Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, right, during a news conference in New Delhi on Thursday.SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
Damini NathNEW DELHI
The Election Commission on Thursday announced that the Presidential election would be held on July 18 and counting of votes, if required, would be held on July 21. President Ram Nath Kovind’s term ends on July 24.
Announcing the schedule, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the notification would be issued on June 15 and the last date for nominations would be June 29. The date for scrutiny of candidature would be June 30 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature would be July 2.
The electoral college for the poll will comprise 4,809 members — 233 Rajya Sabha and 543 Lok Sabha members and 4,033 MLAs of the Assemblies of the States and the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry. The total value of votes will be 10,86,431 (5,43,200 for MPs or 700 votes each and 5,43,231 for MLAs based on the 1971 Census population figures).
This Presidential election will be the first to be held since the State of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh in 2019. The MLAs of J&K are no longer part of the electoral college. During the previous Presidential poll in 2017, the 87 MLAs of the State of J&K had 72 votes each, taking the total value of their votes to 6,264 out of the total of 10,98,903 votes.
Mr. Kumar said each candidate would require 50 members of the electoral college to propose their name and another 50 to second it. The polling would be carried out in the Parliament House for MPs and at the respective State Assemblies for MLAs, with the Rajya Sabha Secretary General declared as the Returning Officer.
The electors would cast their ballots using the pen provided by the EC as has been the norm, he said. Protocols regarding COVID-19 safety would be followed, he added.
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