THE UNION

 THE UNION

52. The President of India.—There shall be a President of India. 

53. Executive power of the Union.—(1) The executive power of the Union shall be vested in the President and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with this Constitution.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the supreme command of the Defence Forces of the Union shall be vested in the President and the exercise thereof shall be regulated by law.

(3) Nothing in this article shall— 

(a) be deemed to transfer to the President any functions conferred by any existing law on the Government of any State or other authority; or 

(b) prevent Parliament from conferring by law functions on authorities other than the President.

54. Election of President.—The President shall be elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of— 

(a) the elected members of both Houses of Parliament; and 

(b) the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States. 

2 [Explanation.—In this article and in article 55, “State” includes the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union territory of *Pondicherry.] 

55. Manner of election of President.—(1) As far as practicable, there shall be uniformity in the scale of representation of the different States at the election of the President. 

(2) For the purpose of securing such uniformity among the States inter se as well as parity between the States as a whole and the Union, the number of votes which each elected member of Parliament and of the Legislative Assembly of each State is entitled to cast at such election shall be determined in the following manner:—

(a) every elected member of the Legislative Assembly of a State shall have as many votes as there are multiples of one thousand in the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the State by the total number of the elected members of the Assembly;

(b) if, after taking the said multiples of one thousand, the remainder is not less than five hundred, then the vote of each member referred to in sub-clause (a) shall be further increased by one;

(c) each elected member of either House of Parliament shall have such number of votes as may be obtained by dividing the total number of votes assigned to the members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States under sub-clauses (a) and (b)by the total number of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament, fractions exceeding one-half being counted as one and other fractions being disregarded.

(3) The election of the President shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot.

1 [Explanation.—In this article, the expression “population” means the population as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published: 

Provided that the reference in this Explanation to the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published shall, until the relevant figures for the first census taken after the year 2 [2026 have been published, be construed as a reference to the 1971 census.]

56. Term of office of President.—(1) The President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office: 

Provided that—

 (a) the President may, by writing under his hand addressed to the Vice-President, resign his office; 

(b) the President may, for violation of the Constitution, be removed from office by impeachment in the manner provided in article 61; 

(c) the President shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office. 

(2) Any resignation addressed to the Vice-President under clause (a) of the proviso to clause (1) shall forthwith be communicated by him to the Speaker of the House of the People.

57. Eligibility for re-election.—A person who holds, or who has held, office as President shall, subject to the other provisions of this Constitution, be eligible for re-election to that office.

58. Qualifications for election as President.—(1) No person shall be eligible for election as President unless he— 

(a) is a citizen of India, 

(b) has completed the age of thirty-five years, and 

(c) is qualified for election as a member of the House of the People.

(2) A person shall not be eligible for election as President if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State or under any local or other authority subject to the control of any of the said Governments.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this article, a person shall not be deemed to hold any office of profit by reason only that he is the President or Vice-President of the Union or the Governor3*** of any State or is a Minister either for the Union or for any State.

59. Conditions of President's office.—(1) The President shall not be a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of the Legislature of any State, and if a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of the Legislature of any State be elected President, he shall be deemed to have vacated his seat in that House on the date on which he enters upon his office as President. 

(2) The President shall not hold any other office of profit.

 (3) The President shall be entitled without payment of rent to the use of his official residences and shall be also entitled to such emoluments, allowances and privileges as may be determined by Parliament by law and, until provision in that behalf is so made, such emoluments, allowances and privileges as are specified in the Second Schedule.

 (4) The emoluments and allowances of the President shall not be diminished during his term of office. 

60. Oath or affirmation by the President.—Every President and every person acting as President or discharging the functions of the President shall, before entering upon his office, make and subscribe in the presence of the Chief Justice of India or, in his absence, the senior-most Judge of the Supreme Court available, an oath or affirmation in the following form, that is to say—

of President (or discharge the functions of the President) of India and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law and that I will devote myself to the service and wellbeing of the people of India."