MPPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 25 of 100

Correct — B, Violation of the Constitution. Article 61 provides the one and only ground on which the President of India can be removed: 'violation of the Constitution'. The Constitution deliberately leaves the phrase undefined, so what counts as a violation is decided by Parliament in the impeachment process itself. That process is quasi-judicial: the charge may be preferred by either House; the resolution needs at least fourteen days' notice signed by not less than one-fourth of the total members of that House; it must be passed by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of that House; the other House then investigates the charge, and the President has the right to appear and to be represented at the investigation. If the investigating House also passes the resolution by two-thirds of its total membership, the President stands removed from the date on which that resolution is passed.

• (a)Professional misconduct — 'Proved misbehaviour or incapacity' is the ground for removing judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts under Article 124(4); it is not the ground written into Article 61 for the President, where the only head of charge is violation of the Constitution.
• (c)Carrying on a vocation of profit — The Constitution does bar the President from holding any other office of profit (Article 59(2)), and a person holding an office of profit cannot be elected President (Article 58(2)) — but that is a condition of the office, not a separately listed ground of removal. Any such breach would still have to be charged under the single Article 61 head, 'violation of the Constitution'.
• (d)Mental instability — The Constitution provides no removal of the President for insanity or physical/mental incapacity. The office falls vacant only on expiry of the five-year term, resignation addressed to the Vice-President, death, or removal by impeachment.

Impeachment under Article 61 is the only route to remove a sitting President, and it is designed to be political in forum but judicial in form. Both Houses must act: one prefers and passes the charge, the other investigates and passes it again, each by two-thirds of its total membership — a far heavier bar than an ordinary majority, and one that also differs from a no-confidence motion, which touches the Council of Ministers and not the President. Membership of the impeachment forum is not the same as membership of the electoral college that elects the President: nominated members of Parliament take part in impeachment though they cannot vote in the election, while elected members of State Legislative Assemblies vote in the election but have no role in impeachment.

MPPSC's option set works by importing grounds that belong to other offices or to general ideas of accountability — 'misconduct' from the judiciary, 'office of profit' from the qualification rules, 'mental instability' from ordinary intuition. Only one phrase is actually in the constitutional text, and remembering it verbatim, 'violation of the Constitution', is what settles the question.

• Article 61: the sole ground for impeaching the President is 'violation of the Constitution'; the Constitution does not define the term.
• Procedure: either House may prefer the charge; 14 days' notice signed by at least one-fourth of the total members of that House; passage by at least two-thirds of the House's total membership; the other House then investigates and must also pass it by two-thirds of its total membership.
• The President has the right to appear and be represented at the investigation; removal takes effect from the date of the resolution passed by the investigating House.
• Nominated members of Parliament participate in impeachment though they do not vote in the presidential election; elected members of State Legislative Assemblies vote in the election but take no part in impeachment.
• No President of India has ever been impeached.

• Confusing impeachment with a no-confidence motion — the latter is directed at the Council of Ministers, not the President.
• Assuming only the Lok Sabha can impeach — either House may prefer the charge, and both must pass it.
• Carrying over the judges' ground ('proved misbehaviour or incapacity') to the President, whose only ground is violation of the Constitution.
• Reading 'two-thirds' as two-thirds of members present and voting — Article 61 requires two-thirds of the total membership.

Two standard angles recur: the Article number (MPPSC 2022 and 2024 both asked it) and the forum/procedure (UPSC 1996 and 2022). Lock the chain — Article 61, sole ground 'violation of the Constitution', either House initiates, two-thirds of total membership in both.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  A resolution to impeach the President under Article 61 must be passed by a majority of not less than:

  • (a)a simple majority of the members present and voting
  • (b)two-thirds of the total membership of the House
  • (c)two-thirds of the members present and voting
  • (d)three-fourths of the total membership of the House

  Answer(b) two-thirds of the total membership of the House — in both the House that prefers the charge and the House that investigates it.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Who among the following take part in the impeachment of the President but not in his election?

  • (a)Nominated members of Parliament
  • (b)Elected members of State Legislative Assemblies
  • (c)Members of State Legislative Councils
  • (d)Elected members of the Rajya Sabha

  Answer(a) Nominated members of Parliament — they vote in impeachment but are not part of the presidential electoral college.