Editing President of India (section)

== Time of election ==
Article 56(1) of the constitution provides that the president shall hold office for a term of five years, from the date on which they enter their office. According to Article 62, an election to fill a vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office of President shall be completed before the expiration of the term. An election to fill a vacancy in the office of President occurring by reason of their death, resignation or removal, or otherwise shall be held as soon as possible after, and in no case later than six months from, the date of occurrence of the vacancy; and the person elected to fill the vacancy shall, subject to the provisions of Article 56, be entitled to hold office for the full term of five years from the date on which they enter their office.

To meet the contingency of an election to the office of President not being completed in time due to unforeseen circumstances like countermanding of an election due to death of a candidate or on account of the postponement of the poll for any valid reason, Article 56(1)(c) provides that the president shall, notwithstanding the expiration of their term, continue to hold office until their successor enters into office.

=== Conditions for the presidency ===
{{Main|Electoral College (India)}}

Certain conditions, per [[s:Constitution of India/Part V#Article 59 %7BConditions of President's office%7D|Article 59]] of the Indian constitution, debar an otherwise eligible citizen from contesting the presidential elections. The conditions are:
* The president shall not be a member of either house of the parliament or a house of the legislature of any state, and if a member of either house of the parliament or a house of the legislature of any state is elected president, they shall be deemed to have vacated their seat in that house on the date on which they enter into office as president.
* The president shall not hold any other office of profit.
* The president shall be entitled without payment of rent to the use of their official residences and shall be also entitled to such emoluments, allowances and privileges as may be determined by parliament by law and until provision in that behalf is so made, such emoluments, allowances and privileges as are specified in the Second Schedule.
* The emoluments and allowances of the president shall not be diminished during their term of office.<ref name="sharma kanhaiya" />{{rp|170}}

=== Election process ===
Whenever the office becomes vacant, the new president is chosen by an [[Electoral College (India)|electoral college]] consisting of the elected members of both houses of [[Parliament of India|parliament]] ([[Member of Parliament (India)|MPs]]), the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies ([[Vidhan Sabha]]) of all States and the elected members of the legislative assemblies ([[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLAs]]) of union territories with legislatures, i.e., [[Delhi|National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]] and [[Puducherry (union territory)|Puducherry]]. The election process of the president is a more extensive process than of the [[Prime Minister of India|prime minister]] who is also elected indirectly (elected by the members of the majority party (or union) in the [[Lok Sabha]]). Whereas President being the constitutional head with duties to protect, defend and preserve the constitution and [[rule of law]] in a [[constitutional democracy]] with [[Ouster clause|constitutional supremacy]], is elected in an extensive manner by the members of Lok Sabha, [[Rajya Sabha]] and [[Vidhan Sabha|state legislative assemblies]] in a secret ballot procedure.

The nomination of a candidate for election to the office of the president must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders. Each candidate has to make a security deposit of {{INRConvert|15|k}} in the [[Reserve Bank of India]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/President_VP_Elec2012/Presidential_Elections-FAQ.pdf|title=Election to the president of India|publisher=Election commission of India|page=16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310171823/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/President_VP_Elec2012/Presidential_Elections-FAQ.pdf|archive-date=10 March 2014|url-status=live|access-date=27 May 2013}}</ref> The security deposit is liable to be forfeited in case the candidate fails to secure one-sixth of the votes polled.

The election is held by means of the [[instant-runoff voting]] (IRV) method.<ref>The Constitution of 1950 use the term [[Single transferable vote]], which is now used for a system with multiple-member constituencies. When there is only one of the latter, the system is now called [[Instant-runoff voting]]</ref> The voting takes place by a [[secret ballot]] system. The manner of election of President is provided by [[s:Constitution of India/Part V#Article 55 %7BManner of election of President%7D|Article 55]] of the [[Constitution of India|constitution]].<ref name="LibraryLibrary">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bQLff_T-uFAC&pg=PT167|title=Public Administration|author1=Great Britain. Ministry of Overseas Development. Library|author2=Great Britain. Overseas Development Administration. Library|publisher=Upkar Prakashan|pages=167–|access-date=11 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508121340/http://books.google.com/books?id=bQLff_T-uFAC&pg=PT167|archive-date=8 May 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

Each elector casts a different number of votes. The general principle is that the total number of votes cast by Members of parliament equals the total number of votes cast by State Legislators. Also, legislators from larger states cast more votes than those from smaller states. Finally, the number of legislators in state matters; if a state has few legislators, then each legislator has more votes; if a state has many legislators, then each legislator has fewer votes.

The actual calculation for votes cast by a particular state is calculated by dividing the state's population by 1000, which is divided again by the number of legislators from the State voting in the electoral college. This number is the number of votes per legislator in a given state. Every elected member of the parliament enjoys the same number of votes, which may be obtained by dividing the total number of votes assigned to the members of legislative assemblies by the total number of elected representatives of the parliament.

Although Indian presidential elections involve actual voting by [[Member of Parliament|MPs]] and [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLAs]], they tend to vote for the candidate supported by their respective parties.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070012825|title=Balance of power in presidential race|date=22 May 2007|publisher=[[NDTV]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007104210/http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070012825|archive-date=7 October 2007|url-status=dead|access-date=6 May 2012}}</ref>

=== Oath or affirmation ===
The president is required to make and subscribe in the presence of the [[Chief Justice of India|chief justice of India]]—or in their absence, the senior-most judge of the supreme court—an oath or affirmation to protect, preserve and defend the constitution as follows:<ref name="Pratiyogita Darpan 0 google books">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xOgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT67|title=Pratiyogita Darpan|author=Pratiyogita Darpan|date=October 2007|publisher=Pratiyogita Darpan|page=67|access-date=31 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508135406/http://books.google.com/books?id=xOgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT67|archive-date=8 May 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|I, (name), do swear in the name of God (or solemnly affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President (or discharge the functions of the President) of the Republic of India, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law, and that I will devote myself to the service and well-being of the people of the Republic of India.|[[s:Constitution of India/Part V#Article 60 %7BOath or affirmation by the President%7D|Article 60]], Constitution of India}}