Is the President a rubber stamp? Not quite! Could even prosecute PM

The Presidential elections are upon us! July 25, 2017 is the day when Pranab “Pronobda” Mukherjee vacates Rashtrapati Bhavan and someone else becomes the resident of the humongous 320 acre, 340 room estate. Fun!

You will often hear the following line while describing the President of India: “Oh that guy? He’s the Government’s rubber stamp only!”

To which, Pronobda says:

This week, let’s get down to basics and talk about the most powerful position in India: that of the President. Also, we’ll get into how he/she is elected, because as the newspapers must have informed you, Mukherjee-ji is about to be replaced by someone else with maximum swag.

With great power comes great responsibility

Not gonna give you a civics lesson here, so let me describe the President in car terminology. (I’m going to use a bunch of analogies in this piece, so please don’t get hung up on technicalities.)

The President of India is that spare tyre in the boot of a car. It sits comfortably in a space designated for it, in the back, while the car rolls on towards its destination. Any good driver knows that before embarking on a long journey, they should check if the spare tyre is filled & working. Because, in case either of the running tyres go out, they will need to be replaced by the spare one. The Presidential tyre guarantees a good journey because it is the supreme king of good times.

Article 52 of the Constitution says this:

The Constitution is quite direct like that.

Heh.

The President of India is the formal head of the executive, legislature and judiciary of India and is also the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. That sounds super powerful, but there is a strange catch here. The President can exercise his powers directly, but he is benevolent enough not to do so. Instead, in practice, he hands over his executive powers to the elected Government. More specifically, the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister. Whenever a decision is taken by the Government, it requires the assent of the President. Even all bills passed by the Parliament require the assent of the big man/woman.

The Government is Harry Potter & the President is Dumbledore. Potter runs around Hogwarts & the wizarding world, defeating Voldemort and his lackeys, while Dumbledore watches over him like an elder all-knowing entity. Dumbledore only comes in when absolutely required, otherwise he basically lets Harry get into situations where he almost gets killed. I mean, Dumbledore *can* just swoop in and kill Voldemort at the beginning of every book — him being the most powerful all-knowing wizard of all time who wields the most powerful wand of all time and has a one-of-a-kind magical immortal Pheonix as a friggin’ pet — but he doesn’t. Coz where’s the fun in that, eh?

Harry Potter is the chosen one! The books are about Harry Potter, not the President of India… I mean… Dumbledore.

via GIPHY

Article 74: Binding powers of the Council of Ministers

Perhaps article 74 of the Constitution is the reason why the often-used “rubber stamp” comment is made about the President. It says:

Because of this binding provision in the Constitution, the President of India has no choice but to accept the advice of the council of ministers. The PM and his coterie of ministers are the ones who are directly elected by the people, so they remain responsible for all their actions. The actions of this bunch are taken on behalf of the President.

The President appoints the Prime Minister and the council of ministers on advice of the Prime Minister.

The President passes Ordinances on advice of the Council of Ministers.

The President issues summons for Parliament sittings on advice of the Prime Minister.

The President can kick out any minister from the council on advice of the Prime Minister.

Another big responsibility of the President is to give assent to bills passed by Parliament. He/she can send it back to Parliament for reconsideration once. But when it comes back for the second time after necessary amendments (or no changes), the President has to assent to the bill and make it a law.

OR, in all of these cases, the President can decide to sit on the whole thing and not take a decision. Indefinitely. No really, the Constitution does not specify exactly when the President is obligated to give a decision, so… Pronobda can choose to do this:

If the President is too annoying, the Parliament has the power to impeach him though. So, usually, the President doesn’t really sit on a decision for long and immediately assents to whatever the council of ministers tells him to assent to.

I know, it’s a bit of a confusing setup but as I said earlier, the President is the spare tyre that guarantees an epic blissful journey.

BUT… there are exceptions

The President does have direct Bramhastra-type powers. He may act on his own discretion in certain cases such as the appointment of the Prime Minister in a hung Lok Sabha, dissolution of the lower house and dismissal of the Government when it loses the support of the majority and refuses to quit (If that ever happens, it would be quite a fun day).

There is one more secret power that not many know about: If the Prime Minister plays truant and indulges in corruption (or mass murder or tries to nuke his own country… basically, extreme situations), a citizen can approach the President to allow the prosecution of this insane person – who also happens to be the Prime Minister. The same rule applies for any Minister of the council as well. Interestingly enough, during the United Progressive Alliance 2 government, when a galore of scams and scandals were tumbling out, Dr Subramanian “Awesome” Swamy appealed to the President to allow prosecution of a Cabinet Minister who was involved.

The President can ask for information under Article 78 of the Constitution about anything related to the Union Government. The Prime Minister is duty-bound to furnish such information and, if satisfied, the President can proceed against the PM under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Basically, if major violations of the Constitution are happening, the President cannot just stand and watch it all happen. He/she is the ultimate person responsible for upholding the rule of law, as the head of state, and must ensure that no major violations happen.

Like a boss.

Positions that are directly under the President

The President is also quite powerful because he is the one who appoints the following people:

1. Prime Minister (depending on majority in Lok Sabha)
2. Council of Ministers (on advice of the PM)
3. 12 members of Rajya Sabha
4. Governors of states (Can also dismiss them)
5. Chief Justice of India, other judges of Supreme Court & High Court (based on recommendations of CJI)
6. Chief Minister of Delhi (based on majority of Delhi Assembly)
7. Attorney General
8. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
9. Chief Election Commissioner
10. Chairman of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
11. Vice-Chancellor of all central universities
12. Ambassadors and High Commissioners to other countries (based on recommendations by the Prime Minister)

So yeah. Powerful af.

Oh and one last thing, the President can declare three types of emergencies:

1. National – “The Country is under threat! Suspend fundamental rights! Take over State Assemblies!”
2. State – “President’s rule has been declared. State assembly has been dissolved. You are our overlord, O great President.”
3. Financial – “Gormint is going bankrupt, banks are failing! Cut all salaries and let the President take major financial decisions!”

How is the President Elected?

Now that’s another convoluted process.

The President is elected by the Electoral College, which consists of all members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and State Assemblies. A total of 4896 people. OK. Hold your hats because I’m going to tell you how the voting is divided. There are TWO formulas for it, which go:

(The funny part here is that the total population of a state is NOT the latest census, but taken according to the 1971 census. An amendment to the Constitution was made in 2002 which ensures it remains unchanged till the year 2026.)

If you want to check out the total votes for each state, take a look at this on Page 13. The total amount of votes for all the states by using this formula comes to 5,49,474.

There is a different formula for calculating votes of MPs:

So there are 776 members of Parliament in total (because President-nominated members aren’t counted here) who each get a vote value of 708. The total MP votes comes to 5,49,408.

GRAND TOTAL NUMBER OF VOTES = 10,98,882.

I agree. It’s quite messed up. This all ALSO depends on which party is in power from which state, because since each MLA and MP get a separate vote, they can vote in whichever way they choose for their own chosen candidate.

via GIPHY

I don’t envy the fool who has to sit down and calculate the number of votes required for our next president to be elected.

Presidential elections 2017: And the nominees are…

There is much speculation regarding the possible nominees from both the Government and opposition side. Potential candidates include Sharad Pawar, Meira Kumar, Murli Manohar Joshi, Nandan Nilekani, Sumitra Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, Hamid Ansari, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Amitabh Bachchan and many many more. At the end of the day, it’s all speculation & rumours till the candidates are actually declared. But it’s now important to keep a watch on the upcoming elections. Media reports claim that the Opposition might just field a common candidate for the elections.

This is quite significant because, as it turns out, despite the massive Uttar Pradesh election victory, the Bharatiya Janata Party government is 25,000 votes short of getting a majority for the Presidential elections. These elections will decide a lot regarding the future of our glorious country.
Because the President is definitely, DEFINITELY, not just a rubber stamp.

The author can be contacted on Twitter @Memeghnad

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