Constituent Assembly Debates Friday 25th July 1947 Official Report

D. H. Chandrasekharaiya: I beg to move : That for sub-clause (2) of Clause 6 the following be substituted : `(2) The Vice-President shall be elected by the same electoral college as is applicable to the election of the President and by the same method and he shall be an ex-officio President of the Council of States'." Under the Union constitution the President is proposed to be elected through a [...] The House may be aware that in the U. S. A. the Vice-President is elected for four years along with the President and the provision for having a Vice-President in the Union Constitution must have been thought of in the light of the precedent existing in the An: :rioan Constitution. [...] Now Sir there are two Officers Heads of the State ; one is the President and the other the Vice-President and if the President is ill of course the Vice-President -will act for him but when the Vice-President is doing the work of the President and acting for the President there is no provision as To who will act for the Vice-President when he becomes temporary President. [...] The Vice-President can be an outsider beloning to neither the Council of States nor to the Lower House—the House 'of the People ; under the existing law in the Council of State the President as well as the Deputy President are both members of the House the Vice-President under the Constitution will be an extra member with a vote in case of difference of opinion. [...] The question is : "That for sub-clause (2) of Clause 6 the following be substituted : `(2) The Vice-President shall be elected by the same electoral college as is applicable to the election of the President and by the same method and he shall be an ere-officio President of the Council of States'." The motion was negatived.