17th Indian presidential election
2022 Indian Presidential Election|
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The 2022 Indian Presidential Election will be the 16th presidential election to be held in India. Presently, Ram Nath Kovind is the incumbent President of India. Article 56(1) of the Constitution of India provides that the President of India shall remain in office for a period of five years. Consequent to the expiry of the term of President Ram Nath Kovind, an election poll to fill in the office is scheduled to be held on 18 July 2022 and counting of votes will take place on 21 July 2022.[2] On 21 June 2022, Yashwant Sinha, former AITC leader, was unanimously chosen as common candidate of UPA and other opposition parties for 2022 Presidential Election.[3] On the same day NDA chose Draupadi Murmu as its presidential candidate.[4]
Electoral system
The President of India is indirectly elected by an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both houses of parliament, the elected members of the Legislative assemblies of the 28 states and the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir. As of 2022, the electoral college comprises 776 MPs and 4,123 MLAs.
The system assigns varying numbers of votes to these electoral college members, such that the total weight of MPs and those of MLAs is roughly equal and that the voting power of states and territories are proportional to their population. Overall the members of the electoral college were eligible to cast 1,098,903 votes, yielding a threshold for a majority of 549,452 votes.
The nomination of a candidate for election to the office of the President must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders. The election is held by means of a secret ballot under the Instant-runoff voting system.[5] The manner of election of President is provided by Article 55 of the Constitution.
Article 58 of the Indian Constitution provides that the President and Vice President of India must be citizens of India, and at least 35 years old. The Presidential candidate must be qualified for elections in the same way as a member of the Lok Sabha, and must not hold any office of profit under the Indian government.[6] Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the political parties, in which case each party devises a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. Traditionally, the primary elections are indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The general election in July is also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors in turn directly elect the president and vice president.
The returning officer for the election was Anoop Mishra, the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha.
Election schedule
Under sub-section (1) of Section (4) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act 1952, the schedule for the election of the President of India has been announced by the Election Commission of India on 9 June 2022.[2]
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Event
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Date
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Day
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| 1.
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Issue of election commission's notification calling the election
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15 June 2022
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Wednesday
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| 2.
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Last date for making nominations
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29 June 2022
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Wednesday
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| 3.
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Date for the scrutiny of nominations
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30 June 2022
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Thursday
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| 4.
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Last date for the withdrawal of candidatures
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2 July 2022
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Saturday
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| 5.
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Date on which a poll shall, if necessary, be taken
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18 July 2022
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Monday
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| 6.
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Date on which counting, if required, shall be taken
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21 July 2022
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Thursday
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