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Indian Polity / Union Executive

Election Procedure of President of India

    Election Procedure of President of India involves the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. The nomination of the Presidential candidate should be proposed by at least 50 members of the electoral college, that is either MLAs or MPs and it should be supported by another 50 members.



    The electoral college for electing the President consists of the elected members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and all the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of different states of India and the Union territories of Puducherry and Delhi.

    Nominated members are not eligible to participate in the Presidential elections. Moreover, the candidate has to make a deposit amount of Rs. 15,000 in RBI. This deposit is necessary in order to discourage to non-serious candidates.

    Election Commission of India conducts the Presidential elections. The returning officer will be Secretaries General of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha by rotation.

    Value of MLA and MP Vote in Presidential Election

    • Value of vote of an MLA = Total population of State or Union Territory / (Total number of elected MLAs in that State or UT x 1000)

      Note: For all elections as well as the number of vacancies, the base year of population is 1971. This will not be changed till 2026.

    • Total numbers of MLAs in India is equal to 4120. Their total value of votes is 5,49,495.

    • Value of vote of an MP = Total value of votes of MLAs / Total elected number of MPs = 549495/(543 + 233) = 708

    • Total value of votes of MPs (both LS and RS) = 708 x 773 = 5,49,408

    • Total value of votes of 4896 (4120 MLAs + 543 LS MPs + 233 RS MPs) electors = 5,49,495 + 5,49,408 = 10,98,903

    • In order to be got elected as the President, the candidate needs to secure more than 50 percent valid votes polled.

    Single Transferable Vote

    In Single Transferable Voting system, each voter ranks the candidates in the order of his preference. For example, he places '1' beside his most preferred candidate, '2' beside his second most preferred, and so on.

    While counting, the first preference votes are calculated initially and if no one gets the Quota votes, the candidate having the least support (who got the least number of first preference votes) will be eliminated first and the second preference votes polled on these ballots will be transferred as the corresponding first preference votes for the other remaining candidates. This process will continue until the candidates achieve the Quota votes.

    Quota votes = [ Total valid votes polled / (Number of seats to be filled + 1) ] + 1

    In case of the President, the Quota votes should be more than 50 percent valid votes polled.