New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Thursday announced the roadmap for the Presidential election as a new President, who is the first citizen of the country and plays an important role during the transition of the government, must be elected before July 24 when the term of the incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind expires.
After the publication of the notification for the Presidential election in the official gazette on Wednesday, the Election Commission has fixed the schedule. As per the schedule, political parties--the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP and the opposition parties, including the principal opposition party the Indian National Congress, have two weeks to finalise the name of their candidate as the last date for filing the nomination has been fixed on June 29.
Once all the candidates have submitted their nominations, the scrutiny of nominations will be completed by the next day i.e; on June 30. Thereafter, the candidates have two days to decide and withdraw their nominations as July 2 has been fixed as the last date for withdrawal of nominations. Though the ruling NDA has not hinted about the names of potential candidates, opposition parties have held their first meeting in New Delhi to forge a consensus on their candidates.
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Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, who presided over the meeting of the opposition parties meeting on Wednesday, has declined the offer to be a candidate for the Presidential poll. However, the meeting, which was attended by Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, PDP leader and former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, among others, including the Left Parties, clearly indicated that these opposition parties would field a joint candidate and would not back the candidate proposed by the ruling NDA.
The Election Commission on Thursday said that if a poll becomes necessary then voting for the Presidential election will take place on July 18 (Monday). The apex poll body has already appointed PC Mody, Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha, as the Returning Officer for the Presidential Election 2022 while Mukul Pandey, who is Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Rajya Sabha and Surendra Kumar Tripathi, Joint Secretary in the Rajya Sabha as Assistant Returning Officer for the Presidential poll. The notification for the appointment of the Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officers was issued on Wednesday. Candidates can deliver their nomination papers to the Returning Officer or Assistant Returning Officers either personally or through their proposers or seconders before 3 pm on June 29.
