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