Question

The President of India is elected by an electoral college consisting of ____________.
A. Elected members of the Council of State and House of People
B. Elected members of both the House of Parliament and the State Assemblies
C. Members of the Council of States, State Legislative councils and Members of Union Territorial Assemblies.
D. Members of municipalities, local bodies and Panchayat, graduate of three years standing, teachers of higher educational institutions and members of State Assemblies

Answer 1

Hint: According to Article 52 of the Indian Constitution the head of the Republic of India is the President. He is also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

Complete answer: Executive is the branch of government charged with putting into effect a country’s laws and administering of its function. It is divided into two levels in India - Union level executive and State level executive. The union executive consists of the President, the Vice-President and the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister being the head to aid and advise the President. The President is the executive head of the Republic and can exercise his powers directly or through his subordinates. According to the Warrant of Precedence, he occupies the First position.

He is elected indirectly by an electoral college. Elected members of both the Houses of Parliament and elected members of Legislative Assemblies of States to constitute the electoral college. The voting is held on the basis of proportional representation by the single transferable vote system.
The President is elected for a period of five years. The President can be removed from office by impeachment only. He can be impeached for ‘violation of the Constitution’.The impeachment procedure can be initiated against the President for the violation of the Constitution, in either house of the Parliament i.e., Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.
Let us examine the option
Option A - The President is not elected by the people of the country but by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both the Houses of Parliament and elected members of Legislative Assemblies of States.
Option B - The President is the head of the State and is elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both the House of Parliament and the State Assemblies.
Option C - The electoral college does not consist of members of State Legislative councils and members of Union Territorial Assemblies but the elected members of both the House of Parliament and the State Assemblies.
Option D - The members of municipalities, local bodies and Panchayat, graduate of three years standing, teachers of higher educational institutions and members of State Assemblies constitute the Legislative Councils or Vidhan Parishad and not an electoral college.

Thus, the correct answer is option (B).

Note: The order of precedence of the Republic of India is the Protocol List, a hierarchy of important positions, at which the functionaries and officials are listed according to their rank and office in the Government of India.