Term of office of President

Article 45, Draft Constitution 1948

The President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office:

Provided that—

(a) The President may, by resignation under his hand addressed to the Chairman of the Council of States and the Speaker of the House of the People, resign his office;

(b) The President may, for violation of the Constitution, be removed from office by impeachment in the manner provided in article 50 of this Constitution:

(c) The President shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office.

Article 56, Constitution of India 1950

(1) The President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office:

⁠Provided that—

(a) the President may, by writing under his hand addressed to the Vice-President, resign his office;

(b) the President may, for violation of the Constitution, be removed from office by impeachment in the manner provided in article 61;

(c) the President shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office.

⁠(2) Any resignation addressed to the Vice-President under clause (a) of the proviso to clause (1) shall forthwith be communicated by him to the Speaker of the House of the People.

Draft Article 45 provided for the term of the President’s office. The Article was debated on 13 December 1948.

The debate around this Draft Article was rather short. A member proposed that the Article be amended to ensure that ‘President who is elected in a casual vacancy will also hold office only for the remaining term of five years’. Another member wanted to amend the Article to mandate the President to address Parliament in case of resignation. He argued that while the President may hand over the resignation letter to the Speaker or Chairman, they have a responsibility to address the Parliament which elected them.

The proposals were not accepted by the Assembly. The Draft Article was adopted without amendment.