Votes will be cast for the presidential election in the US today
The eyes of the whole world are on the presidential elections being held in America today. Everyone is curious to know who will take over the reins of superpower America for the next four years? But do you know that today in America, votes are not only being cast for the President, but voters are also voting for the members of the American Congress i.e. Parliament?
These members of Parliament play an important role in passing any bill or law in the US. The American Parliament is called Congress. Like India, there are two houses here. Like the lower house of India i.e. Lok Sabha, there is a House of Representatives. For which elections are held for all 435 seats. Like the Upper House of India i.e. Rajya Sabha, the Upper House there is called Senate. It has 100 members but elections are being held only for one-third i.e. 34 seats.
On this pretext, let us know what is the importance of these two houses in America, who has what kind of powers and why elections are not contested simultaneously for all the 100 seats of the Senate like the House?
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accounts of the us parliament
The House of Representatives is decided on the basis of district. One from each district. Their tenure is of two years. Whereas the members of the Senate are representatives of the states. At present there are 50 states in America, so two are elected from each state to the Senate. No matter how big or small the population of the state is. In this way there were 100 senators. Their tenure is of 6 years.
This time elections are being held for 34 seats in the Senate. The reason behind this is the amendment made in the Constitution of America due to which about one-third retires after two years. New senators take over these retired people.
Therefore, in every general election, votes are cast on these vacant posts. The tenure of both the senators of a particular state is decided in such a way that they do not retire at the same time. And thus the Senate is never dissolved.
Who has the stronger hold in Parliament?
At present the Republican Party has majority in the House of Representatives. But with the lowest margin ever in the history of the House. Republicans have 220 and Democratic have 212. While three seats are vacant. One has to suffer the consequences of such a small difference. If even five Republicans defect on a vote, they lose their majority.
Talking about the Senate, the situation here is more or less the same but it is in favor of the Democrat Party. He has 47 seats and also has the support of four independents. So in this situation, the Democrats have a hold on a total of 51 seats, albeit weak.
Republicans have 49 seats in the Senate. To strengthen their lead over Congress, the Democrats and Republicans also want to gain control over the Senate so that if they are elected, there will be no further obstacles for the President.
What are the powers of the Senate?
The Senate has a lot of power to take decisions. The Vice President of the country is the Chairman of the Senate. This post is currently held by the current Vice President Kamala Harris.
One more thing, the Vice President presides over the House but is not a part of any debate. The Vice President can vote only when there is a tie in the Senate on a matter. In such a situation, he acts as a tie-breaking vote, meaning that the side to which he will support is considered to be the final decision.
You can estimate how powerful this part of the House is from the fact that the President’s decisions have to pass through it. If the President takes a decision which is not acceptable to the Senate, then the decision is put on hold. To agree on any treaty, the approval of two-thirds of the members of the Senate is required.
Vice President’s vote is important in the Senate
Out of 34 Senate seats, Republicans are contesting on 11 seats, Democrats on 19 seats and independents who support the Democrats on four seats.
Republicans don’t need to do much to take over the Senate. Even if they don’t win the White House, they need only 2 more seats and even if they win, they need only an increase of 1 seat.
This is because the Vice President plays the role of tie-breaking vote in the Senate. This means that if the votes in the Senate are equal in any matter, the decision taken by the Vice President is considered final.
So obviously if the Republican Party wins the presidential election, Trump’s associate JD Vance will take over as the Chairman of the Senate. And if such a complicated situation arises, he will remain in favor of the Republican Party.
House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is called the lower house of the US Congress. It consists of 435 plus 3 members from Washington DC (District of Columbia). The tenure of the members of this house is 2 years. After this, new members of the House are immediately elected.
First any decision is taken in this house. After this it goes to the Senate and after getting consent from there, it reaches the President. Apart from this, the House of Representatives has many special powers. For example, if the members here wish, they can take decisions on all the revenue related bills on their own.
Apart from this, there is also a very important power to directly elect the President. For example, if no one gets majority in the Electoral College, then this House can elect the President. In American history, this happened in the presidential election of 1824 when the House had to intervene and thus John Quincy Adams became the 6th President of America.
The members of the House of Representatives have so much freedom that they can keep an eye on the work of the government. These people can also file an impeachment case against the President, when the President is accused of treason, gross corruption or misdeeds.
