Category Personalities

            The President is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The President can declare war or conclude peace, under regulation by the Parliament. The President is empowered with the power to grant pardons in certain situations. Apart from this, the President also has emergency powers.

            The President appoints, as Prime Minister, the person most likely to command the support of the majority in the Lok Sabha. Usually the leader of the majority party or coalition. The Governors of States are also appointed by the President.

             The President of India also exercises financial powers. No money bill can be introduced in the Parliament without the recommendation of the President. The President also holds diplomatic powers. All international treaties are negotiated and concluded on behalf of the President.

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               In Indian Parliamentary practice, the President is the nominal executive, or a Constitutional ruler. He is the head of the nation, but does not govern the nation.

               However, the president of India holds various powers. The powers and the functions of the President of India may be classified under five heads, executive, legislative, financial, judicial and emergency.

               Legislative power is constitutionally vested by the Parliament of India of which the President is the head, to facilitate the law making process. The President has the power of to summon and prorogue both the Houses of Parliament. He can also dissolve the House of the People before the expiry of its term. Generally, the President addresses the Parliament after the general elections.

               The President of India is the head of the executive of the Union Government. The President appoints the Governors of the States, the Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts of the States. The Prime Minister of India is appointed by the President, The President also appoints other Ministers in consultation with the Prime Minister.

            Unlike the conventional ballot voting system, where the voter polls only for a single candidate of his choice, the presidential election follows the Single Transferable Vote system. According to this, each voter marks out his or her preference for the presidential candidate. If there are five candidates for example, the voter will give five preferences, making his or her most preferred candidate as the top choice, and accordingly for the rest of the candidates. It is mandatory to give a first preference, as the vote will be declared invalid in its absence. The voter can leave other preferences vacant.

            It is not just the most first preferences that decides the winner, but it’s the total number of valid votes that decides how many votes a candidate needs in order to be declared winner. This number is divided by two, and added to one to form the benchmark of winning. The total combined value of votes in the Presidential elections is 10, 98,903. It is divided as 5, 49,408 for MPs and 5, 49,495 for MLAs.

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               The value of votes of MPs and MLAs are done after crucial evaluation. The number of votes of MLAs is decided by the total population of the state, divided by the number of elected members to the legislative assembly, and further divided by 1000. Until 2026, the population will be considered based on the 1971 census.

               Basically, electors’ votes are worth more or less, depending upon the post they hold. In general, MPs’ votes are worth more than MLAs’, and MLAs from bigger states count more than those from smaller ones.

            In the case of an MP, the vote value is decided by dividing the total value of votes of all MLAs of the whole country, divided by the total number of elected MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

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               The major difference between Indian presidential election and the legislative elections is that the President cannot be elected by the people directly.

               The President is indirectly elected by an electoral college comprising of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament, elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the states; including the national capital territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

               To become the President of India, a candidate should have a valid nomination and he or she should meet set requirements. The conditions to be met are that the candidate should be a citizen of India, should be at least 35 years old; should be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha, should be registered as an elector in any Parliamentary constituency in India, and should not hold any office of profit. Other than these requirements, it’s mandatory that the candidate’s nomination form be endorsed by at least 50 electors as proposers, and 50 electors as seconders. The candidate cannot be a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of the Legislature of any state, once he or she becomes the President.

               The elections for the President of India will be held in the Parliament House, New Delhi, and in all State Legislative Assembly Secretariats. The members cast their votes in a secret paper ballot. Once the vote quota is achieved by one candidate, the winner is announced. Tenure of President is five years.

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            B.D. Jatti became known in the national arena in 1968, when he became the Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry. After a period of five years, in 1972, he was appointed as the Governor of Odisha.

           In 1974, Jatti assumed office as the fifth Vice President of India. He also held the Office of the President of India for a brief period, from 11th February 1977 to 25th July 1977, due to the sudden death of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, the then President of India. Jatti took the place of the President until the next President was elected, within six months.

          After holding the post of Acting President of India, he announced his retirement. Jatti continued to be in the limelight as a political observer. He died on 7th June 2002.

          B. D. Jatti was even called ‘Ordinary man with extraordinary thoughts’. His autobiography, ‘I’m My Own Model’, is very popular.

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