Question

The President is the head of the state and exercises his/her powers on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. With reference to this, answer the following question:

Give any two reasons to justify the need for indirect election of the President.

Answer 1

Since India has a parliamentary system of government, the president is chosen indirectly even though they serve as the official head of state. Furthermore, the following arguments support India's indirect presidential election system:

1. If the President was to be elected directly by the people, he could become a rival centre of power to the Council of Ministers. This would be against the parliamentary system with ministerial responsibility. As Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru said in the Constituent Assembly, "We could not have a directly elected president and not give him real powers."
2. Since the membership in the two Houses of Parliament was likely to be dominated by one party, election of the president merely by a majority of members of the Union Parliament could make him a nominee of the ruling party like the Prime Minister. Such a president could not represent the constituent states of the Union.
3. The president is elected by an Electoral College. In India, the Electoral College consists of the elected members of the two Houses of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of the states (Article 54). Such an Electoral College would make the President the elected representative of the whole nation with a clear voice given to the states as well.