Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Indian Presidential Election

The election, if necessary, to the office of President of India will be held on July 17, 2017.
 
On November 20, 2016, I wrote a post about how the votes are counted in the US Presidential Election. It is very confusing. Popular vote does not mean a thing. It is all electoral college votes.
 
You thought counting votes for the US President is confusing. Get ready. Counting votes in the Indian Presidential Election is equally confusing. Here is how an Indian President is elected.
 
President of India is elected by an electoral college votes. Members of both houses of Indian Parliament, Members of State Legislative Assemblies and the Union Territories of Delhi and Pondicherry are eligible to vote. There are 776 MPs and 4120 MLAs. But the value (weight) of their votes are different for each state. For example:
 
An MP’s vote is weighted at 708 votes.
 
But an MLA’s vote is differently weighted from State to State. An MLA’s vote from Uttar Pradesh is weighted at 208 votes where as an MLA’s vote from Punjab is weighted at 116 votes, Goa 20, Manipur 18, Uttarakhand 64, etc. Jharkand and Tamil Nadu tie for the second place with the weighted value of 176.
 
How do they arrive at this value (weight)?
 
For an MLA: It is the population of a particular state (divided by 1000) and divided by the number of MLAs.
 
For an MP: It is the total value (weight) of all the MLAs divided by the total number of MPs in both houses.
 
An important point to remember here is the number and value of votes are based on India’s population in 1971. Now it is 2017.
 
They have a reason for still clinging on to the 1971 population.
 
Here is a quote from the internet:
 
"The number and value of votes are based on the population in 1971 rather than the current population, as a result of the 42nd Amendment, and extended by the 84th Amendment, with the intention to encourage family planning programs in the states by ensuring that states are not penalized for lowering their population growth."
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20 comments:

  1. BlogorattiJune 21, 2017 at 12:33 PM

    Its interesting how the votes are counted. I guess with politics nothing is ever as straight forward as one thinks. Greetings and best wishes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SGJune 21, 2017 at 1:20 PM

      Thanks for your comments Blogoratti. They want to confuse the hell out of us.

      Delete
  2. Destination InfinityJune 21, 2017 at 7:27 PM

    Oh I never knew this. I thought it was only Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha that votes to select the President! Interesting system they have... I wonder how many people can contest this election and if only the two main parties can nominate...

    Destination Infinity

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SGJune 21, 2017 at 8:07 PM

      Thanks for your comments Rajesh. Any one who has the support of 50 voters (MPs/MLAs) is eligible to contest.

      Delete
  3. KKJune 21, 2017 at 7:42 PM

    You have made the complexity go away totally on this one. This is the post/article I will point people to, if they seem confused in this regard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SGJune 21, 2017 at 8:08 PM

      Thanks for your comments Karunesh. And, thanks for your complements.

      Delete
  4. Shilpa GargJune 21, 2017 at 9:31 PM

    Oh, that was insightful. Was not aware of this weightage business. Interesting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SGJune 22, 2017 at 5:10 AM

      Thanks for your comments Shilpa. It was surprising for me also about different state MLAs votes have different value (weightage).

      Delete
  5. SandhyaJune 22, 2017 at 2:58 AM

    I didn't know that it is so complicated. Hope a decent person is elected for the topmost post in our country!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SGJune 22, 2017 at 5:11 AM

      Thanks for your comments Sandhya. Decent or not, they have already selected the next President of India.

      Delete
  6. RenuJune 23, 2017 at 5:09 AM

    Interesting..I didnt know this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SGJune 23, 2017 at 6:15 AM

      Thanks for your comments Renu. Glad you liked this post.

      Delete
  7. Sujatha SathyaJune 24, 2017 at 6:46 AM

    Had no idea it was this complicated.

    And the states with bigger population and higher weightage, I had read somewhere that it has turned out to be negative for southern states like KA and AP while for UP it is advantageous...wrongly so.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SGJune 28, 2017 at 5:33 AM

      Thanks for your comments Sujatha. Your observations are correct.

      Delete
  8. InsigniaJune 28, 2017 at 1:25 AM

    This is such a wonderful post. You have simplied and articulated it so well. But at the end of it all; its all a big circus - the elections!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SGJune 28, 2017 at 5:34 AM

      Thanks for your comments Insignia. Yes, the whole elections are a big circus.

      Delete
  9. WordsPoeticallyWorthJune 30, 2017 at 3:35 AM

    An interesting post.

    Thank you. Love love, Andrew. Bye.

    ReplyDelete
  10. rudraprayagaJuly 12, 2017 at 10:22 AM

    Instead of handing over the batton directly, a series of confusing procedures where poor voter has no say.

    ReplyDelete
  11. rudraprayagaJuly 12, 2017 at 10:23 AM

    Thank you for the stats.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sindhu Devi KSeptember 5, 2017 at 4:23 AM

    Thanks to the rule of accepting population count of 1971! If not political parties would have encouraged population growth to an unimaginable extent!
    A knowledgeable article, thanks so much.

    ReplyDelete

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