Q. Which of the following statements on Presidential election is/are correct?
The Secretary General, Lok Sabha is appointed as the Returning Officer.
The value of votes of MLAs and MPs differs from state to state.
Members of the Electoral College are bound by any party whips.
Choose the correct answer using the codes given below: Answer:
None of the above
Notes:
The President of the country is elected in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Presidential and vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952. The President holds office for a period of five years.
A candidate must be a citizen of India and must have completed 35 years of age. He must be eligible to be a member of the Lok Sabha. The candidate should not be holding any office of profit under the Government of India or any state government. However, the candidate may be holding the office of President or Vice-President or Governor of any State or Ministers of the Union or any State and shall be eligible to contest election.
The president is elected by an electoral college, which consists of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the legislative assemblies of all the States and also of NCT of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
As per Article 55(3) of the Constitution of India, the election of the President shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot.
A nomination paper of a candidate for the election has to be made in the prescribed form and it has to be subscribed by at least fifty electors as proposers and at least fifty electors as seconders.
The security deposit for the election, of Rs 15000/- should also be deposited.
By convention, the Secretary General, Lok Sabha or the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha is appointed as the Returning Officer, by rotation.
The value of votes of MLAs differs from state to state. However, the value of votes of all MPs is the same.
The value of votes of electors is basically determined on the basis of population of the states in accordance with the manner laid down in Article 55(2) of the Constitution. The value of the vote of each member of a state legislative assembly included in the Electoral College is calculated by dividing the population of the State concerned (as per 1971 Census) by the total number of elected members of the Assembly, and then further dividing the quotient by 1000.
Members of the Electoral College are not bound by any party whips.
An elector under preventive detention can cast his vote through postal ballot, which will be sent to him by the Election Commission on the place of his detention.