Election of President and Vice President

Presidential Election

Relevant provisions: Articles 52, 54, 55

Electoral College for Presidential Election:

1. The elected members of both Houses of Parliament
2. The elected members of State Legislative Assemblies

In order to contest the election for President, an individual must have his nomination be proposed
by not less than 50 electors eligible to vote in the Presidential election, and seconded by a further
not less than 50 electors eligible to vote in the Presidential election.

Formula for calculating value of votes of electoral college of Presidential Election:

Step 1: Calculating the value of vote of one elected Member of a State Legislative Assembly
Divide the (Population of the State) with the (Number of elected MLAs in the State Legislative
Assembly)
i. The quotient obtained in the above calculation is further divided by 1000
ii. Upon this division, if the remainder is greater than 500, then +1 shall be added to the
quotient. Any lesser remainder is discarded.
iii. The final quotient thus obtained is the value of the vote of one elected Member of that
State Legislative Assembly.

Step 2: Calculating the value of votes of one State Legislative Assembly

i. Multiply the (Value of vote of one elected Member of that State Legislative Assembly as
calculated in Step 1) with the (Number of elected Members in that State Legislative
Assembly)
ii. The product obtained by this multiplication shall be the total value of votes of that State
Legislative Assembly.
Step 3: Calculating the value of votes of all State Legislative Assemblies
i. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 individually for each state, that will provide the total value of all
State Legislative Assemblies individually.
ii. Add together the value of votes of every State Legislative Assembly, this shall provide the
cumulative total value of votes of all elected members in all the State Legislative
Assemblies.

Step 4: Calculating the value of the vote of one elected Member of Parliament
i. Divide the (Cumulative total value of all State Legislative Assemblies as calculated in Step
1) by the (Number of elected Members in both Houses of Parliament)
ii. The answer of this division is expressed in the fraction form, and if the ratio between the
remainder and the divisor is greater than or equal to ½, then +1 is added to the quotient,
any lesser ratio is discarded.
iii. The final quotient thus obtained is the value of the vote of one elected Member of
Parliament.

Step 5: Calculating the total value of the vote of all elected Member of both Houses of Parliament
i. Multiply the (Value of vote of one elected Member of Parliament) with the (Total number
of elected Members in both Houses of Parliament)
ii. The product obtained by this multiplication shall be the total value of votes of all elected
Members in both Houses of Parliament.

Step 6: Calculating the total value of votes in Presidential election

i. Add together (the cumulative total value of votes of all elected members in all the State
Legislative Assemblies) with the (total value of votes of all elected Members in both
Houses of Parliament).
ii. This shall provide the total value of votes in the Presidential election.

Conduct of Presidential Election

The election of the President is carried out by the Single Transferable Vote system as per Article
55. Under single transferable vote system, every elector fills in his order of preference, as he so
desires to cast his vote in.
For example, an elector voting under this system in an election contested by four candidates,
namely – A, B, C and D respectively, wherein the first choice of the elector is B, second choice is
A, third choice is D and fourth choice is C, he shall fill in follows his ballot paper as follows

A 2
B 1
C 3
D 4

In order to be elected as President, a candidate must mandatorily secure 50%+1 of the total votes.
Unless a candidate can secure the required threshold of 50%+1 votes, the process of elimination
of least voted candidate and transferring his votes shall continue.

Vice Presidential Election

Relevant provisions: Article 66

Electoral college for Vice Presidential Election consists of only the members of both Houses of
Parliament.

In order to contest the election for Vice President, an individual must have his nomination be
proposed by not less than 20 electors eligible to vote in the Vice Presidential election, and seconded
by a further not less than 20 electors eligible to vote in the Vice Presidential election.

Conduct of Vice Presidential Election

At a vice-presidential election, every vote cast has the same value, i.e.. one only, unlike the
presidential election where the value of votes cast by the members of Parliament and of the various
state legislative assemblies are different. Therefore, the value of vote is not printed on the ballot
papers for a vice-presidential election.
Similar to the election of the President, the election of the Vice President is also carried out by the
Single Transferable Vote system as per Article 66.
In order to be elected as Vice President, a candidate must mandatorily secure 50%+1 of the total
votes. Unless a candidate can secure the required threshold of 50%+1 votes, the process of
elimination of least voted candidate and transferring his votes shall continue.