Presidential poll to be held on July 18 as EC releases dates

The presidential elections will be on July 18 and the results will be declared three days later on July 21, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Thursday.

A formal notification will be issued on June 15 and the nominations have to be filed by June 29, chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar and election commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey said at a press conference.

The last date for withdrawal of candidature is July 2.

President Ram Nath Kovind’s term ends on July 24 and according to the Constitution, a new president has to be appointed before his term ends.

The president is elected by an electoral college comprising 776 members of Parliament (members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) and 4,033 members of the legislative assemblies, with a total of 4,809 votes being cast. The combined value of votes of state legislators is 543,231 and that of MPs is 543,200, a total of 1,086,431.

Nominated MPs and members of the legislative council aren’t allowed to vote. Each elector is allowed a single transferable vote, and the voting is done by secret ballot. Since the anti-defection law is not applicable in the presidential election, electors are not

bound to vote along party lines.

“Political parties cannot issue a whip to its members,” Rajiv Kumar said.

“The election can also be held invalid if there is evidence of inducement or bribery by the Supreme Court.”

The commission will also provide a special pen that the electors will have to use to cast the vote. The secretary-general of the Rajya Sabha has been appointed as the returning officer for the election.

The voting will take place in the Parliament complex and the state legislative assemblies and Covid protocols will be followed in the conduct of the election.

The Congress and the other opposition parties are determined to field their own candidate against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance’s nominee in the coming presidential election, HT reported in April.

The election for the vice president is expected to take place in August.

In 2017, the Congress-led Opposition fielded former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar as its candidate. The ruling dispensation mustered 661,278 votes for Ram Nath Kovind while Kumar received 434,241 votes. The Opposition’s chances of getting its candidate elected in the race is however, slim. Even if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is short of the majority mark of 549,452 votes by 9000 votes, it has potential supporters such as the Biju Janata Dal and the YSR

Congress Party that make up for the deficit.

In recent decades, only APJ Abdul Kalam’s election as president saw near unanimity between the ruling side and a large section of the opposition. Even then, the Left parties fielded former INA soldier Lakhmi Sehgal against Kalam.