Voting for the next president of India will take place today since President Ram Nath Kovind will vacate his office on July 24. The Election Commission set the date for the presidential election on June 15 of this year. Some 4,800 MPs and MLAs will cast ballots on Monday to choose India’s 15th President.
MLAs will receive a pink ballot paper to vote on, while MPs will receive a green ballot paper, according to the Election Commission. Separate colours make it easier for the returning officer to calculate how much each MLA and MP’s vote is worth. The EC has also provided violet-ink-specific pens for voters to use to annotate their ballots in the presidential election in order to ensure voting confidentially.
Ballot boxes have already arrived at Parliament House and state legislative assembly, where voting will take place between 10 AM and 5 PM. On July 21, the ballots will be counted, and on July 25, the newly elected President of India will take the oath of office. It should be noted that through their elected representatives, the Indian people indirectly elect the country’s president.
Members of state legislative assemblies and elected members of the House of Representatives make up the electoral college, which chooses the president using a proportional representation system. Nominated MPs and MLAs as well as members of legislative councils are ineligible to cast ballots in this election.
The votes are weighted, with the value calculated by the population of each state as per the 1971 Census. The value of each MLA’s vote ranges from 208 in Uttar Pradesh to 7 in Sikkim. This indicates that the 403 MLAs from Uttar Pradesh provide 208 403 = 83,824 votes to the electoral pool, whereas the 32 MLAs from Sikkim contribute 32 7 = 224 votes. The weighted votes from all Assemblies total 5.43 lakh.
The mechanism requires that the 776 MPs (543 in Lok Sabha and 233 in Rajya Sabha) cast the same number of votes as the MLAs. As a result, the value of each MP’s vote is 5.43 lakh divided by 776, rounded to 700. The total electoral base of the Assemblies and Parliament is 10.86 lakh.
If all MLAs and MPs in the NDA coalition vote for Draupadi Murmu, the NDA’s current Presidential candidate, she might receive up to 6.67 lakh votes as she has garnered support from several regional parties in the elections. Odisha CM and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik has declared support for Ms Murmu, as has Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, though both parties are not in an alliance with the NDA.
Murmu has a strong lead against Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha, with more than 60% of the vote predicted to go to her. If elected, she will be the first tribal woman to hold the country’s highest constitutional position.