Mukesh Kumar Malviya
Affiliation: Law School, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
Email: mukesh9424@areezking123
Abstract: The President of India is the head of state of the Republic of India. The President is the formal head of the executive, legislature and judiciary of India and is the commander-in-chief of the Forces. The President is indirectly elected by the people through elected members of the Parliament of India (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) as well as of the state legislatures (Vidhan Sabhas), and serves for a term of five years. Historically, ruling party (majority in the Lok Sabha) nominees (for example, United Progressive Alliance nominee Shri Pranab Mukherjee) have been elected or largely elected unanimously. Incumbent presidents are permitted to stand for re-election. A formula is used to allocate votes so there is a balance between the population of each state and the number of votes assembly members from a state can cast, and to give an equal balance between State Assembly members and the members of the Parliament of India. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, then there is a system by which losing candidates are eliminated from the contest and their votes are transferred to other candidates, until one gains a majority. The Vice-President is elected indirectly by members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of Proportional Representation by means of the Single transferable vote and the voting is by secret ballot. Although Article 5 of the Constitution of India states that the President can exercise his or her powers directly or by subordinate authority, with few exceptions, all of the executive authority vested in the President are, in practice, exercised by the popularly elected Government of India, headed by the Prime Minister. This Executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister with the help of the Council of Ministers. The President of India resides in an estate in New Delhi known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan (which roughly translates as President’s Palace). The presidential retreat is The Retreat in Chharabra, Shimla and Rashtrapati Nilayam (President’s Place) in Hyderabad. The 13th and current President is Pranab Mukherjee elected on 22 July 2012, and sworn-in on 25 July 2012. He is also the first Bengali to be elected as the president. He took over the position from Pratibha Patil who was the first woman to serve in the office.
Keyword: Election; President of India; Juridical Study; Transferable Vote System; Emerging Trends.