From Here & There

The election of India’s 12th President due in July has generated lively debates in the country. But there are not many who know the hugely complex procedure it involves.


The President of India is elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament and of the Legislative Assemblies of the states and the Union territories of Delhi and Pondicherry. The importance of each state in the electoral college depends on the number of votes it carries. Uttar Pradesh’s 403 members of the Assembly and 80 MPs therefore make it crucial for the presidential elections.


According to Article 55 of the Constitution, the number of votes each state is entitled to cast is determined as -

(a) Every elected member of the legislative Assembly of a state shall have as many votes as there are multiples of one thousand in the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the state by the total number of elected members of the Assembly.

(b) If after taking the said multiples of one thousand, the remainder is not less than five hundred, then the vote of each member shall be further increased by one.

(c) Each elected member of either House of Parliament has as many votes as is calculated by dividing the total number of votes assigned to the members of the state legislative Assemblies by the total number of elected members of both the House of Parliament from the state. Fractions exceeding one-half are counted as one and other fractions will be disregarded.


The voting is by secret ballot. Among the 28 states, Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of votes and Sikkim the smallest. (IANS)


The value of votes in each state and Union territory is as given below:
Other Statistics

Number of legislators In the country - 4,120

Value of legislators votes - 5,49,474

The number of MPs - 776 (543 in the Lok Sabha + 233 in the Rajya Sabha). Nominated members do not have voting rights.

The value of an MP’s vote was fixed at 708. An MP’s vote is calculated by dividing the total value of all legislators’ votes by the number of MPs.

The values of MPs’ votes - 776 x 708 = 549,408

Total votes in the electoral college - 5,49,474 + 5,49,408 = 1.098 million.

(Source: Lok Sabha Secretariat)

Health & You

Madison, Wisconsin: Spreading honey on a diabetic ulcer could prevent the need to amputate an infected foot, researchers say.


A doctor at the University of Wisconsin who helped about half a dozen of her diabetic patients avoid amputation has launched a controlled trial to promote the widespread use of honey therapy.


The therapy involves squeezing a thick layer of honey onto the wound after dead skin and bacteria have been removed.


The honey kills bacteria because it is acidic and avoids the complication of bacterial resistance found with standard antibiotics, Jennifer Eddy, a professor at the University’s School of Medicine and Public Health, said.


“This is a tremendously important issue for world health,” Eddy said.


Diabetics typically have poor circulation and decreased ability to fight infection and ulcers can be hard to treat. An amputation is performed every 30 seconds somewhere in the world, Eddy said.


“If we can prove that honey promotes healing in diabetic ulcers, we can offer new hopes for many patients, not to mention the cost benefit, and the issue of bacterial resistance. The possibilities are tremendous.”


Honey therapy is already used to treat bed sores in New Zealand and as an alternative form of medicine in Europe, but has largely been relegated to history books in the United States. (AFP)


(Asian Age 7/5/2007)

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