Qualifications for Election as President

---

A person to be eligible for election as President should fulfil the following qualifications:

1. He should be a citizen of India.
2. He should have completed 35 years of age.
3. He should be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha.
4. He should not hold any office of profit under the Union government or any state government or
   any local authority or any other public authority. A sitting President or Vice-President of the
   Union, the Governor of any state and a minister of the Union or any state is not deemed to hold
   any office of profit and hence qualified as a presidential candidate.

Further, the nomination of a candidate for election to the office of President must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders. 

Every candidate has to make a security deposit of Rs 15,000 in the Reserve Bank of India. The security deposit is liable to be forfeited in case the candidate fails to secure one-sixth of the votes polled. 

Before 1997, number of proposers and seconders was ten each and the amount of security deposit was Rs 2,500. In 1997, they were increased to discourage the non-serious candidates. (The presidential and vice-presidential Elections Act of 1952, as amended in 1997).