Manner of election of President
Article 55 — Manner of election of President
shall be uniformity in the scale of representation of the different States at the election of the President. (2) For the purpose of securing such uniformity among the States inter se as well as parity between the States as a whole and the Union, the number of votes which each elected member of Parliament and of the Legislative Assembly of each State is entitled to cast at such election shall be determined in the following manner:—
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(a) every elected member of the Legislative Assembly of a State shall have as many votes as there are multiples of one thousand in the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the State by the total number of the elected members of the Assembly;
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(b) if, after taking the said multiples of one thousand, the remainder is not less than five hundred, then the vote of each member referred to in sub-clause (a) shall be further increased by one;
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(c) each elected member of either House of Parliament shall have such number of votes as may be obtained by dividing the total number of votes assigned to the members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States under sub-clauses (a) and (b) by the total number of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament, fractions exceeding one-half being counted as one and other fractions being disregarded. (3) The election of the President shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot. Explanation.—In this article, the expression “population” means the population as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published: Provided that the reference in this Explanation to the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published shall, until the relevant figures for the first census taken after the year 2026 have been published, be construed as a reference to the 1971 census.]
Plain English Summary
This article explains how the President of India is elected to ensure fair representation for all states. It sets a specific mathematical method to determine how many votes each elected representative in a state gets, aiming for equal representation across the country. The election process itself must be done through a secret ballot using a system called proportional representation.
Key Points
- The goal is to ensure uniformity in how states are represented when electing the President.
- The number of votes each member of a State Legislative Assembly gets is calculated based on the state's population relative to the total number of assembly members.
- A specific calculation involving multiples of one thousand and remainders determines the exact vote share for each representative.
- The election of the President must follow the system of proportional representation using a single transferable vote and secret ballots.
Why It Matters
This article ensures that the electoral process for the President is fair and proportional, guaranteeing that the population size of a state influences its representation in the national election.
Landmark Judgements
No major landmark judgements.