Q. Consider the following statements in respect of election to the President of India:
- The members nominated to either House of the Parliament or the Legislative Assemblies of States are also eligible to be included in the Electoral College.
- Higher the number of elective Assembly seats, higher is the value of vote of each MLA of that State.
- The value of vote of each MLA of Madhya Pradesh is greater than that of Kerala.
- The value of vote of each MLA of Puducherry is higher than that of Arunachal Pradesh because the ratio of total population to total number of elective seats in Puducherry is greater as compared to Arunachal Pradesh.
How many of the above statements are correct? (UPSC Prelims 2023)
Answer:
Only one
Notes: The correct answer is
[A] Only one. Only Statement 4 is correct based on the constitutional formula for calculating the value of votes in Presidential elections.
- Statement 1 (Incorrect): Under Article 54, the Electoral College consists only of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies of the States (including Delhi and Puducherry). Nominated members are excluded from the voting process.
- Statement 2 (Incorrect): The value of an MLA's vote is calculated by dividing the total population of the State (1971 census) by the total number of elected members of the Assembly, further divided by 1000. Therefore, a higher number of elective seats (the denominator) actually decreases the value of each individual vote, assuming the population remains constant.
- Statement 3 (Incorrect): Based on the 1971 census data used for these calculations, the value of an MLA's vote in Madhya Pradesh is 131, while in Kerala it is 152. Thus, Kerala's MLA vote value is higher.
- Statement 4 (Correct): The value of a vote depends on the ratio of the state's population to its elective seats. For Puducherry, the value is 16, while for Arunachal Pradesh, it is 8. This is because the population-to-seat ratio in Puducherry is mathematically higher than that of Arunachal Pradesh under the prescribed formula.