With reference to the election of the President of India, consider the following statements:
- 1.The value of the vote of each MLA varies from State to State.
- 2.The value of the vote of MPs of the Lok Sabha is more than the value of the vote of MPs of the Rajya Sabha.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) 1 only
Only statement 1 is correct: under Article 55 an MLA's vote value is worked out from the population of his or her State, so it differs from State to State. Every elected MP, of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, has the same vote value.
- ✓ 1. Article 55(2)(a) gives each MLA as many votes as there are multiples of one thousand in the State's population divided by the number of its elected MLAs. Population and the size of the Assembly differ from State to State, so the vote value differs too.
- ✗ 2. Article 55(2)(c) gives each elected MP of either House the same number of votes: the total of all MLAs' vote values divided by the total number of elected MPs of both Houses. So a Lok Sabha MP's vote is worth exactly as much as a Rajya Sabha MP's.
Remember · President's election (Art. 55): MLA vote value depends on the State's population; every elected MP has one common vote value, whichever House he or she sits in.
Sources
- Constitution of India, Article 55(2)(a) (Legislative Department, Government of India) ↗ “every elected member of the Legislative Assembly of a State shall have as many votes as there are multiples of one thousand in the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the State … each elected member of either House of Parliament shall have such number of votes as may be obtained by dividing the total number of votes assigned to the members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·