Wondering why you never got a holiday for Presidential elections in India? Here’s all you need to know!

Indian President – Elected by Politicians
US President – Elected by Public

But wait, Why?!

In most democratic systems, including the US, the head of the state is also the head of the government.

But in India, President of India is the head of state of the Republic of India, and is also the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces and does not, therefore, belong to any particular political party, and Prime Minister is the head of the government instead.

Well that’s because Article 54 & 55 of Constitution of India, which states the manner of election of President, states that President shall be elected by Indirect method by elected representatives of the public, commonly called as Electoral College, whereas in US a Straight Voting Method (Direct Method) is followed for electing the president, where public directly votes for electing the president.

Now if you’re thinking that it is not fair in case of India, for every citizen’s vote is important, well it is fair. Each voting member does not have a single vote for electing the president. Instead their number of votes is calculated using proportionate representation as follows:

No. of votes   =   Population in members constituency / 1000
i.e., if population of a member’s constituency is 10000, he would have 10 votes.

This way, we avoid the hassle of public voting and move towards a fairly elected president.

Oh wait, are you still thinking about that holiday?