Identify the correct statement/s from the following.
A. A person who holds, or who has held office as President shall, subject to the other provisions of the Constitution, be eligible for re-election

Question

Identify the correct statement/s from the following.
A. A person who holds, or who has held office as President shall, subject to the other provisions of the Constitution, be eligible for re-election to that office.
B. No person shall be eligible for election as President unless he is qualified for election as a member of the Council of the States.

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — option (1), 'Only A'. Statement A reproduces Article 57 of the Constitution word for word: a person who holds, or who has held, office as President is, subject to the Constitution's other provisions, eligible for re-election to that office — India places no limit on the number of terms a President may serve, unlike the two-term cap fixed for the American presidency. Statement B misstates Article 58. Article 58(1)(c) actually requires that no person shall be eligible for election as President unless he is qualified for election as a member of the House of the People — that is, the Lok Sabha — not the Council of States, which is the Rajya Sabha. The substitution of one House for the other is a small change in wording with a real constitutional difference: the qualifications for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha are not identical (the minimum age, for instance, is 25 for the Lok Sabha against 30 for the Rajya Sabha), so an eligibility rule keyed to the wrong House is not simply cosmetic. Because B swaps 'House of the People' for 'Council of the States', it is false as printed, and only statement A stands.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Keeps the statement that has the House swapped and drops the one that is verbatim Article 57. Article 58(1)(c) ties presidential eligibility to qualification for the House of the People (Lok Sabha), not the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), so statement B as printed does not match the Constitution's actual text.  (c) Requires both statements to be accurate reproductions of their respective articles, but only one is. Statement A is Article 57 verbatim; statement B has substituted 'Council of the States' for the Constitution's actual wording, 'House of the People', so it cannot be credited alongside A.  (d) Rejects even the statement that is a correct, verbatim restatement of Article 57 on re-eligibility for the presidency. A is accurate as printed and should be credited; only B fails.

Concept: Articles 57 and 58 of the Constitution govern who may become President of India and how many times. Article 57 removes any limit on re-election — a former or sitting President may stand again, any number of times, subject only to the Constitution's other provisions (such as the grounds for removal under Article 61). Article 58 sets the qualifications for the office: a citizen of India, at least 35 years old, and qualified for election as a member of the House of the People (Lok Sabha) — plus the further condition, under Article 58(2), that the person must not hold any office of profit under the Government of India, a State Government, or any local or other authority, with specific carve-outs for the offices of President and Vice-President themselves and for State Governors and Union or State Ministers.

State PCS 2025 Q85 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q85 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer