Polling for Presidential Elections 2022 held peacefully today with over 99 percent voting
4796 electors were in the
list of Electoral College for the Presidential Election
100% voting by MLAs reported from 11 States and UT of Puducherry
Green polling station set
up in Meghalaya
Polling for
election to the office of President of India, which is the highest elective
office in the country, concluded successfully in free, fair and transparent
manner at the Parliament House today and in each of the 30 places of poll in
State Legislative Assemblies including Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi and
UT of Puducherry. The Election to the office of President of lndian Republic is
one of the most important elections, which the Election Commission of India
conducts vide the mandate of Article 324 of the Constitution of lndia. There
were two contesting candidates namely, Droupadi Murmu and Yashwant Sinha for the
16th Presidential election. Polling was held between 10am to 5 pm at the 31
locations.
As per Article 54 of the Constitution, the
President of India is elected by the Members of an Electoral College consisting
of (a) the elected members of both Houses of Parliament, and (b) the elected
members of the Legislative Assemblies of all States [including National Capital
Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry]. The Members
nominated to either House of Parliament or the Legislative Assemblies of
States, including NCT of Delhi and Union Territory of Puducherry, are not
eligible to be included in the Electoral College.
Under Rule 40 of the Presidential and
Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974, the Election Commission of India is
required to maintain a list of members of the Electoral College. The list
contains the names of elected members of the Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and the
elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of States, NCT of Delhi and UT of
Puducherry, in that order. Two members namely, Anant Kumar Singh and Mahendra
Hari Dalvi were not eligible to vote in the election today, owing to
disqualification under Section 8 of R.P. Act, 1951 subsequent to judgement of
competent Court. Further, there are 5 vacancies in Rajya Sabha and 6 vacancies
in State Legislative Assemblies. Therefore, there were a total of 4796 electors
in the list of Electoral College for this Presidential Election to participate
in the election.
Room No. 63 in the Parliament House in New Delhi
and another 30 polling stations in all State Legislative Assembly Secretariats
[including National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of
Puducherry] were fixed as places of poll. The Members of Parliament voted in
New Delhi and the members of the State Legislative Assemblies, including the
members of the Legislative Assemblies of NCT of Delhi and Union Territory of
Puducherry, voted at the place fixed in each Legislative Assembly. However,
facilities were also provided by the Commission for any Member of
Parliament/Member of Legislative Assembly to vote at a place of poll setup
other than their own. Accordingly, 44 MPs were permitted to vote at State
Headquarters, 09 MLAs at Parliament House and 02 MLAs in other State
Headquarters.
As per reports being received, out of a total of
771 Members of Parliament entitled to vote (05 vacant) and similarly out of
total 4025 Members of the Legislative Assemblies entitled to vote (06 vacant
and 02 disqualified), over 99% cast their votes today. However 100% voting by
MLAs was reported from Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Puducherry, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu.
Some of the salient features implemented to ensure
secrecy of voting and free and fair election, are as under:
·
Unique Serial Numbered pens of violet ink were supplied centrally by Election
Commission so as to ensure that no other instrument is used by the voter for
marking of preference of vote.
·
Special posters on use of special pens and Do’s & Don’ts for electors for
casting of vote were provided by ECI for displaying at prominent places outside
the polling stations.
·
Various WhatsApp
groups were created for RO/AROs/CEOs/ECI Officers, ECI Observers, Security
persons, etc. and extensively used to closely monitor and coordinate the
activities with State Headquarters, Parliament and Election Commission of
India.
·
Observers were
deputed at all places of poll setup in States/UTs as well as in Parliament to
keep a watch on poll process as well as any irregularities occurred during the
poll process.
·
02 Observers are
also deployed for the counting process at Parliament House.
The new features introduced for the 16th
Presidential Election, 2022 included:
•
Facilitation for Covid19 positive electors - The Commission allowed the
electors who are Covid-19 positive to cast vote in the last hour of polling or
after all the non-Covid electors have cast their vote by following all the
extant Covid guidelines/instructions issued from time to time by the National
Disaster Management Authority/ respective State Disaster Management Authority.
Two COVID-19 positive electors cast their vote at Tamil Nadu Legislative
Assembly and one COVID -19 positive Member of Parliament chose to cast his vote
at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
•
This time the Commission directed the Returning Officer and Assistant Returning
Officers concerned to ensure use of eco-friendly and biodegradable material and
eliminate the use of prohibited plastic/materials as per extant instructions of
Government of India.
According to Article 55 (3) of the Constitution,
the election to the Office of President of India is held in accordance with the
system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote
and the voting at such election is by secret ballot. The Constitution
(Eighty-fourth) Amendment Act, 2001 provides that until the relevant 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 votes for the Presidential Election shall mean the population as
ascertained at the 1971-census.
Foolproof security arrangements were made to ensure
safe custody & hassle free transportation of empty ballot boxes from ECI to
States on 12th & 13th July, 2022. Similar transportation arrangements for
the State teams have been made to bring back the 30 polled ballot boxes. All
the ballot boxes and other election materials would reach the Parliament House
i.e. place of Counting, by 19th July 2022. The counting of votes will be taken
up on July 21, 2022 at 1100 Hrs.