Page 215 - Leap of Faith Vol - 2

Electing the President and Vice President Chapter 8

Giani Zail Singh being sworn in as the President of India, 1982 R. Venkataraman being sworn in as the President of India,1987. He was
previously India's seventh Vice President between Aug 31, 1984 & July 24, 1987
The Ninth Presidential Election was held on July 13, 1987. Assembly, on which the Hon'ble Supreme Court ordered a
Due to formation of new states like Mizoram, Arunachal day before the election, that those votes should be
Pradesh, and Goa earlier in the year, there was sharp counted but kept separately. The Presidential election
appreciation in the number of MLAs in the electoral college made a mid-term Vice Presidential election inevitable as
over the previous edition of election (from 3827 to 3919). the sitting Vice President R. Venkataraman won the
Presidency. However, since there was no other candidate
The election witnessed high legal drama surrounding apart from Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, he was announced
disqualification of 22 members of Punjab Legislative winner by Returning Officer on August 21, 1987.

During the Ninth Presidential Election, 1987 at least one contestant viz. Mithilesh Kumar Sinha had proposed that
the candidates be allowed to address the nation on national carriers like AIR and Doordarshan. Another contestant
V.R. Krishna Iyer appeared to acquiesce in the proposal. Under a scheme that Ministry of I&B had evolved in
consultation with Election Commission of India in 1977, representative of recognised political parties were allowed
broadcasting/telecasting facilities, only for Lok Sabha elections, though actual airtime could not be provided before
the Twelfth General Elections, 1998.
Sinha's apparently innocent proposal had trappings of a direct election to the President's post, which was not in
conformity with the tenets of the Constitution. Under the Constitution of India, the President works only on the
aid and advice of the cabinet. Therefore, it is superfluous for Presidential candidates to espouse own plans and
programmes. The Government did not accept the proposal for good reasons.

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