Presidential election to be held on July 18, counting on July 21

The Election Commission on Thursday set the ball rolling for the Presidential election by setting July 18 as the date for voting in which 4,809 MPs and MLAs are eligible to choose the successor of incumbent Ram Nath Kovind.

The counting of votes will be held on July 21 in Delhi after bringing the ballots from states where MLAs will be voting. The term of the current president is ending on July 24 and a new president will be sworn in on July 25.

The electoral college consists of 776 elected MPs and 4,033 MLAs, whose total vote value is pegged at 10,86,431, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar told a press conference here.

With the announcement of the schedule, the government and the opposition will soon start talks on possible candidates. Opposition leaders have already made it clear that they will field a candidate against the ruling BJP’s choice though it is comfortably placed in the electoral college.

At present, an analysis showed, the BJP is likely to get 5.39 lakh votes for its nominee while the anti-BJP forces can garner only around 4.47 lakh. YSR Congress and BJD, who have not joined any grouping and together have a vote value of 75,136, are likely to support the NDA, making it easier for the ruling combine.

In 2017, the presidential polls were held on July 17 and the counting took place on July 20. Kovind (7,020,44) defeated former Lok Sabha speaker and opposition candidate Meira Kumar (3,67,314) by 3,34,730 value votes.

While the value of an MP’s vote is 700, the vote value of MLAs differ from state to state. For example, the vote value of a Karnataka MLA will be 131 while that of Uttar Pradesh is 208, the highest, and Sikkim at 7, the lowest.

The notification for the polls will be issued on June 15 and one can start filing nominations from then on. The last date of nomination will be June 29 and the scrutiny will be held on June 30 while the last date of withdrawal of nominations is set on July 2.

Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody has been appointed as the Returning Officer of the election while Assistant Returning Officers in states have also been appointed to conduct polling.

Kumar said the Election Commission is fully geared to conduct the election in a "free and fair manner". Though the Covid-19 situation has eased across the country, he said all state-specific protocols will be followed during the voting and counting of votes.

No party will be allowed to issue whips to its lawmakers to vote in a particular manner. The voting will be through a secret ballot.

Usually, MPs cast their votes in Parliament and MLAs in their respective Assemblies. However, in case of emergency, a lawmaker can vote in voting stations other than their designated one provided they inform the Election Commission 10 days before the voting.