NEW DELHI: Voting to elect the 15th President of India will be held on Monday as the tenure of Ram Nath Kovind will end on July 24. National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu and joint opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha are the two contesting candidates for election to the Office of the President.
A total of 4,809 electors will vote in the Presidential elections today. The polling will take place between 10 am and 5 pm in the Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies.
The counting of votes will take place on July 21.
NDA’s Murmu has the support of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Janata Dal (Secular), Shiromani Akali Dal, both the factions of Shiv Sena and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
Murmu is a former Governor of Jharkhand and a former Odisha minister. If elected, she will be the first tribal President of India and the country’s second female President.
Meanwhile, Sinha resigned from TMC before he was nominated as the Opposition’s candidate for the presidential poll.
The Opposition’s Sinha, a former Union Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government who later joined Trinamool Congress is backed by Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
As per Article 54 of the Constitution of India, the President is elected by the members of the Electoral College consisting of elected members of both Houses of Parliament and elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all States including the 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.
The value of votes of the elected members of State Legislative Assemblies and both Houses of Parliament is governed by Article 55(2) of the Constitution. (ANI)
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