How is Vice-President (VP) of India elected?
Q. Which of the following is/are true regarding Vice-President (VP) of India?
1) The VP is elected by members of Rajya Sabha as he is the chairman of Rajya Sabha.
2) He is elected by a special majority and not just a simple majority.- Published on 28 Feb 17a. Only 1
b. Only 2
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2
ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2
- The Vice-President occupies the second highest office in the country.
- He is accorded a rank next to the President in the official warrant of precedence.
- This office is shaped on the lines of the American Vice-President.
Election -
- The Vice-President, like the president, is elected not directly by the people but by the method of indirect election.
- He is elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament.
- The original Constitution provided that the Vice-President would be elected by the two Houses of Parliament assembled at a joint meeting.
- This cumbersome procedure was done away by the 11th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1961.
This electoral college is different from the electoral college for the election of the President in two aspects -
- It consists of both elected and nominated members of the Parliament (in the case of president, only elected members).
- It does not include the members of the state legislative assemblies (in the case of President, the elected members of the state legislative assemblies are included).
Explaining the reason for this difference, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar observed -
- “The President is the head of the State and his power extends both to the administration by th eCentre as well as to the states. Consequently, it is necessary that in his election, not only members of Parliament should play their part, but the members of the state legislatures should have a voice. But, when we come to the Vice-President, his normal functions are to preside over the council of states. It is only on a rare occasion, and that too for a temporary period, that he may be called upon to assume the duties of the president. That being so, it does not seem necessary that the members of the state legislatures should also be invited to take part in the election of the Vice-President”.
- But, the manner of election is same in both the cases.
- The Vice-President’s election, like that of the President’s election, is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting is by secret ballot.
