From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Thursday declared the election of the President of India on July 18 (Monday) to facilitate swearing-in of the new President on July 25, in view of the 5-year tenure of incumbent Ram Nath Kovid ending on July 24 (Friday).
Announcing the schedule at a Press conference at the Vigyan Bhawan here, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar, flanked by two other Election Commissioners and other officials, said the counting of votes, if required, will be conducted on July 21. The parties are barred from issuing any kind of whip on whom to vote or not.
The announcement came a day ahead of the biennial elections on Friday to fill up 57 Rajya Sabha seats. Actually, the polling will take place in only four states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana since others were elected unopposed.
The CEC said a total of 4,809 electors are to vote as part of the electoral college, consisting of 776 MPs of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and 4,033 members of the Legislative Assemblies. The value of a MP’s vote is 5,43,200 and that of the MLAs 5,43,231. The nominated members as also the MLCs (members of Legislative Council) are not eligible to vote.
In 2017, the presidential poll was held on July 17 and the counting took place on July 20.
So far, no political party has named its candidate for the top constitutional post. The Congress has indicated to start the exercise after the Rajya Sabha polls on June 10, consulting all opposition parties and suggesting a non-political person be picked up as a joint candidate.
