Vice President of India

➢ There shall be a Vice President of India (Art.63).

➢ He is the second highest ranking government officer in the
executive branch of the Government after the President.
➢ The Constitution provides for a Vice President who is elected by
members of the two Houses of Parliament n accordance with the
system of proportional representation by means of a single
transferable vote and secret ballot (Art.66). The 'electoral
college' consists of all members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya
Sabha including the nominated ones.

Qualifications

➢ Be a citizen of India.
➢ Be more than 35 years of age.
➢ Possess the qualifications prescribed for membership of the
Rajya Sabha.
➢ Not be member of either House of the Parliament or State
Legislature.
➢ Not be person of unsound mind or insolvent; and
➢ Not hold any office of profit under the Union or State
Government or local authority.

Term of office and vacancy

➢ The Vice President holds office for a term of five years from the
date on which he enters office.
➢ He is eligible for re-election.
➢ He shall notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to
hold office until his successor enters upon his office.
➢ His term can be cut short if he resigns (by addressing to the
President).
 ➢ Also, he can be removed by the Rajya Sabha through a resolution
passed by a majority of all the members (i.e total strength of the
House minus the number of vacancies) and likewise agreed to by
the Lok sabha.
➢ However, a 14 day's notice of the intention to move the
resolution has to be given to the Vice-President (Art.67).

Note: It may be noted that there is no impeachment process for

removal of Vice-President. The constitution does not prescribe any
ground on which a resolution for the removal of Vice-President can be
moved.

Powers and functions

➢ The Vice-President is the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha

and presides over it meetings (Art.64).
➢ All bills, resolution, motions or questions can be taken up by the
Rajya Sabha only with his consent.
➢ He is the chief spokesman of the Rajya Sabha before the
president as well as the Lok Sabha.
➢ He is entitled to the same salary and allowance which are paid to
the speaker of the Lok Sabha.
➢ He discharges the functions of the office of the President in
case that post falls vacant on account of the death, resignation
or removal of the President.
➢ The Vice-President can act as President for a maximum period of
six months because fresh elections for the office of President
must be held within six months of the occurrence of vacancy.
➢ Similarly, if the President is unable to discharge his functions for
some reasons (casual vacancy on account of illness) or remains
absent, the Vice President discharges all his functions. When he
 does so, he ceases to perform the functions of the Chairman of
the Rajya Sabha.
➢ The Vice- President shall, during, and in respect of, the period
while he is so acting as, or discharging then functions of,
President, have all the powers and immunities of the President
and be entitled to such emoluments, allowances and privileges as
may be determined by Parliament by law (Art.65).

Indian and American vice-presidents compared

Though the office of the Indian Vice- President is modelled on the

lines of the American Vice-President, there is a difference. The
American Vice-President succeeds to the presidency when it falls
vacant, and remains President for the unexpired term of his
predecessor. The Indian Vice-President, on the other hand, does not
assume the office of the President when it falls vacant for the
unexpired term. He merely serves as an acting President until the new
President assumes charge.

From the above it is clear that the Constitution has not assigned any
significant function to the Vice-President in that capacity. Hence, some
scholars call him 'His Superfluous Highness'. This office was created
with a view to maintain the political continuity of the Indian State.