President of India [Concept for UPSC]

To say, in our country, the President is like an idol, but it is such an idol that speaks. In this article, we will discuss about the President of India in a simple and easy way with the help of related articles, and try to understand its various important aspects. 

So read this article till the end, and to understand President of India well, must read all related executive articles; links are given below;

Presidential Election Process	Click Here
Functions and Powers of the President	Click Here
Pardoning Power of the President	Click Here
President’s veto power	Click Here
President’s Ordinance Power	Click Here
Vice President of India	Click Here

Read in Hindi

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executive of india

The executive of India is based on the principle of collective leadership, in that also we have adopted the parliamentary system where the prime minister is the real executive. Along with this, India is also a republic, that is, the highest civilian position is the elected person and not a person of a particular lineage. (This can be understood with the help of the chart below). In this article we will understand the President of India i.e. Constitutional Executive.

The President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Cabinet and Attorney General have been discussed in Part 5 of the Constitution from Articles 52 to 78. These are the five main executives at the union level. Those who directly handle the executive activities of the country. (For specific details read the executive article)

Even though the President does not have that much executive powers. But most of the articles in the constitution have discussed about it. Think for yourself that the Prime Minister, who is the real executive, has been dealt with in articles 3 to 4 in the constitution. The situation is more or less the same for other executives as well. But the President has been described in great detail. Why is this?

| One reason for this is that the constitutional head of India is the President. The Prime Minister does all the executive work in the name of the President.

| The second reason is that we have adopted the parliamentary system with a federal character. In such a situation, the symbolic position of the President does not surprise much. Because there is no direct participation of the public in the presidential election but there is in the prime ministerial election..

Understanding of President of India

| Under Article 52 of the Constitution, the President has been arranged in the country. That is, it is a constitutional post.

As we have discussed above that the President is just a symbol in this parliamentary system of India. Because all the work to be done is done by the Prime Minister. These things are also clear from Article 53 , Article 74 and Article 75 . how that?

| Article 53 says that the executive powers of the Union shall be vested in the President and he shall exercise this power either by himself or through officers subordinate to him.

Of course they also have some executive powers which they exercise by themselves and through their subordinates. Will learn more about this later. But the real point comes from Articles 74 and 75.

| According to Article 74, there shall be a Council of Ministers to help and advise the President. Which will be headed by the Prime Minister.

If you read the line of Article 74, advice and help is written in it, but it happens that the President is usually unable to refuse what the Prime Minister says. It is as if the President works for the Prime Minister. And you can see the reason behind this happening in Article 75.

| Article 75 states that the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. That is, the Council of Ministers will be directly responsible to the public. Because only the representatives of all the people are sitting in the Lok Sabha.

Since the Prime Minister is the head of the Council of Ministers, therefore it can be said that the Prime Minister is responsible to the people. Now if the Prime Minister has been made accountable to the people, then the President will be only a symbol.

That is why the President is not directly elected by the people. Rather it is selected by indirect method. So that the President is prevented from becoming the real executive.

| If the President was also elected directly by the people, then half the term would have passed in the power struggle itself. But whatever be the case, the framers of our constitution understood this and made the President sit as an idol. An idol that sometimes moves and speaks.

presidential election

The election of the President is very interesting,  Mainly, Article 54 , Article 55 , Article 57 , Article 58 , Article 62 and Article 71 explain the presidential election well.

Article 54 states that the election of the President will be held and the work of electing the President will be done by the Electoral College.

What is the Electoral College? It has also been told about this that the electoral college will be a group of three types of people. These three types of people are as follows.

1. Elected Members of both the Houses of Parliament
2. Elected Members of State Legislative Assemblies
3. Elected Members of the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry Legislative Assemblies. Now Jammu and Kashmir will also join it.

Keep two things in mind here that only elected members can participate in it, not the nominated member. That is, only those who have come directly or indirectly elected can participate in it, not those who have been nominated by the President.

Secondly, since Jammu and Kashmir has also become a union territory with a legislature, its elected members will still be able to participate in the presidential election.

Article 55, How will the President be elected? ^️ It’s about him. The President is elected by the single transferable vote method based on proportional representation .

Since the presidential election is a bit complicated and interesting, it has been covered in a separate article. You can read it with the help of given link – presidential election process

President’s term of office

Article 56 deals with the term of office of the President.

| The President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office; but –

(a) he may resign his office at any time during his term of office to the Vice-President.

(b) The President may be removed from office by impeachment in the manner specified in article 61 for violation of the Constitution.

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

Article 57 – President’s eligibility for re-election

Any person who holds or has held office as President shall, subject to the other provisions of this Constitution, be eligible for re-election to that office.

| Although this is not usually the case, it is because when Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected President twice, many people’s eyes started rolling on him.

One of whom was Pandit Nehru. Pandit Nehru did not get along with Dr. Prasad. That is why he did not want him to become President again for the third time.

Therefore, he tried to fix the term of the presidency by amending the constitution. (As is the case in America, a person cannot be president more than twice.)

When Dr. Rajendra Prasad came to know about this, he himself refused to contest the election for the third time. And said that there is no need to amend any constitution for this. It should just become a tradition that the person, having been President once or twice, will himself not stand for election the next time.

Since then it has become a tradition till date. After Dr. Prasad, no person has become the President for two terms.

Qualifications to be Elected for President of India

Article 58 deals with the qualifications for being elected President .

(1) A person shall be eligible to be elected as President unless he-

(a) he is a citizen of India,
(b) he must have completed the age of 35 years, and
(c) he is qualified to be elected as a member of the Lok Sabha.

(2) No person who holds any office of profit under the Government of India or any State Government or under any local or other authority in the said Governments shall be eligible to be elected President.

| Remember here that a current President or Vice-President, Governor of a State and Minister of the Union or State are not considered to have an office of profit. Thus he is a candidate for the presidency.

| Apart from this, for the nomination of the President’s election, the candidate should have at least 50 Proposers and 50 Seconders.

Each candidate deposits Rs 15000 as security deposit in Reserve Bank of India. If the candidate is unable to secure 1/6th of the total votes cast, this amount is forfeited.

| However, before 1997, the number of proposers and seconders was ten each and the security deposit was 2500. This was extended in 1997 to discourage candidates who do not contest elections seriously.

President post’s Conditions

Article 59 deals with the conditions of the presidency

The following conditions have been laid down by the Constitution for the office of the President.

(1.) The President shall not be a member of either House of Parliament or of either House of the Legislature of a State, but if so, he shall have to resign from that House before taking office.

(2) He shall not hold any other office of profit. 

(3) He shall be allotted the official residence Rashtrapati Bhavan without paying any rent. Apart from this, he will get emoluments, allowances and privileges as determined by the Parliament. 

(4) His emoluments and allowances shall not be reduced during his term of office.

| The President also has many privileges. He has immunity from any legal responsibilities in his official work.

During his tenure, he is immune from any criminal proceeding, even from personal acts. He cannot be arrested, nor sent to jail,

However, after giving two months notice, he can be prosecuted for his personal acts during his tenure.

Oath taken by the President of India

Article 60 – deals with the Oath-taking by the President.

The President takes oath or affirmation before taking office. In his oath the President says,

I, (name), do swear in the name of God (or solemnly affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President (or discharge the functions of the President) of the Republic of India, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law, and that I will devote myself to the service and well-being of the people of the Republic of India.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court administers the oath to the President. If they are not, then in his absence the President is administered the oath of office by the senior-most judge.

Impeachment of President of India

Article 61 – deals with the impeachment of the President.

If the President violates the Constitution, he can be removed from office by impeachment.

| The charges of impeachment can be initiated in either House of the Parliament. These charges must be signed by one-fourth of the members of the House (the House in which the allegations are made) and 14 days’ notice must be given to the President.

After the impeachment motion is passed by a two-thirds majority, it is sent to the second house, which has to investigate these allegations. The President has the right to be present in it and get his representation done.

If the second house finds these allegations to be correct and passes the impeachment motion with a two-thirds majority, then the President will have to step down from his office from the date of the passage of the resolution.

| Thus impeachment is a quasi-judicial process of the Parliament. Two things are worth noting in this context.

1. Nominated members of both the Houses of Parliament who did not participate in the election of the President can participate in this impeachment. 

2. Elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies and the members of the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry do not participate in this impeachment motion, while they participate in the election of the President.

| The interesting thing is that so far no President has been removed by impeachment.

Article 62 – Time to hold elections to fill vacancy in the office of the President

The office of the President can become vacant in the following ways: 

1. On the expiry of the five-year term, 

2. On his resignation, 

3. On his removal from office by the process of impeachment, 

4. On his death, 

5. For any other reason. as if he is not qualified to hold office or the election is declared invalid.

If his term is to end due to the vacancy of the post, then a fresh election should be held before the completion of his term to fill that post.

| If there is any delay in the election of the new President, the current President will continue in office even after five years until his successor assumes office. The constitution has made this provision to avoid migration due to the vacancy of the office in the absence of the President.

In this situation, the Vice-President does not get the opportunity to act as the acting President and discharge his duties.

| If his office becomes vacant by reason of his death, resignation, expulsion or otherwise, the election of the new President shall be held within six months from the date of occurrence of the vacancy.

The Vice-President will act as the acting President until the election is held. The new President shall hold office for five years from the date of his taking office after being elected.

| In addition, if the incumbent President is unable to act in his office due to absence, illness or other reasons, the Vice-President shall act as the acting President until his re-election.

If the office of the Vice-President is vacant, the Chief Justice of India or if his office also becomes vacant, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court shall act as the acting President and perform his duties.

| When a person, such as the Vice-President, the Chief Justice of India or the senior-most Judge of the Supreme Court, acts or performs his duties as the Acting President, he has all the powers and immunities of the President and is vested in him by Parliament. He also receives all the prescribed achievements, perks and privileges.

Article 71 – Matters relating to the election of the President or Vice-President

Article 71 – It deals with the dispute related to the President and the Vice-President. If there is any dispute, what will be done?

As there is a controversy – of March 1974 when the Government of Gujarat fell. But despite this, the election of the President was held.

So the question arose that when there is no member of the legislature of a state, then how can the President be elected.

However, later the Supreme Court said that even if the legislature of a state is dissolved or an MP dies, elections will be held.

Because even in Article 62 it is written that the new President should be elected before leaving the office of the old President.

The same thing has been written in Article 71 that whatever happens, the President will be elected. So whatever dispute is there in this way, its solution will be found in this.

(1) The first provision herein is that all doubts and disputes arising out of the election of the President or the Vice-President shall be inquired into and decided by the Supreme Court and its decision shall be final.

(2) If the election of any person as President or Vice-President was declared void by the Supreme Court, the act previously done by him shall not be invalid by reason of that declaration.

President Practice Quiz upsc

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Presidential Election Process	Click Here
Functions and Powers of the President	Click Here
Pardoning Power of the President	Click Here
President’s veto power	Click Here
President’s Ordinance Power	Click Here
Vice President of India	Click Here

Constitution Part 5^↗️