The process for the election of the next president of India kicks off on June 16 with the issue of notification, though the Election Commission get into its act on February 15 by moving the Rashtrapati Bhavan for permission to commence the process.
The tentative date proposed for the president's election is July 19, so as to complete the entire process, including the counting of votes, by July 21, four days ahead of incumbent Pratibha Patil completing her term as the first woman president. Around the same time, the EC will also set in motion the process for election of the vice-president.
Once the process for the presidential election gets a nod from Patil, the EC will be appointing Rajya Sabha secretary general VK Agnihotri as the returning officer to conduct the polls. It is Agnihotri's turn this time as the last time in 2007 the responsibility was vested in then Lok Sabha secretary general.
Agnihotri will be appointing two deputy returning officers, one each from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and write to the secretaries of the state legislatures to appoint the returning officers for conduct of polling in their respective states and union territories.
Interestingly, chief election commission SY Quraishi will kick off the poll process but he would retire in between the elections and it would be his successor who will sign the register of the new president after Agnihotri communicates the result.
The tentative calendar drawn up by the EC contemplates that it will issue the notification for the election on June 16 while the last date for making nominations will be June 30 (Saturday) and scrutiny take place on July 2. Withdrawals will be allowed up to July 4, a Wednesday, and polling, if necessary, on July 19, a Thursday. In case of polling, the counting will be on July 21, another Saturday.
The law contemplates notification for the election of the president at least 60 days, or as soon as convenient, before expiry of the term of the office of the outgoing president. Patil was sworn in on July 25, 2007 and therefore completes her term on July 25, 2012.
For that matter, six other predecessors also completed their term on July 25, starting with Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and followed by Giani Zail Singh, Ramaswamy Venkataraman, Shankar Dayal Sharma, Kocheril Raman Narayanan and APS Abdul Kalam.
The electoral college for the purpose of election of the president is the elected members of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and the legislative assemblies of all states, including Delhi and the union territory of Puducherry. The nominated members of either Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha or legislative assemblies are not eligible to vote in this election.
The election is done, as per Article 55(3) of the constitution, by the secret ballot with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.
The coming assembly elections in the five states are a double whammy, particularly because of Uttar Pradesh that will decide the future of Rahul Gandhi and also impact the election of the president and the vice-president. Up for grabs is a large chunk of votes—83,824—that Uttar Pradesh contributes to the electoral College.
As numbers stand today, Congress president Sonia Gandhi may not be able to spring another surprise woman candidate for the presidential polls, as it would be rather other women leaders who will call the shots -- Mamata Banerjee, J Jayalalithaa and Mayawati, if she returns to power in the ongoing polls.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee controls 45,640 votes as Trinamul Congress chief while Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa has 35,392 votes of her AIADMK in the electoral college of 10,98,882.
