v The election
to the Office of the President, to be
held in the next month, will be the thirteenth of its kind. The earlier elections
to this office were held in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1987,
1992, 1997 and 2002.
v The President
of India is elected by the Members of an Electoral College consisting of (a) the
elected members of both Houses of Parliament and (b) the elected members of the
Legislative Assemblies of the States [including National Capital Territory of
Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry vide the Constitution (Seventieth
Amendment) Act, 1992 (Article 54). The
nominated members of either House of Parliament or the Legislative Assemblies
of State are not eligible to be included in the Electoral College.
v
Detailed provisions regarding the election are
contained in the Presidential and Vice-Presidential
Elections Act, 1952 (No.31 of 1952) and the rules made thereunder, viz., “The
Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974”.
v The manner
of voting in the Presidential Election is contained
in Rule 17 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974.
v The Constitution
(Eighty-fourth Amendment) Act, 2001 provides that until the relevant population
figures for the first census to be taken after the year 2026 have been published,
the population of the States for the purposes of calculation of value of votes
for the Presidential Election shall mean the population as ascertained at the
1971-census.
v Total Value
of votes of all members of each State Assembly is worked out by multiplying the
number of elective seats in the Assembly by the number of votes for each member,
for example 294x148=43,512 for Andhra Pradesh. The total value of votes
of all the States added together is divided by the total number of elected members
of Parliament (Lok Sabha 543 + Rajya Sabha 233) to get the value of votes per
each Member of Parliament.
v The election
shall be held in accordance with the system of Proportional Representation by
means of the single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be
by secret ballot.
v
The ballot paper does not contain any election symbol. There
will be two columns in the ballot paper. Column 1 of the ballot paper contains
the heading “Name of Candidate” and column 2 contains the heading “Mark order
of preference”.
v
The value of vote of each elector is pre-determined. For example, the value of vote of each Member
of Parliament is 708. The value of vote of each Member of the Legislative Assembly
of Uttar Pradesh is 208 and that of Sikkim is 7. Thus the value of votes for the
Members of each Legislative Assembly varies.
v
After calculating the total value of votes polled
by each candidate, the Returning Officer totals up the value of all valid votes
polled. The quota for declaring a candidate as elected is determined by dividing
the total value of valid votes by 2 and adding one to the quotient, ignoring the
remainder, if any. For example, assuming the total value of valid votes polled
by all candidates is 1,00,001. The quota required for getting elected is: -
1,00,001 +
1 = 50,000.50 + 1 (Ignore.50)
2
Quota = 50,000+1 = 50,001.
ELIGIBILITY FOR ELECTION
v
No person shall be eligible for election as President
unless he -
(1)
is a citizen of India;
(2)
has completed the age of 35 years; and
(3) is qualified for election as a member of the House of the People
(Article 58).
v
A person shall not be eligible for election as
President if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the
Government of any State or under any Local or other Authority subject to the control
of any of the State Governments.
v
However, a person shall not be deemed to hold any
office of profit by reason only that he is the President or Vice-President of
the Union or the Governor of any State or is a Minister either for the Union or
for any State.
NOMINATION AND SECURITY DEPOSIT
v
For a valid nomination, the following qualifications
and requirements are to be satisfied: -
a) (i) The candidate should be a citizen of India;
(ii) He should have completed the age of 35
years; and
(iii) He
should be qualified for election as a member of Lok Sabha.
The candidate shall not hold any
office of profit under the Government of India or the Govt. of any State or under
any local or other authority subject to the control of any of the said Governments.
b) A
nomination paper of a candidate for the election in the prescribed form (Form
2 appended to 1974 rules) has to be subscribed by at least fifty electors as proposers
and at least fifty electors as seconders. The nomination paper must be presented
in person to the Returning Officer, either by the candidate himself or by any
of his proposers or seconders.
c) The
security deposit for the election is Rs.15,000/- which will be required to be
made along with the nomination paper. This amount can either be deposited in cash
with the Returning Officer at the time of presentation of the nomination paper
or receipt showing that such amount has been deposited by the candidate or on
his behalf in the Reserve Bank of India or in a Government Treasury can be furnished
along with the nomination paper.
d) Each
nomination paper shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the entry relating
to the candidate in the electoral roll for the Parliamentary constituency where
he is registered as an elector.
e) No
elector shall subscribe, whether as proposer or as seconder, more than one nomination
paper at the same election and if he does so, his signature shall be inoperative
on any paper other than the one first delivered to the Returning Officer.
f)
The Returning Officer shall not accept any nomination paper,
which is presented on any day, appointed for that purpose, before 11.00 a.m. and
after 3.00 p.m.
TOTAL ELECTORS
v
The total number of members in the Electoral College
for the Presidential election in 2007 is 4896, as detailed below:
HOUSE SEATS
(a)
Rajya Sabha
233
(b)
Lok Sabha
543
(c)
State Assemblies 4120
____________
Total 4896
____________
RETURNING OF OFFICER/ASSISTANT RETURNING OFFICERS
v
By convention, the Secretary General, Lok Sabha
and the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha are appointed as the Returning Officers
on rotation basis. For the 2002 Presidential
Election, the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha was appointed as Returning Officer.
Therefore, for the 2007 Presidential Election, the Secretary General, Lok Sabha
has been appointed as the Returning Officer. Two other senior officers of Lok
Sabha Secretariat and the Secretaries and one more senior officer of Legislative
Assemblies of all States including NCT of Delhi and Union Territory of Puducherry
have also been appointed as the Assistant Returning Officers.
PLACES OF POLL
v
A Room in the Parliament House in New Delhi and
a room in all State Legislative Assembly Secretariats are generally designated
as places of poll. The Members of Parliament normally vote in New Delhi
and the members of the State Legislative Assemblies, including the members of
the Legislative Assemblies of NCT of Delhi and Union Territory of Puducherry,
normally vote at the place fixed in each State Capital. However, facilities are
provided by the Commission for any Member of Parliament to vote in the capital
of his State and similarly if any Member of any State Legislative Assembly unavoidably
stays in Delhi on the date of poll, he is given the facility to vote at the polling
booth set up in the Parliament House. However, due intimation of such intention
to vote at a place other than the place where a member is designated to vote must
be received in the Commission well in advance to make necessary arrangements.
RETURN OF FORFEITURE OF CANDIDATE’s DEPOSIT
v
The deposit shall be forfeited if the candidate
is not elected and the number of valid votes polled by him does not exceed one-sixth
of the number of votes necessary to secure return of a candidate at such election.
In other cases, the deposit will be returned to the candidate.
DISPUTE OVER ELECTION
(i) An election petition calling in question
an election to the office of the President may be presented by any candidate at
such election or by any twenty or more electors joined together as petitioners.
(ii) The authority having jurisdiction to try
an election petition is the Supreme Court of India.
(iii) An
election petition shall be presented within 30 days from the date of publication
of the declaration containing the name of the returned candidate.
(For more details, please download background material titled “Election to the
office of the President of India 2007” brought out by the Election Commission
of India from www.eci.gov.in
or www.pib.nic.in)
NCJ/AMA-Facts at Glance Presidential Election
(Release ID :28582)