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Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your knowledge nugget on the constitutional body of the Vice-President.
(Relevance: UPSC has asked questions in Prelims and Mains on the office of the Vice-President. In 2022, in General Studies II, a question was asked on the role of the Vice-President (VP) as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Since the VP election is scheduled next month after Jagdeep Dhankhar’s resignation, this topic becomes very important for your Prelims and Mains examination.)
The election for the post of Vice-President will be held on September 9, as announced by the Election Commission (EC) on Friday (1st August). The post fell vacant with the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar on July 21.
As per the schedule announced by the EC, the notification would be issued on August 7, starting the period for filing nominations. The last date for filing nominations is August 21. The polling and counting would be held on September 9.
1. Jagdeep Dhankhar assumed office as the 14th Vice President in August 2022. He is only the third Vice-President in India’s history to resign before completing his term, after V.V. Giri and R. Venkataraman —both of whom stepped down to contest presidential elections and were succeeded by Gopal Swarup Pathak and Shankar Dayal Sharma, respectively.
2. The office of the Vice-President is a unique feature of India, which follows a parliamentary system, and has no exact parallel in other democratic countries, including the Commonwealth.
3. The second-highest constitutional authority after the President, the Vice-President draws his or her powers from Article 63 of the Constitution, which states that “there shall be a Vice-President of India”.
4. Article 64 goes on to confer upon the post the power to be “ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States (the Rajya Sabha)”. In effect, the Vice-President discharges duties of both the Vice-President and Rajya Sabha chairperson.
5. Under Article 64 (2), the Vice-President also discharges presidential functions when the President is unable to do so “owing to absence, illness or any other cause”. In this case, the Vice-President will “have all the powers and immunities of the President and be entitled to… (the) emoluments, allowances and privileges”.
6. As per Article 65, the Vice-President can act as the President, “in the event of the occurrence of any vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation, or removal,” or “until the date on which a new President…enters upon his office.”
7. There is no direct provision in the Constitution on who performs the duties of the Vice-President if the office falls vacant before the expiry of his/her term or when the Vice-President is discharging the duties of the President.
8. However, the Constitution does have a provision on what happens if the chairperson of the Council of States falls vacant: the Deputy Chairman or any other member of the Rajya Sabha authorised by the President can perform the chairperson’s duties.
1. Any citizen of India who is at least 35 years of age and a registered voter in a state or Union Territory can be a candidate for the post. At least 20 MPs need to propose the nomination and 20 other MPs need to second it. As per Article 66 (2), the Vice-President cannot be a member of either House of Parliament or of the Legislature of any state.
2. Article 67 says that the Vice-President will hold office for a term of five years from “the date on which he enters upon his office”. However, according to the same provision, the Vice-President can continue to hold power “notwithstanding the expiration of his term” until his “successor enters upon his office”.
3. The Vice-President may leave mid-term by submitting a resignation letter to the President, and can also be removed from office by a resolution in the Rajya Sabha, passed by a majority of its members at that time and agreed by the House of the People (Lok Sabha).
4. The electoral college for the election scheduled on September 9 will comprise 782 members of Parliament – 233 elected members of Rajya Sabha (five seats are currently vacant), 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha, and 542 elected members of the Lok Sabha (one seat is vacant), the EC said. The electoral college doesn’t include members from state legislatures.
5. Voting is held by secret ballot, using the system of proportional representation with a single transferable vote. Each MP casts a vote by ranking candidates in order of preference. All votes carry equal value as there is no weightage system (followed in the President election).
6. To be declared elected, a candidate must reach a required minimum number of votes — called the quota. This is calculated by dividing the total number of valid votes by two and adding one (fractions, if any, are ignored).
7. If no candidate crosses the quota in the first round, the one with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated, and their votes are transferred to the remaining candidates based on second preferences. The process continues until one candidate crosses the quota.
| Interesting Facts about the previous Vice-Presidents |
| V V Giri was the first Vice-President to resign from the post. He resigned to take over as Acting President after President Zakir Hussain died in office in May 1969. The only Vice-President to die while in office was Krishan Kant.
S Radhakrishnan, the first Vice-President, served two terms in office, 1952-62. He was subsequently elected as the President in 1962. Other Vice-Presidents who went on to become presidents were Zakir Hussain (1967-69), V V Giri (69-74), R Venkataraman (87-92), Shankar Dayal Sharma (92-97) and K R Narayanan (97-2002). |
1. The President is elected by an electoral college consisting of MPs of both Houses of Parliament and MLAs of the states and Delhi and Puducherry. Nominated members of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, and the Assemblies, and members of state Legislative Councils, are not part of the electoral college.
2. The votes are weighted, their value determined by the population of each state as per the Census 1971. The value of each MLA’s vote varies from a high of 208 in Uttar Pradesh to a low of 7 in Sikkim. This means that UP’s 403 MLAs contribute 208 × 403 = 83,824 votes to the electoral pool, while Sikkim’s 32 MLAs contribute 32 × 7 = 224 votes. The weighted votes from all the Assemblies add up to 5.43 lakh.
3. The process demands that the 776 MPs (543 in Lok Sabha, 233 in Rajya Sabha) should contribute the same total of votes as the MLAs. Thus, the value of each MP’s vote is 5.43 lakh divided by 776, rounded off to 700. The combined electoral pool from the Assemblies and Parliament adds up to 10.86 lakh.
(1) Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2013)
1. The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha are not members of that House.
2. While the nominated members of the two Houses of the Parliament have no voting right in the presidential election, they have the right to vote in the election of the Vice-President.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
(2) Who among the following have held the office of the Vice President of India? (UPSC CSE 2008)
1. Mohammad Hidayatullah
2. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
3. Neelam Sanjiva
4. Shankar Dayal Sharma
Select the correct answer using the code given below:-
(a) 1,2,3 and 4
(b) 1 and 4 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 3 and 4 only
| Answer key |
| 1. (b) 2. (b) |
(Source: EC sets September 9 as date for Vice Presidential poll after Dhankhar’s surprise exit, Vice-President: The post, the provisions, and the past, UPSC Issue at a Glance | Office of Vice-President of India, Explained: What happens when the Vice-President resigns mid-term, Explained: How the President of India is elected)
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