF RAJYA SABHA (COUNCIL OF STATES) if he/she is ELECTED as the Vice-President of India.
• The first Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha - Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• Provided that during any period when the Vice-President acts as President or discharges the functions of the President under article 65, he shall not perform the duties of the office of Chairman of the Council of States and shall not be entitled to any salary or allowance payable to the Chairman of the Council of States under article 97.
• This is the second most important function of the V.P. He can act as the President in case of the death, impeachment, resignation or otherwise of the President of India. However he can act as the president only for a maximum period of six months (question asked) within which a new president has to be elected.

Important Points

• When the President Dr.Zakir Hussain died in office, the then Vice-President V.V.Giri acted as the President.
• When the President Fakruddin Ali Ahmed died in office, the then Vice-President B.D.Jatti acted as the president.
• The Vice-President Dr.S. Radhakrishnan discharged the duties of the President in June 1960 when the then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad was on a 15-day tour to the former USSR. Also, again in July 1961 he discharged the functions of the President when Dr. Rajendra Prasad was very ill.
• The V.P gets the salary, allowance and remuneration etc. as the chairperson of the Rjaya Sabha. The present salary of the V.P is 1,25,000 per month.
• As has been mentioned above, the V.P gets the salary, allowance etc. of the President when he acts as the president not as the chairperson of the Rajya sabha.
• The salary, emoluments etc. of the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha is mentioned in the second schedule of the Constitution of India.

Article 65: The Vice-President to act as President or to discharge his functions during casual vacancies in the office, or during the absence of President.

As has already been mentioned above, the V.P shall act as the President in case of the President’s death, resignation, removal or otherwise.

Article 66: Election of Vice-President

• Vice‑President is elected by members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both the Houses of the Parliament. However, his election is different from that of the President as the state legislatures have no part in it.
• The election is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation and voting is done by the secret ballot.
• The V.P shall not be a member of either house of parliament or any state legislature, if that is the case then that person is deemed to have vacated the M.P’s or M.L.A’s or M.L.C’s post on the date on which he become the Vice-President.

Eligibility Criteria for Vice - President

• He/She should be citizen of India
• He/She has completed the age of 35 years.
• He/She should be qualified for the member of Rajya Sabha
• Does not hold any office of profit under union, state or local authority.
• However, for this purpose, the President, Vice‑President, Governor of a State and a Minister of the Union or a State, are not held to be holding an office of profit. (An office of profit is any office that would give its occupant the opportunity to gain a financial advantage or benefit).

 Important Points

• The Election Commission of India conducts the election to the office of the Vice-President.
• The election of the next Vice-President is to be held within 60 days of the expiry of the term of office of the outgoing Vice-President.
• Any person qualified to be elected and intending to stand for election as Vice-President is required to be nominated by at least 20 MPs as proposers and at least 20 MPs as seconders.
• A candidate seeking election as Vice-President is required to make a security deposit of Rs.15,000/-.
• All doubts and disputes arising in connection with the election of the Vice-President are enquired into and decided by the Supreme Court of India whose decision is final.(Art.71) 

Article 67: Term of office of Vice-President

The Vice-President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office:

Provided that –

(a) A Vice-President may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office;

(b) a Vice-President may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Council of States passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council and agreed to by the House of the People; but no resolution for the purpose of this clause shall be moved unless at least fourteen days’ notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution;

(c) A Vice-President shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office.

Article 68: Time of holding election to fill vacancy in the office of Vice-President and the term of office of person elected to fill casual vacancy.

The election must be held before the completion of the incumbent Vice-President. Also see Note 2 under Article 66.

Article 69: Oath or affirmation by the Vice-President

Every Vice-President shall, before entering upon his office, make and subscribe before the President, or some person appointed in that behalf by him, an oath or affirmation in the following form, that is to say – “I, A.B., do swear in the name of God /solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and that I will discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter.”

Article 70: Discharge of President’s functions in other contingencies.

• This article actually authorizes the Parliament to make provisions related to the President and not the V.P. 

Article 71:Matters relating to, or connected with, the election of a President or Vice-President.

• See Note – 6 Under Article 66
• The Parliament is empowered to make laws related to such provisions of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential matters such as elections, terms, and so on.

A few other important points about the V.P of India

• S. Radhakrishnan was the first V.P of India and he held the post twice from 1952-1957 and then from 1957-1962. Md. Hamid Ansari has replicated that i.e. from 2007-2012 and from 2012- continuing.
• Shri Krishan Kant was the only V.P to have died in office.
• The V.P.s who went on to become the Presidents – Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussain, V.V. Giri, R. Venkataraman, S.D. Sharma, K.R. Narayanan.
• Because of the limited powers and functions the V.P of India is also at times termed as “HIS SUPERFLUOUS HIGHNESS”

List of Vice-President of India

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