Indian Polity Quiz: President and Vice-President

The correct answer is Article 52, which says simply: "There shall be a President of India." It opens Chapter I of Part V, the chapter on the Union executive, and every other rule about the office builds on it.

The other options are the Articles around it, which is why they are chosen to confuse. Article 53 vests the executive power of the Union in the President and makes the President the Supreme Commander of the defence forces; it describes what the office does, not that it exists. Article 74 provides the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President. Article 75 deals with the appointment of the Prime Minister and other ministers. A quick way to hold the sequence: 52 creates the office, 53 gives it the executive power, 54 and 55 say how the President is elected, and 74 and 75 bring in the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers.

The correct answer is Nominated Member of Parliament. Under Article 54, the President is elected by an electoral college made up only of elected members: the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States, and, since the 70th Amendment of 1992, of the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry. The 12 members the President nominates to the Rajya Sabha therefore have no vote, and neither do nominated members of the Assemblies or any member of a State Legislative Council.

The three other options, elected members of the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha and a State Assembly, are exactly the people who do vote. The exception to remember is impeachment: nominated members of Parliament do take part in impeaching the President under Article 61, while elected MLAs, who helped elect the President, have no part in removing him or her. Examiners like to swap these two facts.

The correct answer is 35 years. Article 58 lays down four qualifications for the President: the person must be a citizen of India, must have completed 35 years of age, must be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha, and must not hold any office of profit under the Union, a State or a local authority.

The wrong options are ages that belong to other offices, which is what makes them tempting. Twenty-five is the minimum age for the Lok Sabha and a State Legislative Assembly, and thirty is the minimum for the Rajya Sabha and a State Legislative Council. Thirty-four is simply a distractor. The same age of 35 applies to the Vice-President and to a Governor. A useful set to learn together: Lok Sabha 25, Rajya Sabha 30, President, Vice-President and Governor 35. There is no minimum age at all for a judge of the Supreme Court.

The correct answer is the Chief Justice of India. Under Article 60, the President takes the oath or affirmation before the Chief Justice of India, or, in the Chief Justice's absence, before the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court. In the oath the President promises to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law, and to devote himself or herself to the service and well-being of the people of India. Unlike the oaths of ministers and judges, which are in the Third Schedule, the form of the President's oath is written into Article 60 itself.

The Prime Minister does not administer the President's oath; it is the other way round, since the President administers the oaths of the Prime Minister and the other Union ministers. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha have no role in it either. Keep a small chain in mind: the Chief Justice swears in the President, the President swears in the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the ministers and the judges of the Supreme Court, and the Chief Justice of a High Court swears in the Governor of the State.

The correct answer is the Vice President. Article 56(1)(a) says the President may resign by writing under his or her hand addressed to the Vice-President. The Vice-President must then communicate the resignation to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha without delay. In the same way, the Vice-President resigns by writing to the President. Article 56 also provides that a President whose five-year term has ended continues in office until the successor takes over, so the office is never left empty merely because a term expires.

The Prime Minister, who heads the government, is appointed by the President and so cannot receive the President's resignation. The Chief Election Commissioner conducts the election of the President but has no role in a resignation, and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha only receives information about it from the Vice-President. Resignation questions come in sets, so learn the pairs together: the President writes to the Vice-President, the Vice-President to the President, the Prime Minister and a Governor to the President, and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to the Deputy Speaker.

The correct answer is Impeachment of the President. Article 61 sets out the only way a President can be removed before the end of the term: impeachment for "violation of the Constitution". The charge can be brought in either House by a resolution signed by at least one-fourth of its members, after 14 days' notice, and must be passed by two-thirds of the total membership of that House. The other House then investigates, and if it too passes the resolution by two-thirds of its total membership, the President stands removed. No President has ever been impeached.

The other options belong elsewhere in the Constitution. The Fundamental Duties are in Article 51A, in Part IVA. A Financial Emergency is proclaimed under Article 360 and a National Emergency under Article 352, both in Part XVIII. Notice how the impeachment process borrows the idea from the United States, but India's only ground is a violation of the Constitution.

The correct answer is President. Article 72 gives the President the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment, and to suspend, remit or commute a sentence. It covers every case where the punishment was given by a court martial, every offence against a law on a matter within the Union's executive power, and every sentence of death. The President uses this power on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

The Prime Minister leads that Council but has no pardoning power of his or her own. The Attorney General, appointed under Article 76, is the government's chief legal adviser and appears for it in court, but cannot pardon anyone. The Vice-President has no such power either, except while acting as President. At the State level, the Governor has a similar power under Article 161, but it does not extend to sentences passed by a court martial, which only the President can pardon.

The correct answer is President. Article 123 lets the President promulgate an ordinance when either House of Parliament is not in session and the President is satisfied that circumstances make immediate action necessary. An ordinance has the same force as an Act of Parliament, but it must be laid before both Houses when they reassemble and lapses six weeks after that unless approved earlier. It can be withdrawn at any time, and it cannot amend the Constitution.

The Vice-President has no power to make laws; the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers advise the President to issue an ordinance but cannot issue one themselves; and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha presides over the House but has no ordinance-making power. The State counterpart is the Governor's power under Article 213. Remember too that the maximum life of an ordinance is six months and six weeks, because Parliament must meet at least once every six months.

The correct answer is Power of the President to consult the Supreme Court. Article 143 gives the Supreme Court its advisory jurisdiction: when a question of law or fact of public importance has arisen or is likely to arise, the President may refer it to the Court for its opinion. The Court may decline to answer an ordinary reference, and its opinion does not bind the President, though it carries great weight. References under Article 143 have been used, for example, on the Ram Janmabhoomi question in 1993, which the Court declined to answer.

The other options describe different provisions. Parliament, not the President, can enlarge the Supreme Court's jurisdiction, under Articles 138 and 139. The National Judicial Appointments Commission was created by the 99th Amendment in 2014 and struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015. And the power to transfer cases from High Courts to itself belongs to the Supreme Court under Article 139A, not to the President. Link Article 143 with the word "advisory".

The correct answer is pocket veto of the President. The Constitution does not fix any time limit within which the President must give or withhold assent to an ordinary bill. By simply keeping such a bill pending, the President can let it lapse without ever formally rejecting it. President Giani Zail Singh used this pocket veto in 1986 on the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, which critics feared would allow the interception of mail.

The suspensive veto is different: the President returns a bill to Parliament for reconsideration, and if Parliament passes it again, with or without changes, the President must assent. The absolute veto means formally withholding assent so that the bill dies. An "amendatory veto" is not part of the Indian system at all. The question excludes money bills and constitutional amendment bills for good reason: a money bill comes with the President's prior recommendation, and since the 24th Amendment (1971) the President must assent to a constitutional amendment bill.

The correct answer is 15th. Droupadi Murmu was elected President in July 2022, defeating Yashwant Sinha, and took the oath on 25 July 2022, succeeding Ram Nath Kovind, the 14th President. She is the first President from a Scheduled Tribe, the second woman to hold the office after Pratibha Patil, and the first President born after India's independence. Before becoming President she had been the Governor of Jharkhand.

The options 16th, 17th and 18th are simply wrong counts; they tempt candidates who confuse the number of the President with the number of the Lok Sabha, since the Lok Sabha elected in 2024 is the 18th. When counting, remember that acting Presidents such as V.V. Giri, M. Hidayatullah and B.D. Jatti are not given a number, which is why fifteen people, not more, have held the office as elected Presidents. Her term runs for five years from July 2022.

The correct answer is The Vice President. Article 64 makes the Vice-President the ex officio Chairman of the Council of States, that is, the Rajya Sabha. "Ex officio" means by virtue of the office: nobody elects the Chairman separately. The Vice-President is not a member of the Rajya Sabha and so cannot vote in the first instance, but has a casting vote to break a tie. The Rajya Sabha elects a Deputy Chairman from among its members to preside in the Chairman's absence.

The Governor heads a State and has no role in Parliament. The President is part of Parliament under Article 79 and addresses it, but does not preside over either House. The Prime Minister leads the government and, as a member of one House, is the Leader of that House, but never its presiding officer. Note that when the Vice-President acts as President, he or she does not perform the duties of Chairman of the Rajya Sabha during that period.

The correct answer is Article 66. It provides that the Vice-President shall be elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament, elected and nominated alike, by proportional representation through the single transferable vote and by secret ballot. It also lays down the qualifications: a citizen, at least 35 years old, qualified for election to the Rajya Sabha, and not holding an office of profit. Until the 11th Amendment of 1961, the Vice-President was elected at a joint meeting of the two Houses.

The other options are neighbouring Articles on related matters. Article 64 makes the Vice-President the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Article 68 deals with the time of holding the election to fill a vacancy in the office of Vice-President. Article 62 deals with the time of holding the election to fill a vacancy in the office of President. So remember the pair: Article 54 elects the President, Article 66 the Vice-President.

The correct answer is Resolution passed by the Council of States and agreed to by the House of the People. Under Article 67(b), the Vice-President can be removed by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by a majority of all its then members, an "effective majority", and agreed to by the Lok Sabha by a simple majority. The resolution can be moved only in the Rajya Sabha, and only after at least 14 days' notice. Unlike the President's case, no ground for removal is laid down and no formal impeachment is needed.

The first option is wrong because impeachment applies to the President and is carried out by Parliament, not by the President. There is no rule requiring a one-third majority of both Houses. And the President cannot remove the Vice-President on the Prime Minister's advice: the Vice-President is elected and does not hold office at anyone's pleasure. The key point to remember is that the removal must begin in the Rajya Sabha, the House the Vice-President chairs.

The correct answer is Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. The philosopher and teacher Dr S. Radhakrishnan was India's first Vice-President, from 1952 to 1962, serving two full terms. He then became the second President of India (1962–67). His birthday, 5 September, is celebrated as Teachers' Day, and he received the Bharat Ratna in 1954.

The other three were also Vice-Presidents, which is exactly why they appear in the options. Dr Zakir Husain was the second Vice-President (1962–67) and then the third President. V.V. Giri was the third Vice-President (1967–69) and later the fourth President. Gopal Swarup Pathak was the fourth Vice-President (1969–74). A pattern worth noticing: the first three Vice-Presidents all went on to become President. Only two people have served two full terms as Vice-President: S. Radhakrishnan and M. Hamid Ansari. The current Vice-President, C.P. Radhakrishnan, took office in September 2025; do not confuse the two Radhakrishnans.