How is the President of India elected?

Rashtrapati Bhavan the Indian Presidential Palace . AFP PHOTO/POOL/ERIC FEFERBERG / AFP PHOTO / ERIC FEFERBERG

NEW DELHI: The tenure of the incumbent, Pranab Mukherjee, comes to an end on July 24 and the nomination process for the July 17 poll began on Wednesday. So far 13 persons, including Mukherjee, have held the post, with V V Giri being the president on two occasions. What are the Qualifications required by a candidate to contest the election to the Office of the President of India?

• Must be a citizen of India.
• Must have completed 35 years of age.
• Must be eligible to be a member of the Lok Sabha.
• Must not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State or under any local or other authority subject to the control of any of the said Governments- Exceptions are the offices of President and Vice-President, Governor of any State and Ministers of Union or State.

Who elects the President of India? The President is elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of States and the Union Territories of Delhi and Pondicherry. Where is the election to the Office of President held? A Room in the Parliament House in New Delhi and a room in all State Legislative Assembly Secretariats are generally fixed as places of poll. Where is the counting of votes in a Presidential election held? The counting of votes is done in the office of the Returning officer at New Delhi. Election and voting The electoral college which elects the President through the system of proportional representation, comprises MPs and members of state legislative assemblies. A total of 4896 voters --- 4120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs -- are eligible to cast their ballot. MLCs of states with legislative councils are not part of the electoral college. While the Lok Sabha Speaker, an elected member, can vote, the two nominated members in the Lower House from the Anglo-Indian community cannot. 12 nominated members in Rajya Sabha are also ineligible. Since the election is through a secret ballot, the parties cannot issue a whip to their members to vote for a particular candidate. Vote of each MP and MLA carries a certain value. This differs from state to state. Each Uttar Pradesh legislator's vote has a value of 208. The value of votes from their counterparts in Arunachal Pradesh is just 8 In the case of MLAs, the value is calculated by dividing total population of the state by the number of elected members to the Legislative Assembly, further divided by 1000. The value of the vote of an MP is decided by dividing the total value of votes of all MLAs of the whole country, divided by the total number of elected MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Until the population figures for the first census to be taken after the year 2026 have been published, the population of the States for the purposes of calculation of value of the votes for the Presidential Election shall mean the population as ascertained at the 1971 census. The winning candidate has to secure the required quota of votes to be declared elected, i.e., 50% of valid votes polled +1.