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Election of President

How are votes calculated for Presidential Election?

President of India is elected by Electoral College.

Composition:
The college is made up of the following:
Elected members of the Rajya Sabha
Elected members of the Lok Sabha
Elected members of the State Legislative Assembly
Elected members of each Union Territory possessing Assembly

  • President Election in India involves proportional representation from respective states. The number of votes assigned to a voter from a state assembly is decided as follows:



In other words, value is number of thousand of votes represented by him. Thus indirectly, the entire population casts vote.

Suppose we have a fictitious nation and it has following two states:

State
No. of Assembly Seats
Population
Vote Value of each MLA
Total vote from State
Bihar
40
10000000
250
10000
Chandigarh
5
100000
20
100


For Bihar,
Since          10000000   persons are represented by    40                            Representatives
Therefore   1000          persons are represented by   (40/10000000)*1000   Representatives 
                                                                     =       0.004                        Representatives
So, Total vote per 1000 population = 0.004 * 250 = 1

For Chandigarh,
Since          100000      persons are represented by    5                             Representatives
Therefore   1000          persons are represented by   (5/100000)*1000       Representatives 
                                                                       =     0.05                         Representatives
So, Total vote per 1000 population = 0.05 * 20 = 1
Hence, every 1000 population casts 1 vote indirectly in Presidential Election.

  • Total Member of Parliament = Total Members of Rajya Sabha + Total Members of Lok Sabha

Value of 1 MP’s vote is:


Suppose, there are total 26 MPs coming to Parliament and our fictitious nation state has only two states: Bihar and Chandigarh.

Total Vote coming from Bihar and Chandigarh = 10000 + 100 = 10100
So, Value of 1 MP’s vote = 10100 / 26 = 388

Total Votes from State Assemblies = 10100
Total Votes from Parliament = 26 * 388 = 10088

Total Number of Votes = 10100 + 10088 = 20188
Total Number of Electors = MPs + MLAs = 26 + (40 + 5) = 71


Total Votes = 20188
Total Electors = 71


The President is elected by proportional representation using Single Transferable Vote System.

 Courtesy: Wikipedia

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