Mail News Service
New Delhi, June 12 : The term of office of Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India, ends on 24th July, 2012. 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).
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…”
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.
The Election Commission, in consultation with the Central Government, has decided to appoint the Secretary General to the Rajya Sabha as the Returning Officer for the election. 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. Notification will be issued on 16.06.2012 (Saturday), Last date for making nominations, 30.06.2012 (Saturday), Date for the scrutiny of nominations, 02.07.2012 (Monday). Last date for the withdrawal of candidatures, 04.07.2012 (Wednesday), Date on which a poll shall, if necessary, be taken, 19.07.2012 (Thursday), Date on which counting, if required, shall be taken 22.07.2012 (Sunday).
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 either by the candidate or by any of his Proposers or Seconders between 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. A nomination paper of a candidate has to be subscribed by at least fifty electors as Proposers and at least fifty electors as Seconders. An elector can subscribe to only one nomination paper of a candidate as either a Proposer or a Seconder. 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.
The list of Members of the Electoral College maintained by the Commission for the Presidential Election, 2012 (as of today) is 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.
ARO of Manipur will be Y. Indira Devi, Secretary, Manipur Legislative Assembly Secretariat and M. Ramani Devi, Deputy Secretary, Manipur Legislative Assembly Secretariat.
Polling for Manipur will be done at Committee Room, Ground Floor, New Assembly Building, Chingmeirong.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/presidential-election-on-july-19/
