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. 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.
7. 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 schedule for the election to fill the office of the President of India as
given in Appendix II.
8. The
nomination paper of a candidate must be delivered to the Returning Officer at
New Delhi in the place to be specified by him by a public notice that will be
issued by him (in Form-1 appended to the Presidential and Vice- Presidential
Elections, Rules, 1974), and at no other place. Under the law, nomination (in
prescribed Form 2) can be filed either by the candidate himself or by any of
his Proposers or Seconders between 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. Nomination cannot be
filed on public holidays. A nomination paper of a candidate has to be
subscribe d by at least fifty electors as Proposers and by at least
another fifty electors as Seconders. An elector can subscribe to only
one nomination paper of a candidate as either a Proposer or a Seconder. If an
elector subscribes more than one nomination paper, his signature on the
nomination papers other than the one first delivered to the Returning Officer,
will be invalid. A candidate can file maximum of four nomination papers. The
Security deposit for the election is Rs. 15,000/- (Rupees fifteen thousand
only), which is required to be made along with the nomination paper, or should
be deposited in Reserve Bank Of India or a Govt. Treasury under the relevant
Head of Accounts for the purpose prior to filing of nomination.
9. The
list of members of the Electoral College maintained by the Commission for the
Presidential Election, 2017, would be available for sale @ Rs. 300/- per copy
from the counter opened in the premises of Election Commission of India. A
copy of the Electoral College is also being uploaded on the Commission’s
website.
10. The
polling, if required, shall take place in the polling stations as given in the
list at Appendix-III.
11. Each
contesting candidate can authorize a representative to be present in each
place of polling (polling stations) and at the place fixed for counting
(counting hall). Authorization of representatives for this purpose shall be
made by the candidate in writing.
12. Normally,
members of Parliament are expected to cast their votes at the Place pf Poll in
the Parliament House, New Delhi, and members of State Legislative Assemblies
are expected to vote at the respective State Capital. However, on account of
any exigency or special circumstances, the Members of Parliament can vote in
any of the polling stations in the State capital/Delhi/Puducherry. Similarly,
any MLA may vote at New Delhi instead of voting in the respective State
Capital. For this purpose, the MPs/MLAs concerned have to apply in advance to
the Election Commission in the prescribed format so as to reach the Election
Commission at least 10 days before the date of poll. The format for making such
application will be available with the Returning Officer and with the Assistant
Returning Officers.
13. The
Constitution has expressly provided that election to the office of President
shall be by secret ballot. Therefore, the electors are expected to
scrupulously maintain secrecy of vote. There is no concept of open voting at
this election and showing the ballot to anyone under any circumstances in the
case of Presidential and Vice Presidential elections is totally prohibited.
Voting procedure laid down in the 1974 Rules provides that after marking the
vote in the Voting Compartment, the elector is required to fold the ballot
paper and insert it in the Ballot Box. Any violation of the voting procedure
will entail cancellation of the ballot paper by the Presiding Officer. As
already mentioned in paragraph 4, marking of vote can be done only with the
particular pen supplied to the electors in the polling station.
14. In
this connection, it is also clarified that political parties cannot issue any
whip to their MPs and MLAs in the matter of voting in the Presidential
election. It is also clarified that as per Section 18 of the Presidential and
Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, the offence of ‘bribery’ or ‘undue
influence’ as defined in Sections 171B and 171C of IPC, by the returned
candidate or any person with the consent of the returned candidate are among
the grounds on which the election can be declared void by the Hon’ble supreme
Court in an Election Petition.
15. The
Chief Electoral Officers of each State including NCT of Delhi and UT of
Puducherry shall supervise and coordinate with the Assistant Returning Officers
for the conduct of poll at the respective State Capitals and matters such as
transport of the ballot boxes and other important documents from the Election
Commission to the respective State Capitals and back to New Delhi after the
poll.
16. Counting
of votes will be held in New Delhi under the supervision of the Returning
Officer. On completion of counting, Return of Election ( in Form 7 appended to
the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974) will be signed
and issued by the Returning Officer declaring the candidate who secures the
quota elected. Formal announcement of election of the President will be made by
the Commission.
17. The
Commission appoints senior Officers of the Government of India as its Observers
at the place(s) of polling to ensure proper conduct of poll.
18. The
Commission has brought out a comprehensive booklet covering all aspects of
election to the office of the President and copies of the publication can be
obtained @ Rs. 25/- per copy from the Commission’s sale counter or from the
offices of the Chief Electoral Officers in different States and Union
Territories.
Election
Commission of India
New Delhi: 07th
June, 2017
RM/VM/
RS
