Organisation : Election Commission of India
Announcement : 15th Presidential Election
Applicable For : All India
Website : https://eci.gov.in/
Notification : https://www.electionin.in/uploads/4999-President-elec.pdf
Presidential Election :
The term of office of Shri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, is ending on 24th July, 2017. As per Article 62 of the Constitution, an election to fill the vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office of the outgoing President is required to be completed before the expiration of the term.
Related : VoICE International Election Commission of India : www.electionin.in/4990.html
The law provides that the notification for election shall be issued on or after the sixtieth day before the expiry of term of office of the outgoing President.
2. Article 324 of the Constitution read with the Presidential and Vice – Presidential Elections Act, 1952, and the Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections Rules, 1974 vests the superintendence, direction and control of the conduct of election to the office of the President of India in the Election Commission of India.
The Election Commission is mandated to ensure that the election to the office of the President of India, which is the highest elective office in the nation, must be a free and fair election and the Commission is taking all necessary steps for discharging its constitutional responsibility.
3. The President is elected by the members of the Electoral College consisting of
(I) elected members of both Houses of Parliament, and
(II) elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all States including National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
(The nominated members of either Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha or Legislative Assemblies of the States are not eligible to be included in the Electoral College and therefore, they are not entitled to participate in the election. Similarly, members of the Legislative Councils are also not electors for the Presidential election).
4. Article 55 (3) of the Constitution provides that the election shall be held in accordance with the System of Proportional Representation by means of single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot.
In this system, the elector has to mark preferences against the names of the candidates. Preference can be marked in the international form of Indian numerals, in Roman form, or in the form in any recognised Indian languages.
Preference has to be marked in figures only. The elector can mark as many preference as the number of candidates. While the marking of the first preference is compulsory for the ballot paper to be valid, other preferences are optional.
5. For marking the vote, the Commission will supply particular pens. This pen will be given to the electors in the polling station by the designated official when the ballot paper is handed over. Electors have to mark the ballot only with this particular pen and not with any other pen.
Voting by using any other pen may lead to invalidation of the vote at the time of counting, under Rule 31(1) (d) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974, reproduced below : “ A ballot paper shall be invalid on which..(d) any mark is made by which the elector may afterwards be identified” .
6. The Election Commission, in consultation with the Central Government, appoints the Secretary General of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, by rotation, as the Returning Officer. Accordingly, the Secretary General, Lok Sabha will be appointed as the Returning Officer for the present election.
Poll for the election will be taken in the Parliament House and in the premises of the State Legislative Assemblies, including the Legislative Assemblies of NCT of Delhi and Puducherry.
The Commission has also decided to appoint Assistant Returning Officers in all State Capitals, including NCT of Delhi and Union Territory of Puducherry, for making arrangements for conducting the poll and for transportation of the ballot boxes and other important documents to and from the Election Commission.
For meeting any eventuality in case the Assistant Returning Officer is not available for any reason, a second Assistant Returning Officer is also being appointed. A list of Assistant Returning Officers is at Appendix-I.
Schedule For Presidential Election, 2017 :
1. Issue of Election Commission’s notification calling the election : 14-06-2017 (Wednesday)
2. Last date for making nominations : 28-06-2017 (Wednesday)
3. Date for the scrutiny of nominations : 29-06-2017 (Thursday)
4. Last date for the withdrawal of candidatures : 01-07-2017 (Saturday)
5. Date on which a poll shall, if necessary, be taken : 17-07-2017 (Monday)
6. Date on which counting, if required, shall be taken : 20-07-2017 (Thursday)