How is Prime Minister and President of India elected


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India is the world’s largest democracy. It has been ruled by emperors and kings and colonized by the British for thousands of years. We only got our independence in 1947 and it’s ever since then we have carried out central and state elections every 5 years. In this article you will know about - how do we elect the the President of India, Prime Minister of India, Members of Parliament, the difference between Lok Sabha, & Rajya Sabha, and who are the cabinet ministers. 

India is 3 - tier federal system which means on top comes the Union or the central government, then comes the state government (government of 29 states and 7 union territories) which forms the state assemblies, and then comes the local governments - the panchayats and municipalities of the rural and urban areas. 


India is a parliamentary form of government. The parliament comprises of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and the President of India. 



How is a member of Parliament elected


The member of parliament is the member of either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, which are two houses of the parliament. Lok Sabha is the lower house of the parliament and Rajya Sabha is the upper house of the parliament. 


If we divide our country into 543 small parts, then these formulate 543 small constituencies. One member of parliament in Lok Sabha is elected by the people of India from each of these constituencies. He/she then becomes the member of the Lok Sabha or the lower house. The number of constituencies that a state has depends on the size of the population. For instance, Rajasthan is the largest state in terms of size but it has just 25 constituencies, whereas Uttar Pradesh has 80 constituencies. 


The members of Rajya Sabha are not directly elected by the people but they are elected by the members of legislative assemblies. The members of legislative assemblies are people who are a part of the state government. 

The Vice President of India is the 2nd most important constitutional position in India. The Vice President takes care of all responsibilities of the President, in the absence of the President. He also is the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.



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How is the President of India elected 




The President of India presides over the legislature, executive and the judiciary. The legislature is the two houses of the parliament. The executive is the prime minister and his cabinet of ministers and the judiciary is the adjudicating body of India, which is the Supreme Court of India. The prime minister is also the commander of armed forces in India. 


The President of India is elected for 5 years, and is the constitutional head, yet does not have the executive powers like the Prime Minister of India. 


To elect the President of India, all the members of the lower house, the upper house and the members of legislative assembly vote to elect the President of India, who continues for 5 years. 

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Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha


These are two houses of the parliament where both members of the house sit and debate about important bills. Once these bills are passed by both houses and signed by the President, then the bill becomes the law of the land. 


Rajya Sabha - is the upper house of the parliament. And just because it is the upper house of the parliament, it does not mean it is more powerful than the Lok Sabha. Whereas, Lok Sabha to the contrary is actually more powerful. If a monetary or a financial bill is passed in the Lok Sabha and it is sent to Rajya Sabha for approval or for passing the bill, then the Rajya Sabha is bound to accept it. Even if it sends the bill back to Lok Sabha for revision, then after the revision the Rajya Sabha is supposed to pass the bill. 


Rajya Sabha has 245 members out of 233 are elected by the members of legislative assembly (members of state governments). And the other 12 are selected by the President of India. These are the people who hold eminence in the fields of art, science, literature and social services. Each member of Rajya Sabha is elected for 6 years, and 1/3rd of members retire every 2 years and are replaced by be new elected members representing various states of the country. 


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How is the Prime Minister of India elected 

The Prime Minister is the head of the government, he is the head of leading political party, he is the chief advisor the the President of India and also heads the cabinet ministers. The PM takes care of all the important functions that are carried out in the country. 


The PM is elected by members of Lok Sabha. So those 543 members who were each elected from their constituencies elect the Prime Minister. They together choose one person as their leader who is also the Prime Minister of the country. 


PM is one of the most important political institutions in the country. 



Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha has 545 members, out of which 543 members are elected by the people. And the other 2 people are the representatives of the anglo - Indian community. Anglo - Indians are people who have a mixed ancestry of Britain and India. Hence 543 plus 2 makes it 545 members who each represent various states and their individual constituencies. 



The Lok Sabha members hold their term for 5 years. 



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Cabinet Ministers

Once the Prime Minister has been appointed, he selects his cabinet ministers. These ministers preside over various ministries and take care of important functions like Railways, Telecommunications, Corporate Affairs, Defence, Textiles etc. They are formally appointed by the President of India on advice of the Prime Minister of the country. 



There are 3 kinds of ministers. First are the cabinet ministers, who form the inner circle of the cabinet. They preside over very large ministries. Then is the minister of state - independent charge, who are also independent ministers of comparatively smaller ministries. They are not called for cabinet meetings and only come for the ones that they have been called for. Then come the Ministers of State, who assist the cabinet ministers. They are all led by the Prime Minister of the country. 


India follows UK’s Westminster style of Parliament.



- Tanya Kathpal


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