Revision as of 22:28, 19 August 2022

Elections

How the President is elected

Manoj C G, June 25, 2022: The Indian Express

The President is elected by an electoral college consisting of MPs of both Houses of Parliament and MLAs of the states and Delhi and Puducherry. Nominated members of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and the Assemblies, and members of state Legislative Councils, are not part of the electoral college.

The votes are weighted, their value determined by the population of each state as per Census 1971. The value of each MLA’s vote varies from a high of 208 in Uttar Pradesh to a low of 7 in Sikkim. This means that UP’s 403 MLAs contribute 208 × 403 = 83,824 votes to the electoral pool, while Sikkim’s 32 MLAs contribute 32 × 7 = 224 votes. The weighted votes from all the Assemblies add up to 5.43 lakh.

The process demands that the 776 MPs (543 in Lok Sabha, 233 in Rajya Sabha) should contribute the same total of votes as the MLAs. Thus, the value of each MP’s vote is 5.43 lakh divided by 776, rounded off to 700. The combined electoral pool from the Assemblies and Parliament adds up to 10.86 lakh.

How are the ruling alliance and the opposition placed?

The BJP-led NDA is far ahead of the Congress and its allies, but still short of the halfway mark at the moment. Adding up the votes of the MLAs and MPs on either side, but not counting the 57 vacant Rajya Sabha seats (16 of which go to polls on Friday while the other 41 have had MPs elected unopposed), the NDA has 48% of the votes (BJP 42% and allies 6%), while the Congress (13.5%) and its allies (10.5%) have 24%. These allies include the DMK, Shiv Sena, NCP, JMM and smaller parties like the Muslim League, VCK, RSP and MDMK. Beyond the two alliances, the Trinamool Congress has 5.4%, YSRCP 4%, Biju Janata Dal 2.85%, and the Left parties 2.5%, with the rest of the votes held by various parties.

The BJP is banking on the YSRCP and the BJD and some other parties to support its candidate. Support from either YSRCP or BJD would take the NDA candidate beyond the halfway mark. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 30, and Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy called on the PM last week.

On the Opposition side, it remains to be seen which way the TRS, Samajwadi Party and AAP will vote. The TRS, which was once considered a fence-sitter and even backed the government on some key Bills, has been attacking the BJP of late. The AAP is at loggerheads with both the Congress and the BJP.

How keenly contested have previous elections been?

1952: The first election was a no-contest. Rajendra Prasad won with 5,07,400 votes. Chaudhary Hari Ram polled 1,954, contesting because he did not want Prasad to be elected unopposed. The Left fielded K T Shah, a former alumnus of the London School of Economics and a member of the Constituent Assembly, who got 92,827 votes. The fray also had Thatte Lakshman Ganesh (2,672) and Krishna Kumar Chatterjee (533).

1957: Prasad was fielded for a second by the Congress. It was again a no-contest: he got 4,59,698 votes against Nagendra Narayan Das (2,000) and Chowdhry Hari Ram (2,672).

1962: The Congress fielded Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, who was Vice President during President Prasad’s tenure. He got 5,53,067 votes against Chowdhry Hari Ram (6,341) and Yamuna Prasad Trisulia (3,537).

1967: The Congress candidate, Vice President Zakir Hussain, won 4,71,244 votes against Kota Subbarao (3,63,971). Subbarao, who retired as Chief Justice of India that year, was the Opposition’s consensus candidate.

1969: This election, necessitated by the sudden passing of President Hussain, was the most controversial of them all. Under Article 65(1) of the Constitution, Vice-President V V Giri assumed office as acting President, but resigned in July 1969 as Vice President and also as acting President. Tensions within the Congress — between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and a group of veterans known as the Syndicate — came to a head when the party officially fielded Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy while Gandhi threw her weight behind Giri, contesting as an independent. She famously called on party MPs and MLAs to vote according to conscience. Giri won with 4,01,515 votes to Reddy’s 3,13,548. The Congress split after then party president S Nijalingappa expelled Gandhi. Among other candidates, C D Deshmukh, fielded by Swatantra Party and Jana Sangh, polled 1,12,769. There were 12 more in the fray, and the law was changed to prevent non-serious candidates from contesting.

1974: The Congress fielded Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, and the opposition veteran Tridib Chaudhuri, a Lok Sabha MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party. Ahmed polled 7,65,587 votes to Chaudhuri’s 1,89,196.

1977: Following Ahmed’s death, Vice President B D Jatti took over as acting President. When the poll was held, 37 candidates filed their papers but on scrutiny all but one were rejected. The only valid one was Congress’s Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who was elected.

1982: The Congress’s Giani Zail Singh (7,54,113 votes) won against H R Khanna (2,82,685). Nine opposition parties had fielded Khanna, a Supreme Court judge who had resigned in protest against the appointment of M H Baig as CJI in 1977. Khanna had come into prominence a year before, when he disagreed with majority judges that Article 21 can be suspended by the declaration of Emergency.

1987: The Left parties fielded legal luminary and former Supreme Court Justice V R Krishna Iyer against incumbent Vice President R Venkataraman, who won comfortably (7,40,148 votes against Iyer’s 2,81,550). The third contestant Mithilesh Kumar, an independent candidate from Bihar, got 2,223 votes. The elections became politically interesting as incumbent President Singh, whose equations with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had hit a low, was prodded to contest as an independent candidate by some Congress dissidents and Devi Lal of the Lok Dal(B), but he declined.

1992: The Congress’s Shanker Dayal Sharma (6,75,804 votes) won comfortably against the opposition’s George Gilbert Swell (3,46,485), a former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker, a former Ambassador Norway and Burma, and a tribal who was a force behind the movement that culminated in statehood for Meghalaya. His candidature was pushed by former Prime Minister V P Singh and the BJP backed him. Two others were in the fray: Ram Jethmalani (2,704 votes) and the famous Kaka Joginder Singh aka Dharti-Pakad (1,135), who contested — and lost — over 300 elections during his lifetime.

1997: K R Narayanan, fielded by parties in the United Front government and the Congress and backed by the opposition BJP, won one of the most one-sided polls ever, polling 956,290 votes against former Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan’s 50,361. Seshan had the support of the Shiv Sena and some independent MLAs.

2002: The Congress and most opposition parties decided to back scientist A P J Abdul Kalam, the BJP’s choice. The Left fielded Captain Lakshmi Sahgal. Kalam (9,22,884) won a one-sided contest against Sahgal (1,07,366).

2007: Pratibha Patil, the UPA-Left nominee, became India’s first woman President with 6,38,116 votes against BJP candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (3,31,306 ). The Shiv Sena, then part of the NDA, chose to back Patil, who is from Maharashtra.

2012: UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee became the 13th President, polling 713,763 votes against the BJP’s P A Sangma (3,15,987).

2017: In the last election, the Opposition fielded former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar against Kovind. She had the support of 17 Opposition parties but the JD(U) chose to support Kovind. Kovind bagged 7,02,044 votes, and Kumar 3,67,314.

Results: 1952-2017

The Results of Presidential elections in India: 1952-2017
From: July 21, 2022: The Times of India

See graphic:

The Results of Presidential elections in India: 1952-2017

Those who won

Profiles

Rajesh Sharma, July 16, 2022: The Times of India

From being accused of land grab by political opponents to dissolving state assemblies, various Presidents have left their imprint on the Indian polity.

Pranab Mukherjee (July 25, 2012 to July 25, 2017)

Votes polled: 713,763 (68.12%). 


PMs worked with: Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi. 


Pranab Mukherjee served as the 13th President. The Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Twitter account was started during his presidency. He was perhaps the first President to teach school children inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He opened the doors to writers and artists, turning the building into a living museum. 


Mercy petitions: He rejected 30 cases of death sentence and commuted to life the death sentences of four convicts. 


Key events: In January 2016, he sent back the controversial Gujarat Anti-Terror Bill with queries — the third President to do so in 15 years.


Accolades: He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2019.

Pratibha Patil (July 25, 2007 to July 25, 2012)

Votes polled: 638,116 (58.1%).


PMs worked with: Manmohan Singh. 


Pratibha Patil was the first woman to become the President. The Congress leader was reportedly the compromise candidate after some parties of the ruling United Progressive Alliance failed to agree to the nomination of former home minister Shivraj Patil or Karan Singh. 
 Mercy petitions: She commuted the death sentence of as many as 34 convicts to life.


Key events: She was criticised for allegedly using government funds for taking trips overseas, often accompanied by relatives. She also made headlines for the alleged acquisition of land in Pune to construct her retirement home. Her family-run trust had to return 155 artefacts of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

APJ Abdul Kalam (July 25, 2002 to July 25, 2007)

Votes polled: 922,884 (89.5%). 


PMs worked with: AB Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.


APJ Abdul Kalam was affectionately known as the people’s President. After the NDA proposed the name of the ‘missile man’ for the top post, both the Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party backed his candidacy. As a result, President KR Narayanan chose not to seek a second term, leaving the field clear.


Mercy petitions: He rejected one case and commuted a death sentence in another; he did not decide on 23 other cases.


Key events: He gave his assent to the dissolution of the Bihar assembly after an order was faxed to him while on a foreign tour.

He shocked Vajpayee by saying before the 2004 polls that the government’s decision-making powers should cede to him. Did not relent when Vajpayee said that the Constitution had no provision for a caretaker government.


Accolades: He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1997.

KR Narayanan (July 25, 1997 to July 25, 2002)

Votes polled: 956,290 (94.9%). 


PMs worked with: HD Deve Gowda, IK Gujral, AB Vajpayee. 
KR Narayanan was the first Dalit President. He always explained his decisions to the nation, and brought openness and transparency in the functioning of the President’s office. 


Key events: On October 22, 1997, he became the first President to send back for reconsideration a Cabinet recommendation for the imposition of President’s rule in a state (Uttar Pradesh). On September 25, 1998, he did this a second time (Bihar). He wrote to Vajpayee on the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Shankar Dayal Sharma (July 25, 1992 to July 25, 1997)

Votes polled: 675,804 (65.86%).


PMs worked with: PV Narasimha Rao, AB Vajpayee, HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral.


Shankar Dayal Sharma had served as the eighth vice-president before being elected as President. 


Mercy petitions: He rejected the mercy petitions in all 18 cases placed before him.


Key events: In 1996, he was criticised for making Vajpayee the PM; the BJP leader had to resign after 13 days. Sharma’s role underscored the sharply divergent strands of opinion on how the President should decide who forms the new government. On the Babri Masjid demolition, he said acts causing damage to a religious structure were absolutely against the doctrine and practices of Hinduism and all other religions.

Ramaswamy Venkataraman (July 25, 1987 to July 25, 1992)

Votes polled: 740,148 (72.79%).

PMs worked with: Rajiv Gandhi, VP Singh, Chandra Shekhar and PV Narasimha Rao. 


As president, R Venkataraman had the distinction of working with four prime ministers. 


Mercy petitions: He rejected 45 out of 50 mercy petitions he received. 
Key events: He was witness to India’s first fractured mandate that led to the formation of a coalition government. He invited the single-largest party despite it not being in the majority.


Many parties accused him of favouring the Congress and boycotted his opening address to Parliament and demanded his resignation. The boycott was extended to include the President’s office as well in what amounted to a veritable rejection of the President’s role. His secret meetings with Rajiv Gandhi gave rise to speculation that he was involved in negotiating a Congress-led government.


He dismissed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in Tamil Nadu and dissolved the state assembly despite objections from governor Surjit Singh Barnala. He dismissed Bihar governor Yunus Saleem for criticising the dismissal of the DMK government.

Giani Zail Singh (July 25, 1982 to July 25, 1987)

Votes polled: 754,113 (72.73%). 


PMs worked with:Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.


Giani Zail Singh is the only Sikh to serve as India’s President.


Mercy petitions: He rejected 30 out of 32 mercy petitions he received.


Key events: He refused to sign the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, which had already been passed by Parliament. He sent an angry letter to Andhra Pradesh governor Kumudben Joshi, asking her not to get involved in state politics. Summoned the chief commissioner to explain the delay in holding polls in Haryana.


He came under the scanner during Operation Blue Star, when Indira Gandhi ordered the security forces to combat Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers inside the Golden Temple. Since the order had to come directly from the President, questions were raised as to how the PM managed to order the army to carry out the mission.

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (July 25, 1977 to July 25, 1982)

Votes polled: Won unopposed.


PMs worked with: Charan Singh and Indira Gandhi. 


Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the sixth President, the first to be elected unopposed and the youngest to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He renounced residency at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and took a 70% pay cut as Indians struggled because of poor economic conditions in 1977. 


Key events: Battled with Indira Gandhi on the issue of foreign visits. He had accepted an invitation for the wedding of Prince Charles. But the PM also expressed a desire to attend.

Diplomatically, they could not have both attended. Reddy made it clear that if the government did not arrange for his visit, he would go in his personal capacity. Later, the PM was forced to relent.

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (August 24, 1974 to February 11, 1977)

Votes polled: 785,587 (80.18%).


PMs worked with: Indira Gandhi. 


Fakhruddin Ahmed served as the President during the time of Emergency. He was the second Muslim to be elected as president and also the second to die in state. 


Key events: His tenure was marked by the signing of the Emergency proclamation. On June 25, 1975, Indira Gandhi met him and said she was imposing Emergency. Around 11pm, she wrote to him formally. Rules say such a request should have Cabinet approval, which Ahmed didn’t ask for.

Varahagiri Venkata Giri (May 3, 1969 to July 20, 1969; August 24, 1969 to August 24, 1974)

Votes polled: 401,515 (48.01%).


PMs worked with: Indira Gandhi. 


VV Giri resigned two months after being appointed as the acting President following the death of Zakir Hussain as he wanted to become an elected President. He was later elected as the fourth President in 1969.


Mercy petitions: He accepted all the three mercy petitions he received. 


Key events: He gave his assent to two revolutionary documents — the Shimla Agreement, a peace treaty signed between India and Pakistan; and the Bank Nationalisation Bill of 1969, which continues to shape the Indian economy even after five decades.

The ordinance nationalised 14 largest commercial banks in the country with deposits worth Rs 50 crore. The move drew sharp criticism not only from the Opposition, but also from economists.


Accolades: He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1975.

Dr Zakir Hussain (May 13, 1967 to May 3, 1969)

Votes polled: 471,244 (56.2%).


PMs worked with: Indira Gandhi. 


Zakir Hussain was the country’s first Muslim president, who occupied the office for the shortest period. His untimely death two years after being elected made VV Giri the first acting President. Hussain was the co-founder of Jamia Millia Islamia. 


Mercy petitions: He accepted all the 22 mercy petitions he received. 


Accolades: He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1963.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (July 13, 1962 to May 13, 1967)

Votes polled: 553,067 (98.25%). 
PMs worked with: Gulzarilal Nanda, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi. 
Philosopher and statesman S Radhakrishnan served as the first Vice-President of India from 1952 to 1962 before becoming the second President.


Mercy petitions: He denounced the capital punishment and accepted all the 57 mercy petitions he received.


Key events: In 1962, he succeeded in getting the then defence minister, Krishna Menon, sacked after the Chinese debacle, despite the fact that Nehru himself was disinclined to do so. The President even blamed the government for the defeat, accusing it of negligence.


Accolades: He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954.

Rajendra Prasad (January 26, 1950 to May 13, 1962)

Votes polled: 507,400 (83.8%) and 459,698 (98.99%). 
 PMs worked with: Jawaharlal Nehru. 


Rajendra Prasad was the first President of independent India and stayed in office for the longest term of around 12 years. After the completion of his tenure, he quit the Congress and set up new guidelines for parliamentarians, which are still followed.


Mercy petitions: He accepted 180 out of the 181 mercy petitions and commuted the death sentences awarded by the court of law.


Key events: In 1951, he differed with Nehru over the Hindu Code Bill. When Nehru questioned his authority to challenge government decisions, Prasad countered that the President was not so helpless and that there were restraints on the government. He suggested that the matter be referred to the Supreme Court.


Accolades: He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1962.

First ladies

Activities

Rumu Banerjee, First of its kind? First Lady puts officials in template problem, Sep 14, 2017: The Times of India

The President's secretariat was stumped when First Lady Savita Kovind wanted to write a letter to the wives' welfare association of a paramilitary force. The dilemma for the staff -there was no prior template for such a communication.

“It was a ceremonial letter being sent by the First Lady to the CISF Wives' Welfare Association. The rule is that precedent is followed, so a search for a similar correspondence by the previous First Lady was launched.However, no such correspondence was available,“ said an official.

The former First Lady was Pranab Mukherjee's wife Suvra, who passed away in 2015 after ailing for some time. Just before Mukherjee, Pratibha Patil was the president. Her predecessor was A P J Abdul Kalam, who was a bachelor.

Sources said the staff had to finally rely on correspondence by Usha Narayanan, wife of former President KR Narayanan. “Correspondence by Usha Narayanan was used as a template for the letter finally . The letter to the CISF Wives' Welfare Association is part of the ceremonial correspondence that the First Lady has been penning in the past one month,“ said the official.

Sources say the current First Lady has kept a low profile, and has been participating only in those activities where her role is required.

Rajvanshi Devi, wife of India's first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad (from 1950 until 1962), kept a very low profile and even stayed away from public events.

Sources said Saraswati Bai, wife of India's 4th President VV Giri, was the first one to take a more public role as the First Lady . She attended and hosted events and became a recognisable public figure.

Issues

Role of the President

Chakshu Roy, June 11, 2022: The Times of India

All of our Presidents other than President APJ Abdul Kalam have been political personalities. There are some commonalities between their political careers before they became President. For example, Zakir Hussain, VV Giri, Shankar Dayal Sharma, Pratibha Patil and current President Ram Nath Kovind had previously been Governors. Kovind, Patil, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Zail Singh, Pranab Mukherjee all started their legislative careers in Rajya Sabha. And two of our Presidents, R Venkatraman and Mukherjee have been finance ministers.

EC set timelines for the election of the next occupant of the President’s House. For the first 20 years after Independence, however, presidential elections were a much simpler affair. Anyone could stand for election to the highest office in the country. An interesting nugget is that a lawyer from Rohtak, Choudhary Hari Ram was a candidate in the first five elections. History books record his name as the runner-up in the 1962 elections in which Dr Radhakrishnan was elected President. Parliament plugged this loophole by requiring a prospective candidate to get his name proposed by voters in the presidential election, ie MPs and MLAs. The law now requires at least 50 proposers and 50 seconders for a valid candidature.

During the framing of the Constitution, there was an extensive debate on how the President would be elected. The draft Constitution proposed an electoral college made of MLAs and MPs and a two-term limit on an individual holding the office of the President.

But Constituent Assembly members like KT Shah wanted the President to be directly elected by the people. His reasoning was that a President elected by adult franchise would “not be a creature of party majorities in the Centre or local legislatures but a real representative of the people”. However, this line of reasoning was contrary to the parliamentary model of government being proposed by BR Ambedkar and Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Nehru defended the electoral college mechanism for the presidential election. He stated that it was a middle ground that ensured that the President was not elected by the majority party dominating Parliament. And that it gave members of the state legislature a role in the election of the President. The final Constitution retained the electoral college mechanism for electing the President but rejected the two-term limit.

Constitution framers were also concerned with the nature of the President’s powers. Ambedkar equated the position of the President in the Indian Constitution to that of the King in England. He said that the President “is the Head of State but not of the executive. He represents the nation but does not rule the nation. He is the symbol of the nation. His place in the administration is that of a ceremonial device of a seal by which the nation’s decisions are made known. ”

But shortly after Independence, differences arose between President Rajendra Prasad and Prime Minister Nehru on the powers of the President. The point of contention was whether the President could act independently of the advice of the council of ministers.

This question has been central to the debate about the office of the President. Its criticality became evident when President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed imposed an emergency in the country on the advice of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. During the emergency, Gandhi’s government changed the Constitution to specify that the President shall act on the advice of the council of ministers. After the emergency, the Janata Party amended the Constitution, and it allowed the President to ask the council of ministers to reconsider its advice.

The office of the President occupies a unique position in our country. The President is labelled a rubber stamp, one who blindly agrees with the council of ministers. And if he/she disagrees, the President is called an activist and not in conformity with the spirit of the Constitution. In these circumstances, it is the oath of the President’s office that is instructive of the role and responsibility of this high office.

Under our Constitution, ministers and members of Parliament bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution. But the President takes the oath to “protect and defend the Constitution and the law”. Over the next few days, it will be clear whether political parties will choose candidates who will be rubber stamps or defenders of constitutional values of the country.

The writer is Head of Outreach at PRS Legislative Research

The Presidents

2022: Droupadi Murmu

Swati Mathur, July 22, 2022: The Times of India

New Delhi : NDA’s presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu became the first tribal woman to be elected as President of India by defeating her rival, opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, by a margin of 947 votes, bagging 64. 03% of the electoral college votes against Sinha’s share of 35. 97%.


Murmu, 64, is only the second former member of BJP after President Ram Nath Kovind to be elected President. A month younger than Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who assumed office in 1977, she will be the youngest president ever. Murmu bagged votes from a total of 2,824 electors, including 540 MPs, while Sinha won the support of 1,877 electors, including 208 MPs.


The anti-BJP bloc can derive some satisfaction from the fact that their tally was better than

what they had achieved five years ago when the NDA nominee beat opposition’s candidate Meira Kumar. In fact, Murmu’s first preference vote share, 64. 03%, is the lowest since VV Giri’s 48. 01% in the 1969 presidential polls.

However, there are doubts that the opposition achieved its objective of pitching this as a battle of ideologies. The support of parties like BSP and JD(S) for Murmu, the last-minute defection of her fellow Santhal, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, and confusing messages from senior figures like Mamata Banerjee muddied the message.

Rashtrapati, the word

[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-congress-chiefs-were-the-original-rashtrapatis/articleshow/93299024.cms Sugata Srinivasaraju/ timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ Aug 2, 2022]

Our Constitution makers did have a transient focus on the word ‘Rashtrapati’. On December 10, 1948, the ever loquacious and contrarian HV Kamath, representing the Central Provinces and Berar in the Constituent Assembly, asked why the word ‘Rashtrapati’ adopted by the Assembly in August 1947 had been modified in the draft Constitution.

“If Dr [BR] Ambedkar turns to this report as adopted by the Assembly, he will see that the article corresponding to article 41 reads as follows —‘The head of the federation shall be the President (Rashtrapati).’ Now, in the draft, the article has been modified to read as follows — ‘There shall be a President of India’…I want to know from Dr Ambedkar why this word ‘Rashtrapati’ has been deleted from the article which appears in the draft Constitution today? Is it because we have now developed a new-fangled dislike of some Indian or Hindi words and try to avoid them as far as possible in the English draft of the Constitution?”

Kamath added that the title ‘Rashtrapati’ was for decades used to refer to the Congress president in the organisation. “Should that appellation be reserved exclusively for the Congress president? During the last two generations, however, the word ‘Rashtrapati’ has gained common currency, and has been in vogue to describe the person who is the head of the Congress organisation, meaning the head of the nation.” Multiple committees

Ambedkar responded: “The reason why we omitted it is this. We were told that simultaneously with the drafting committee, the president of the Constituent Assembly had appointed another committee, or rather two committees, to draft the Constitution in Hindi as well as Hindustani. We, therefore, felt that since there was to be a draft of the Constitution in Hindi and another in Hindustani, it might be as well that we should leave this word ‘Rashtrapati’ to be adopted by the members of those committees, as the word ‘Rashtrapati’ was not an English term and we were drafting the Constitution in English.” HV Kamath, a member of the Constituent Assembly, wondered why the word ‘Rashtrapati’ adopted by the Assembly in August 1947 had been modified in the draft Constitution

He added: “Now, my friend asked me whether I was not aware of the fact that this term ‘Rashtrapati’ has been in current use for a number of years in the Congress parlance. I know it is quite true and I have read it in many places that this word ‘Rashtrapati’ is used, there is no doubt about it. But whether it has become a technical term, I am not quite sure."

He went on: "Therefore, before rising to reply, I just thought of consulting the two draft Constitutions, one prepared in Hindi and the other prepared in Hindustani. Now, I should like to draw the attention of my friend Mr Kamath to the language that has been used by these two committees. I’m reading from the draft in Hindustani, and it says: ‘Hin Ka Ek President Hoga’. The word ‘Rashtrapati’ is not used there. Then, taking the draft prepared by the Hindi committee, in article 41, the word used is ‘Pradhan’. There is no ‘Rashtrapati’ there either…And I’m just now informed that in the Urdu draft, the word used is ‘Sardar’.” The House erupted in laughter when Ambedkar concluded his response.

Nobody is sure when the word ‘Rashtrapati’ got standardised in the official translations of all Indian languages listed in the Eighth Schedule. On the official site (https://legislative.gov.in/) of the Union government, all translations refer to the President as ‘Rashtrapati’. Of course, the site does not have a translation of the Constitution in the Santhali language, the mother tongue of our 15th President. Santhali, along with Bodo, Dogri, Kashmiri and Maithili, i, were included in the Eighth Schedule in 2004; none of them have a translation of the Constitution.