In indian constitution impeachment acts on

Impeachment of a President is the process of removing a person in a position from all duties and authority mandated by the position. Impeachment of a President in India refers to the complete process of removing the President from office. The procedure of impeachment may be used to remove him from office for violating the Constitution. A charge of misconduct against a public official is known as impeachment in a country with a federal presidential Constitutional republic government. To date, none of India’s presidents have been impeached.

In this article, let us look at the conditions of the office of the President, elections & the term of office, grounds & process of impeachment of the President in India as required for the UPSC Examination since the topic is important from the context of the Indian Polity section which is a part of UPSC mains GS 2 paper and prelims GS paper 1.

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What is Impeachment?

Impeachment is a formal process by which a legislative body brings charges against a public official for misconduct. It is a remedy of last resort. It is used only in cases where the official has committed serious offenses, such as treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

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Impeachment of President of India (Article 61)

The ‘Constitution Act 1971’ (Twenty-sixth Amendment) gave India’s constitution its first mention of impeachment. According to Article 61 of the Constitution, the President may be impeached and forced out of office before the end of his term. The Parliament has the authority to remove the President from office. Although the law of the land has established the procedure, impeachment trials have not yet been brought against any president.

Grounds for Impeachment of President in India

• Violation of the Constitution: The President can be impeached for violating the Constitution. This is a very broad ground and has not been defined in the Constitution. Some examples of things that could be considered violations of the Constitution include:
  • treason,
  • bribery,
  • corruption,
  • abuse of power,
  • gross misconduct,
  • negligence of duty, and
  • violation of fundamental rights.

  Procedure of Impeachment of President of India

  The process of impeachment of President in India carried out in the Parliament is quasi-judicial in nature. The impeachment of President in India can be initiated in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. If the Rajya Sabha brings the allegations, it will pass the resolution and submit them to the Lok Sabha, which will review them and vote on them if it believes them to be genuine.

  In this context, it is important to keep in mind two things:

  • nominated individuals of either House of Parliament may actually participate in the impeachment of President in India, although they did not cast a ballot in his election.
  • elected members of state legislative assemblies and the union territories of Delhi and Puducherry will not take part, although they cast a ballot in the President’s election.

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