The much-awaited process to elect President A P J Abdul Kalam’s successor to Rashtrapati Bhavan was set in motion today with the Election Commission announcing July 19 as the date for holding the presidential poll. The result will be out on July 21, three days before Kalam completes his term.

The notification for the election will be issued on June 16, and the last date for filing of nominations is June 30. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is July 4.

Announcing the schedule here today, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami said the EC is taking every possible step to ensure free and fair polls to elect the country’s 13th President.

The election, he explained, shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote, and the voting would be by secret ballot.

A total of 776 MPs, including 543 Lok Sabha MPs and 4,120 MLAs from various states, constitute the Electoral College for the presidential elections.

The total vote value comes to 10,98,882 votes. While two former Union Territories, Delhi and Puducherry, are part of the Electoral College now, the nominated members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha do not have voting rights.

In the present scenario, the ruling UPA has got over 5.13 lakh votes while the strength of the opposition NDA is over 3.54 lakh votes. The eight regional parties constituting the Third Front hold 1.05 lakh votes, with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav controlling the maximum.

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