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.

The 84th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2001, provides that the population of states for the purpose of calculation of value of votes for the presidential election will be ascertained as per the 1971 Census.

In consultation with the Government, the Commission has decided to appoint Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Acharya as the Returning Officer for the election. The responsibility is given on a rotational basis to the two Secretary Generals of Parliament. The last 2002 presidential polls were overseen by the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha.