Election to the office of President of India, 2012
1 ) The term of office of Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India, ends on 24th July, 2012. An election to fill the vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office of the outgoing President shall need to be completed before the expiration of her term. The law provides that the notification for election shall be issued on, or as soon as conveniently may be after, the sixtieth day before the expiry of term of office of the out going President.
2) 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).
3) The Seven-Judges Bench of the Supreme Court of India unanimously held in 1974 in the case of Presidential election that “the Electoral College as mentioned in Article 54 is independent of the Legislatures mentioned in Article 54. None of the Legislatures mentioned in Article 54 has for the purpose of that Article any separate identity vis-a-vis in the Electoral College. The Electoral College compendiously indicates a number of persons, holding the qualifications specified in the Article to constitute the electorate for the election of the President and to act as independent electors…”
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.
5) Normally, members of Parliament are expected to cast their votes at New Delhi and members of all respective State Legislative Assemblies at the concerned State’s Capital. However, on account of any exigency for special circumstances, the Members of Parliament can vote in any of the polling stations in the State Capital/Delhi/Puducherry. Similarly, any MLA desirous of voting at New Delhi or at any other State Capital instead of voting in the relevant State Capital can also do so.
For this purpose, the electors have to apply in the prescribed format available with the Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officers so as to reach the Election Commission at least 10 days before the date of poll.
6) In pursuance of sub-section (1) of section (4) of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections Act, 1952, the Election Commission of India has fixed the following schedule for the election to fill the office of the President of India:
Issue of Election Commission’s notification calling the election
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16.06.2012 (Saturday)
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Last date for making nominations
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30.06.2012 (Saturday)
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Date for the scrutiny of nominations
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02.07.2012 (Monday)
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Last date for the withdrawal of candidatures
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04.07.2012 (Wednesday)
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Date on which a poll shall, if necessary, be taken
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19.07.2012 (Thursday)
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Date on which counting, if required, shall be
taken
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22.07.2012 (Sunday)
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