DOES INDIA NEED A VICE PRESIDENT?

In the year 2022, India celebrates 75 years of being Independent. In this year of Indian Independence’s Diamond Jubilee, we will also experience a unique and interesting functioning of the Constitution of India – the Presidential and the Vice-Presidential Elections.

The Republic of India will this year, through the electoral college, decide who the Commander-in-Chief and the Chairman of Rajya Sabha will be (these are just some other cool titles the President and the Vice-President have).

As one looks into this wonderful democratic process with admiration, he is also drawn to question the relevance of the positions which are held in such high esteem throughout our republic.

The Office of the President of India is the one which represents the nation as its 'First citizen’ and ‘Head of State’. Apart from being the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces, the President also has an important role to play as a nation figurehead and as a person, who by the Constitution, is empowered to select the person he believes is capable of being the Prime Minster (though he is almost bound by the Constitution regarding this appointment, but is free to use his discretionary powers in case of a hung parliament).

On the other hand, the Office of the Vice President has been accorded no major role to play by the Constitution of India, other than presiding over the Rajya Sabha as its ex-officio Chairperson and to take over the Presidential Office as the acting President in case of sudden death, resignation or impeachment of the serving President.

THE COMPARISON WITH THE

U.S. VICE PRESIDENCY

Then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden meeting then Indian Vice President M. Hamid Ansari, in New Delhi in 2010

In India, the role of the Vice-President, as stated above, is to preside over the Rajya Sabha as its ex-officio Chairperson and to take over the Presidential Office as the acting President in case of sudden death, resignation or impeachment of the serving President. In case the Vice President is forced to take over as the acting President, it is constitutionally mandated that a new President is elected within six months of the removal of the previously elected President. After the election of the new President, the Vice President can return to his role as the vice president of the republic

 The concept of the Office of the Vice President and his role as the presiding officer of the Upper House of the national legislature was copied by the Indian constitution-makers from the Constitution of the United States of America and modified a bit to adapt to the Indian establishment.

But the roles played by the Vice-Presidents of India and United States are vastly different. While the US Vice President also is the ex-officio presiding officer of the Upper House of the US Congress, i.e., the US Senate, his role in the Presidential line of Succession and his executive powers are very different from that of the Indian Vice President. The US Vice President, in case of sudden death, resignation or impeachment of the serving President of the US, does take over the Presidential Office, but unlike in the Indian scenario, he does not serve in the capacity of an acting President but takes over for the rest of the remaining term, i.e., becomes the President himself.

Apart from this, the US Vice President is also a member of the US National Security Council. Also, the US Vice President, as a part of the Executive and by the virtue of being a VP in a Presidential form of Government, is a major advisor to the US President in many affairs, be it legislative agenda, foreign affairs, economy or any other policy matter.

In all, it can be inferred that a US Vice President has quite an active role in an administration. In contrast, the Indian Vice President, apart from occasionally presiding over the Rajya Sabha, has no active role in the executive branch.

BUT STILL, WHY REMOVE IT?

Many would argue that even though the Vice Presidency may not be very active or relevant in India, why not let it be the way it is? After all, what’s the harm in keeping a Vice President?

The first argument is that the Office of Vice President is a huge liability on the taxpayer’s money. The maintenance of this position which entails with it a massive Office and government employees, apart from the facilities provided to the Vice President and all the official activities carried out by him is a huge burden for the taxpayers as all of these cut a considerable portion of the taxpayers’ money.

The second argument is that the concept of the Vice Presidency was copied from the United States, which is a very different type of democracy from the Indian model. The Vice-President there, as has been elaborated above, has a huge responsibility to play in the legislative as well as the executive branch. Those responsibilities simply do not apply in the Indian Establishment and therefore the Indian Vice Presidency is nugatory.

The third argument is that it only leads to unnecessary complication of the constitutional hierarchy. The President is the head of the state and the Prime Minister is the head of the government (and the leader of the Ruling Coalition’s Parliamentary Party). Therefore, it is only appropriate that after the President, the Prime Minister is accorded the position of the ‘Second Citizen’ and his largely ‘de-facto’ powers are warranted their deserving constitutional recognition. In the absence of the post of Vice President, the Office of the Prime Minister of India can be elevated to the position of 'Deputy to the President' and will ensure smoother functionality and hierarchy, enforced by the Constitution.

THE ALTERNATIVE

A question that will naturally arise in the mind of the reader is: well, what’s the alternative?

The alternative is simple. Instead of the Vice President being the ex-officio Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, it would be more appropriate to constitutionally establish the Office of the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, who can be elected in two ways:

• 1.      The Electoral College System: This is the present system under which the Vice-President is elected. The Vice President is elected indirectly by members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting is by secret ballot conducted by election commission.
• 2.      The Direct Election of a member: Like the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha could elect one of its members as the Chairperson of the House.

The other big question that arises is, what happens if the President dies in office or resigns or is impeached from the office? The most prudent step will be to have established a Presidential line of Succession, which must have the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha ranking as the first successor. Also, what will be of great sensibility would be making an amendment wherein if the President dies, resigns or is impeached, the Chairperson takes over for the rest of the presidential term, and not as an acting President. This will save the unnecessary need to hold the massive exercise of a Presidential election before the term of 5 years, as stipulated by the constitution and will ensure better stability and smooth transition.

All the functions carried out by the Vice President can be easily carried out instead by the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, thus easily taking care of all the responsibilities of the Vice President as mandated by the constitution.

This will also give the Prime Minister more constitutional recognition and not only as an 'advisor to the President', and will establish a better hierarchy where the role of the Prime Minister as the Head of the Government is better recognized. It would constitutionally establish him as the true 'deputy to the President'.

CONCLUSION

We are about to complete 75 years as an independent nation, 72 of them as a republic. Many changes have taken place over such a long period of time. It is necessary that we identify what is best for us and not simply follow a system which has been followed somewhere else, without having a proper reason to implement and follow it. It is necessary that every pillar of the 'Indian democracy' is established is such a way that it is ‘India-centric’ . It is also essential that we, as a republic, make reforms which look after the needs of our republic, thus reinforcing and strengthening our republic.