The Electoral College for electing the President of India does not include which of the following? 1. All elected members of the Rajya Sabha 2. All elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of States 3. All members of the Legislative Councils of States Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Correct — C, 3 only. Article 54 builds the electoral college for the President from the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States, with the elected members of the Assemblies of Delhi and Puducherry added by the Seventieth Amendment in 1992. Statement 1 is therefore inside the college — elected members of the Rajya Sabha vote, though its twelve nominated members do not. Statement 2 is inside it too. Statement 3 is the one left out: members of a State Legislative Council take no part at all, whether they were elected by graduates, teachers or legislators, or nominated by the Governor. That exclusion follows from the design of the college, which is meant to weigh the people of each State through the House that directly represents them.

• (a)1 and 2 — Excludes the two categories that certainly vote. Elected members of the Rajya Sabha and of the State Legislative Assemblies are the core of the electoral college.
• (b)2 and 3 — Right about the Councils and wrong about the Assemblies. Elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies carry the whole State share of the vote.
• (d)2 only — Names the one category whose participation is most clearly established. Without the Assemblies there would be no federal element in the election at all.

The President is elected indirectly by an electoral college, by proportional representation with a single transferable vote and secret ballot. The weighting is designed for two kinds of parity. An MLA's vote is worth the State's 1971 population divided by the number of its elected members, divided again by a thousand, so that each legislator carries roughly the same number of citizens. An MP's vote is then the total value of all MLA votes divided by the number of elected members of Parliament, so that the States and the Union hold equal weight overall.

Two details recur in questions. The 1971 census figure is frozen: the Forty-second Amendment fixed it and the Eighty-fourth Amendment extended the freeze until the first census after 2026, which is why a State's growing population does not increase its weight. And the college for election differs from the forum for impeachment — impeachment under Article 61 is done by the two Houses of Parliament alone, so the State Legislative Assemblies vote to elect a President but have no part in removing one. Nominated members are excluded throughout, in both Houses and in the Assemblies.

• Article 54 — the electoral college is the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and of the State Legislative Assemblies.
• The 70th Amendment, 1992, added the elected members of the Assemblies of Delhi and Puducherry.
• Members of State Legislative Councils are excluded, and so are all nominated members.
• The value of an MLA's vote uses the State's 1971 population, frozen until the first census after 2026.
• Impeachment under Article 61 involves only the two Houses of Parliament, not the State Assemblies.

• Including Legislative Councils because they are part of a State legislature.
• Including nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, who are barred from voting in this election.
• Assuming the population figure used is the latest census; it is the 1971 count.

A does-not-include item, which reverses the usual reading. Work out the membership first and then answer the negative.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The value of the vote of a Member of the Legislative Assembly in a presidential election is calculated using the population of the State as recorded in the census of

  • (a)1951
  • (b)1971
  • (c)2001
  • (d)2011

  Answer(b) 1971 — frozen until the first census taken after 2026.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which body takes part in electing the President of India but not in his impeachment?

  • (a)Lok Sabha
  • (b)Rajya Sabha
  • (c)State Legislative Assemblies
  • (d)State Legislative Councils

  Answer(c) State Legislative Assemblies — impeachment under Article 61 rests with Parliament alone.