The Term, Impeachment and Vacancy of the President of India remains a high–yield area in Polity for UPSC and competitive exams because it blends constitutional safeguards, democratic accountability and continuity of governance. Understanding the five-year tenure rule, the rare but powerful device of impeachment and the layered provisions ensuring no vacuum in the Head of State’s office is crucial for answer-writing and MCQs.
The framers ensured that the President holds office for five years from the day of entering Rashtrapati Bhavan, but they also empowered him to exit voluntarily or face accountability if he violates the Constitution, while still preserving continuity of State if no successor is ready.
The Constitution grants Parliament the sovereign power to remove the Head of State only on a grave charge — violation of the Constitution — through a bicameral, two-stage supermajority process ensuring fairness and defence rights.
The impeachment process is deliberately rigid: it may start in either House of Parliament, needs prior signatures, notice to the President, two-thirds voting, a full investigation by the other House, right of appearance and a confirmatory two-thirds vote to finally unseat the incumbent.
The Constitution consciously alters the electoral body when it comes to removal — some who elect cannot remove and some who do not elect can remove — ensuring insulation and separation of powers.
The Constitution anticipates every form of vacancy — natural expiry, death, resignation, removal, or annulment — and prescribes timelines and acting arrangements to ensure India never faces an interregnum at the highest constitutional office.
The office may fall vacant by lapse, choice, penalty, death or legal defect — each triggering a distinct constitutional response.
The Constitution mandates pre-term elections in normal expiry and rapid elections within six months in abrupt vacancies while guaranteeing that the incoming President always gets a fresh five-year tenure.
The Constitution builds a hierarchy of substitutes — first the Vice-President, then the Chief Justice of India, then the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court — so the sovereign headship never lapses even for a day.
Anyone performing duties of the President — whether Vice-President, CJI or judge — enjoys full constitutional powers, immunities, emoluments and allowances as defined by Parliament, ensuring no dilution of authority during acting tenure.
The five-year term, the rare but rigid impeachment process, and airtight provisions on vacancy and acting arrangements uphold continuity and accountability of the President of India. For UPSC students, mastering these provisions is vital because they blend constitutional text, parliamentary procedure and governance continuity — a favourite for both prelims and mains.
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