Question

The value of a vote of a Member of the Parliament for the election of the President is determined by dividing the ________________________________.
A) Nation’s population as per the latest census by the number of Lok Sabha members.
B) Nation’s population as per the latest census by the strength of the two Houses of Parliament.
C) The total value of votes of members of all the State Legislative Assembly by the elected members of the two Houses of Parliament.
D) Particular state’s population as per the latest census by the number of members of Parliament elected from the state.

Answer 1

Hint: The president is not elected directly instead indirect election method is used for the election of the First Man of India.

Complete answer:
In India, the President is not directly elected by the citizens of our country. The election provisions for the post of president were laid in the Article 54 of the constitution of India. The electoral college elects the President of India. It follows the system of proportional representation. It utilizes a single transferable vote using a secret ballot system.

A) Nation’s population as per the latest census by the number of Lok Sabha members. This is not the right option.
B) Nation’s population as per the latest census by the strength of the two Houses of Parliament. This is not the right option.
C) The total value of votes of members of all the State Legislative Assembly by the elected members of the two Houses of Parliament. This is the right option. The elected members of the parliament and the members from the legislative assembly together give their votes to elect the president of India.
D) Particular state’s population as per the latest census by the number of members of Parliament elected from the state. This is also not the right option.

Additional information:
The Electoral College comprises Legislative Assemblies of the states, Council of the States and the House of the people. During the election for the President, every voter can cast only one vote and the MLAs vote may vary state to state and MPs vote remains always constant. In order to maintain the balance between the State and the Union, the number of the total value of the MPs' votes must equal the total value of the MLAs.

During the election, the first preferred candidate is eliminated and his votes are transferred to the other candidates. The President is elected by proportional representation. It allows the independent candidate and minority parties to have the chance of representation. It also allows the practice of coalition with multiple voters under one government.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘C’.

Note:The President of India is not directly elected. It is rather elected by the total value of votes of members of all the State Legislative Assembly by the elected members of the two Houses of Parliament.