President of India (original) (raw)

The President of India is the ceremonial head of state and the supreme commander of the armed forces.

The current President of India is Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Article 52 of the Constitution of India provides for a President of India. "There shall be a President of India". Article 53 states that executive power of the Union shall vest in the President, who shall exercise directly or through officers under him, this power in accordance with the Constitution. This provision is similar to the provision under Article II of the US Constitution. A remarkable feature under the Indian constitution could be seen under Article 53 whereby parliament has the authority to confer powers and functions exercised by the president to any other authority. Unlike 22nd amendment to US Constitution Indian President could be elected for any number of terms. the Constitution requires that the President must be a citizen of India but it is not a condition that he must be born citizen. In fact Indian president is a part of the Parliament (Article 79) and literally a nominal head of state. Although the Constitution explicitly says that the president is the executive head of the state but this real executive power is exercised by the council of ministers and Prime minister at the helm of it. This has to be inferred from Article 74 of the Indian Constitution ".. council of ministers to aid and advise the President who shall, in exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advise".

The President is elected whenever the office becomes vacant by an electoral college consisting of:

Members of both Houses of Parliament
Members of the Unicameral Legislature or the Lower House of the Bicameral Legislature of each State

Each elector casts a different number of votes. The general principle is that the total votes cast by Members of Parliament equals the total votes cast by Legislators. Also, legislators from larger states cast more votes than those from smaller states. Finally, the number of legislators in a state matters; if a state has a few legislators, then each legislator has relatively more votes; if a state has many legislators, then each legislator has fewer votes. The actual calculation for votes cast is as follows: First, determine the population of a certain State. Then, divide the population by one thousand. Finally, divide this quotient again by the number of legislators from the State voting in the electoral college. This number is the number of votes per legislator in a given state. For votes cast by those in Parliament, determine the total number of votes cast by all state legislators. Then, divide the sum by the number of members of both Houses of Parliament. This is the number of votes per member of either house of Parliament. (Note that India's electoral college is provided by law, not by the Constitution)

The constitution also provides the mechanism for the impeachment of the President (Article 61) for the violation of the Constitution. The place of the president is peculiar in the Indian governmental setup. His functions are to be exercised in accordance with the aid and advice of the council of ministers but powers are to be exercised by the President however the rider in favour of parliament vides Article 53 of the Constitution. The president of India swears before entering the office of the president that he shall protect, preserve and defend the Constitution (Article 60) which provides for an executive head of state who is nominal or ceremonial. The Indian Constitution must be seen as a purveyor of a system of governance where a mixture of presidential and parliamentary systems could be located.