Which of the following statement is incorrect regarding the election of the President of India ?

Correct — option (4), Every elected member of the Legislative Assembly of a State shall have as many votes as there are multiples of one hundred in the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the State by the total number of the elected members of the Assembly.

The stem asks for the incorrect statement. Statement (4) reproduces Article 55(2)(a) with one word changed: the Constitution says multiples of one thousand, not one hundred.

Worked on Rajasthan for the 2022 election, with the figures the Election Commission used:

Step 1 — divide the 1971 population by the elected MLAs: 2,57,65,806 ÷ 200 = 1,28,829.03
Step 2 — count whole thousands: 128, remainder 829
Step 3 — the remainder is at least 500, so add one (Article 55(2)(b)): 129

Each Rajasthan MLA's vote was worth 129. Counting multiples of one hundred would give 1,288 instead.

The other three statements follow Articles 54 and 55. In a "which is incorrect" item built from constitutional text, look for a changed number or word.

Why the others are wrong

• (1)
  The President of India is elected by the members of an Electoral College consisting of (a) the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament and (b) the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States and the Union Territories with Legislative Assembly. — This is a correct statement, so it is not the answer. Article 54 names the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and of the State Legislative Assemblies.

  Its Explanation, added by the Seventieth Amendment Act, 1992, counts the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union territory of Puducherry as "States" for Articles 54 and 55, which is how those assemblies take part. Nominated members of either House do not vote.

• (2)
  Value of vote for each of the members of the Electoral College is decided based on the population census of 1971 and it will continue to be so till population of the first census taken after the year 2026 have been published. — This is correct. The Explanation to Article 55 defines "population" as the last census figures published, but its proviso freezes the reference at the 1971 census until figures of the first census after 2026 are published.

  The year 2026 was put in by the Eighty-fourth Amendment Act, 2001, in place of 2000. That is why the 2022 election still used Rajasthan's 1971 population.

• (3)
  The elections are held in accordance with the system of Proportional Representation by means of single transferable vote. — This is correct and follows Article 55(3): the election is held "in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote", and voting is by secret ballot.

  The Vice-President is elected by the same system under Article 66, though by a different electoral college — the members of both Houses of Parliament.

The President is elected indirectly by an electoral college (Article 54): the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and of the Legislative Assemblies of the States, with Delhi and Puducherry counted as States.

Votes are weighted (Article 55). An MLA's vote value is the State's population divided by its elected MLAs, divided again by one thousand, with a remainder of 500 or more rounding up.

An MP's vote value is the total value of all MLAs' votes divided by the number of elected MPs. This gives the States as a whole and Parliament roughly equal weight. Counting is by proportional representation through the single transferable vote, in a secret ballot.

Key facts

• Article 54: the President is elected by the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and of the State Legislative Assemblies.
• Article 55(2)(a): an MLA's votes equal the multiples of one thousand in (State population ÷ elected MLAs); a remainder of 500 or more adds one.
• The population used is the 1971 census until figures of the first census after 2026 are published (Eighty-fourth Amendment Act, 2001).
• In the 2022 Presidential election each Rajasthan MLA's vote was worth 129, and each MP's vote 700.
• Article 55(3): the election is by proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, and voting is by secret ballot.

Common traps

• The divisor in Article 55(2)(a) is one thousand. A statement that changes it to one hundred is incorrect even though every other word matches.
• Nominated members of Parliament do not vote for the President but do vote for the Vice-President, whose electoral college is all members of both Houses.
• The census year used is 1971, not the latest census; the freeze runs until figures of the first census after 2026 are published.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2023 here once that paper is published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following do NOT take part in the election of the President of India?

  • (a)Elected members of the Rajya Sabha
  • (b)Elected members of the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi
  • (c)Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha
  • (d)Elected members of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly
  Answer(3) — Article 54 limits the electoral college to elected members, so nominated Rajya Sabha members do not vote. Option (1) is wrong because elected members of both Houses vote. Option (2) is wrong because the Explanation to Article 54 counts Delhi as a State. Option (4) is wrong because elected MLAs of every State vote.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  In the election of the President of India, the value of the vote of each elected member of Parliament is obtained by:

  • (a)dividing the total value of votes of all elected MLAs by the total number of elected members of Parliament
  • (b)dividing the population of India by the total number of elected members of Parliament
  • (c)dividing the population of India by one thousand
  • (d)taking the average of the vote values of MLAs of all States
  Answer(1) — Article 55(2)(c) divides the total votes assigned to all MLAs by the number of elected MPs. Option (2) applies the MLA-style population formula to MPs, which the article does not do. Option (3) omits the division by members altogether. Option (4) is an average of per-MLA values, which ignores how many MLAs each State has.