Elections are very common in a democracy, but how elections are held, it sometimes becomes special, such as taking the Presidential Election itself, then it is quite special in its complexity. 

In this article, we will understand the entire process of presidential election in as easy as possible language, and discuss its various important aspects. So definitely read the article till the end; And also read related articles to understand whole topic very well.

Basics of President of IndiaClick Here
Functions and Powers of the PresidentClick Here
Pardoning Power of the PresidentClick Here
President’s veto powerClick Here
President’s Ordinance PowerClick Here
Vice President of IndiaClick Here
Presidential Election
Read in HindiYT1FBgYT2

Presidential election in India

If you have read the previous article on President then you would be well aware that Article 54 is about the people who will participate in the election of the President .

At the same time, Article 55➡ is about what is the process of presidential election . These two articles not only tell about the Presidential election, as well as Article 57 , which tells whether someone can become the President again.

Article 58➡ Which states what are the qualifications to contest the presidential election? Article 62 states that if the office of the President is vacant or is about to be held, then by when it is necessary to hold elections.

Although all these articles do not tell all the things related to the presidential election, there are many rules and acts related to the presidential election. One of these important acts is the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election Act 1952. The main information related to the presidential election is written in this.

Presidential election process

Article 54 talks about the electoral college . The electoral college means the one who will choose the president. Since the election of the President is not done by direct method, hence the arrangement for the Electoral College has been made.

Now the question comes that who are the people in this electoral college? This is clearly mentioned in Article 54. The electoral college consists of the following people –

1. Elected members of both the Houses of Parliament,  2. Elected members of the State Legislative Assembly and 3. Elected members of the Delhi and Puducherry Legislative Assemblies.

The point to be remembered here is that the nominated member is not included in this process. That is, those members who have not been elected in any manner. Rather recruited directly.

So remember that the nominated members of both the Houses of Parliament, the nominated members of the State Legislative Assemblies and the nominated members of the Delhi and Puducherry Legislative Assemblies do not participate in the election of the President.

Another thing is that Jammu and Kashmir has also been made a Union Territory, and there will also be a Legislative Assembly. That is why now it will also be kept along with Delhi and Puducherry.

Proportional representation

How will the election be held under Article 55 ? This is written. We know that the President is elected by the Single Transferable Vote System under the system of proportional representation .

The meaning of Proportional Representation is simply – in the proportion in which you have got votes, you will get seats in the same proportion.

| You can understand this with the help of list system . Let’s say elections are fought for 100 seats all over the country and there are 3 parties which are contesting the elections. Suppose party A got 40 percent votes and party B and party C got 30 – 30 percent votes respectively.

According to the list system , since A has got 40 percent of the vote, it means that he will get 40 seats. Similarly, B and C will get 30 – 30 seats respectively.

| But the problem in the election of the President is that there is only one seat. That is why this is the list system of proportional representation . This doesn’t work.

| So here proportional representation means that the states should be represented equally in the election, that is, all the legislators of the state, the value of their vote should be the same. And at the same time the vote value of the MPs of the State and the Center should also be same. Let us understand what it means to have equal vote value .

The technique adopted to ensure that the value of the vote is equal. In this , the population of that state is divided by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly of that state and whatever quotient comes, it is again divided by 1000.

Dividing by 1000 is given so that the number is less and the calculation is easy. You can write it like this.

Vote Value of one MLA = Total population of the State /Total elected members of State Legislative Assembly x 1000

? Now keep this thing in mind here that the population of any state 1971 is used. Not current. Why is this done?

The story behind this is that the South Indian states achieved great success in controlling the population after independence. But the North Indian states, instead of reducing the population, allowed it to grow at twice the rate of three times.

The concern of the South Indian states was that if the vote value is taken according to today’s population, then the vote value of the North Indian states will be so much that they will choose the President on their own. Which is also correct.

Understand this with the example of Kerala and Bihar. The vote value of a Kerala MLA as per the population of 1971 is 152. At the same time, the vote value of an MLA from Bihar is 173. That means there is not much difference.

Now according to the population of 2011, the vote value of an MLA from Kerala comes to 238. Whereas Bihar’s 427 comes. The difference is almost double. Now you must be understanding why 1971 population is used.

Presidential election and vote value

| Let us calculate the vote value of an MLA of Bihar according to the formula which is written above. The population of Bihar as of 1971 is 42,126,800 and the total assembly seats in Bihar are 243.

Now if that population is divided by 243 , it comes to 1,73,361 . If it is divided by 1000, then 173 comes.

| This means that the vote value of every single voter of Bihar who participated in the presidential election is 173. Similarly, all the states are taken out. The value of 1 vote of its MLAs is the same in all the states. So this is the ratio of votes at the state level .

If you want to see the vote value of 1 MLA of all the states, then you can see it on Wikipedia by clicking here.

| Similarly , the ratio of votes between the state and the center should also be same. Since the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament participate in this election, the value of their vote should also be equal to that of the MLA of all the states.

Let’s take it out and see how much comes. This is how it is extracted.

Vote Value of One MP = Total vote value of all the states / Total number of elected MP

Calculating the total value of votes of MLAs of all the states comes to 549,495 .

| Remember here that there is a calculation of 87 seats in Jammu and Kashmir. If the number of seats there will increase in future, then the vote value will be different.

At present, the total elected members in the Parliament are 776 . 543 in Lok Sabha and 233 in Rajya Sabha. So if we divide 549,495 by 776 , we get 708 i.e. the value of a vote of an MP is 708. So the value of the total MP’s vote is 549,408 .

|Now if you see here, the vote value of the total MLAs of the country is 549,495 , while the vote value of the total MPs is 549,408 . That is, the ratio of both is almost equal.

This arrangement is called proportional representation . Now if the vote value of total MPs and total MLAs is added, it comes to 1,098,903 .

| Remember that the number of members in the electoral college is only 4896 . how that? It is such that the total number of elected MLAs in the country is 4120. And the total number of elected MPs is 776. If you add both, then 4896 will come and this is the Electoral College which will choose the President.

Now you must be understanding that the number of all the members of the electoral college is 4896 and the vote value of all is 1,098,903 . Now if 1,098,903 is divided by 4896 , we get approximately 224 . That is, the value of one vote of all the members of the electoral college is 224 . So it is not the value of everyone’s vote is same.

Presidential election process begins

Since there is no election like the Presidential elections, the Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha, in which everyone gets the most votes. He wins, no matter how small the vote may be. (That’s why this system is called first past the post system)

But since the presidential election is done by proportional representation system. That is why in order to win here it is necessary to get a certain share of the total votes.

How much do you need to bring? There is also a formula to extract it.

Vote need to win = {Total Valid Vote / No of Seat +1} +1

Here the total valid votes are 1,098,903 and the number of terms we know is only 1. Just put it on this formula. 5,49,452 will come.

This means until a candidate receives 5,49,452 votes. Won’t win

| But it is not necessary that someone should get that much or more votes. This is where a concept comes from – the single transferable vote system.

It simply means that the vote is only 1 but it is transferable. This means that until a candidate gets 5,49,452 votes. Till then the votes of the voting members will continue to be transferred. Remember that if someone gets that many votes in one go, then it is over. But if no one gets that much vote then vote transfer system starts.

These systems should work, that’s why the Preferential System is adopted. This means that all the members who participate in this election do not choose any one, but they choose their preference.

This means that the one who likes the most goes to number 1, the least favorite at number 2, etc. in the same way. It depends on how many candidates are running for the presidency. How does this work? let’s watch.

To understand, let’s assume that the electoral college has a total of 100 members and the value of everyone’s vote is 1. That is, the value of the total vote is 100.

Thus, according to the above mentioned formula, to win, at least 51 of the total vote value has to be brought. Now let us assume that four candidates are running for the presidency.

The voting process is over and the counting has started. When the counting of Round 1 started, all four got votes in this ratio respectively.

Candidate A40
Candidate B30
Candidate C20
Candidate D10

This vote is the first preference. That is, out of 100 people, the first preference or first choice of 40 people is candidate A.

The first choice of 30 people is candidate B. The first choice of 20 people is candidate C, and the first choice of 10 people is candidate D. Similarly, everyone will also have a second preference. Okay.

Now here you will be able to see that no candidate has got 51 votes. That is, no one has won. In such a situation, the second round of counting will start.

second round counting

Now it will happen that the first vote of candidate D will be transferred. Because he got the least votes. How will this happen?

So you must be seeing that there are 10 people who wanted to see Candidate D on First Preference. Now it is obvious that these 10 people will also have a second preference, which these people would like to see at the second number.

Let’s say that out of this 10 people 5 wanted to see candidate A on Second Preference, similarly 3 people wanted to see candidate B and 2 people wanted to see candidate C on Second Preference.

So now it will happen that the second preference vote of these ten will be transferred to candidates A, B and C respectively, that is, they will be added to all.

If A had 40 votes then 5 more would be added to it, B had 30 votes then 3 more would be added to it, C had 20 votes then 2 more would be added to it. Now the situation will be like this.

Candidate A 40 + 5 = 45 votes.
B 30 + 3 = 33 votes.
C 20 + 2 = 22 votes cast.

Now you must be seeing that still none of them have got 51 votes. Had it been found, the election would have ended there and the winner would have been declared.

This is usually what happens. But in this case, since still no one has got 51 votes, so now the third round of counting will start.

third round of counting

Candidate D’s vote is already transferred. Now it is the turn of candidate C. Because he has the least votes now.

Total 20 people have put C on First Preference and 2 people on Second Preference. Hope you can understand.

Now it will happen that the 20 people who have placed C on the first preference, their second preference will be seen. And the two people who have placed C on the second preference, their third preference will be seen.

Now let’s say that out of those 20 people, 2 people put A on second preference, and 18 people put B on second preference.

The rest are the two people who put C on Second Preference. Suppose 1 of them has placed A on Third Preference and 1 has placed B on Third Preference.

In this way the vote of C will now be transferred to A and B. Now see what happens after the transfer.

A 45 + 2 + 1 = 48 votes
B 33 + 18 + 1 = 52 votes
Now you can see that B has got more than 51 votes, and now B will be declared the winner.

This is called – Single transferable vote method. And this was the whole process.

Hope you have understood how the presidential election is done. As you go, know a fact that the third round of counting has not happened yet. Mostly it happens in the second round if not in the first round. I told the counting of the third round so that the concept is completely clear.

Presidential election over Here

◼◼◼

Basics of President of IndiaClick Here
Functions and Powers of the PresidentClick Here
Pardoning Power of the PresidentClick Here
President’s veto powerClick Here
President’s Ordinance PowerClick Here
Vice President of IndiaClick Here