Election of President

• Election Commission of India has announced schedule for election of 15th President of India. The tenure of current President Shri Ram Nath Kovind is going to be completed on 24th July, 2022. Election of New President is a mandatory constitutional requirement before completion of his tenure (of Shri Ram Nath Kovind).

• President of India is elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of Parliament and elected members of State Legislative Assemblies including Legislative Assemblies of U.T.s of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir. At present the Legislative Assembly of U.T. of Jammu and Kashmir does not exist i.e., U.T. of J&K does not have any elected MLAs, only elected members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha from J&K will vote in the coming Presidential election.

• President of India is elected by system of proportional representation by single transferable vote. Presently, electoral college has 776 elected members of Parliament and 4033 elected members of State Legislative Assemblies and legislative Assemblies of Delhi and Puducherry.

• The lowest vote value is of an MLA of Sikkim (7) whereas maximum vote value is of an MLA of U.P. (208). The vote value of an elected member of Parliament is 708.

(NOTE: Nominated members of Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies do not take part in voting in election of President. Similarly, the members of State Legislative Councils (Vidhan Parishad) have no role in election of President).

• Notification for the election will be issued on 15th June,2022. Last date for filing of nominations is 29th June,2022. Last date of withdrawal of nomination 2nd July,2022. Elections if required will be held on 18th July,2022. Counting of votes and declaration of result on 21st July,2022.

• New President elect will be sworn in by Chief Justice of India on 25th July, 2022.

• The total no. of votes of M.P.s are 543200, total no. of votes of MLAs 543231. Total votes 1086431. Secretary General of Rajya Sabha (Shri Pramod Chandra Modi) has been appointed as Returning Officer for this election. Political parties cannot issue whip to its members to vote to a particular candidate only. Election is held through secret ballot. Anti-defection law is not applicable. All the members of electoral college have to mark their preferences on the ballot paper using a special pen provided by the Election Commission of India.

• The nomination paper of a candidate has to be proposed by at least 50 members of electoral college and seconded by 50 members of electoral college.

• A security deposit of Rs. 15000/- is to be deposited by every candidate. Security deposit of candidates securing less than 1/6th of valid votes polled is forfeited.