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Why the President Isn't Elected by a Head Count
India's President is not elected directly by citizens, nor by a simple "one MP, one MLA, one vote" count. Article 55 fixes a formula so that the value of an MP's vote and the value of an MLA's vote are weighted to keep the Centre and every state in rough balance, and to keep bigger states from dominating smaller ones. This produces the single most numerically dense topic in Indian polity — and because it is pure arithmetic, once you know the two formulas, you can solve any variation the paper throws at you.
The same electoral college (elected MPs + elected MLAs, nominated members excluded) also elects the Vice-President — except there the MLAs don't vote at all, only elected MPs of both Houses do, which is itself a favourite one-line trap question.
1. A state has a population of 6,00,00,000 (as per the 1971 Census) and 300 elected MLAs. What is the value of one MLA's vote in the Presidential election?
2. If the total value of all MLA votes across India is 5,43,200 and there are 776 elected MPs (Lok Sabha + Rajya Sabha combined), what is the value of one MP's vote?
3. The electoral college that elects the President of India consists of:
4. Who among the following does NOT vote in the election of the Vice-President of India?
5. Which Article of the Constitution lays down the manner of election of the President, including the electoral college and the vote-value formula?
6. For the purpose of calculating the value of an MLA's vote, 'population' refers to the figures of which census, frozen by the 84th Amendment?
7. The election of the President of India is held by means of:
8. Disputes regarding the election of the President or Vice-President of India are decided exclusively by: