New Delhi: Voting to elect the 15th President of India started 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.
UPDATES:
The one (Opposition Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha) who called Netaji (SP’s Mulayam S Yadav) ISI agent, we can never support him. Hardcore SP leaders, those who follow Netaji’s principles will never support a candidate who levelled such allegations:Shivpal Singh Yadav,PSP pic.twitter.com/hRrOlgINjz
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) July 18, 2022
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma casts his vote for the Presidential election, at the State Assembly. pic.twitter.com/FxbEZdsvNd
— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2022
Delhi | Union Home Minister Amit Shah cast his vote for the Presidential election, at Parliament. pic.twitter.com/BKINSA0WZy
— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2022
# 350 electors, including PM Modi and ex-PM Manmohan Singh, vote in first 1.5 hours of presidential poll
Goa CM Pramod Sawant casts his vote in the election being held for the post of President of India in Goa assembly
“100% of people will cast votes for the Presidential elections from Goa. I am sure all votes will be cast for our candidate (Droupadi Murmu) from my state,” he says pic.twitter.com/xOFyK8hAke
— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2022
Chandigarh | MLAs cast their votes for the Presidential election, at Punjab and Haryana Assemblies. pic.twitter.com/bZpNliI5Mn
— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2022
Delhi | Union Minister and BJP MP Anurag Thakur casts his vote in the election being held for the post of President of India, in Parliament pic.twitter.com/EGPLZBOGdZ
— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2022
Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel casts his vote in Gandhinagar in the election being held for the post of President of India pic.twitter.com/MgEqbNeTWY
— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2022
#WATCH Prime Minister Narendra Modi votes to elect new President, in Delhi#PresidentialElection pic.twitter.com/pm9fstL46T
— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2022
#DroupadiMurmu vs #YashwantSinha | Voting begins for the Presidential election; MPs and MLAs across the country cast their votes. pic.twitter.com/bfTEeTKPDF
— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2022
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.