15th Presidential election: All you need to know about
India is the largest democratic country in the world. It follows the Westminster model (UK model) of parliamentary government. Therefore, it has two head-President, who is the head of the state, and the Prime Minister, who is the head of the government. However, in comparison, Prime Ministers are empowered with more powers than President. That’s why President is known as the Nominal Executive whereas the Prime Minister is regarded as the Real Executive. We all know that Elections are the essence of any democracy whether conducted Directly by the people or Indirectly by the representatives elected by the people.
At present, India is all set to give farewell to its 14th president Ramnath Kovind as his term of service is going to expire on July 24.
Important Articles related to the President
Article 52 says, there shall be a president of India.
Article 56 (1) of the Constitution of India provides that the president of India shall remain in office for a period of 5 years.
Article 54 talks about the president shall be elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of-
- the elected members of both houses of the parliament.
- the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the states. (including union territories- Delhi & Pondicherry)
Also, the election of the president shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.
Schedule for the commencement of the Election:-
| 1 | Issue of election commissions notification | 15-Jun-22 |
| 2 | Last date for filing nominations | 29-Jun-22 |
| 3 | Date for scrutiny of nominations | 30-Jun-22 |
| 4 | Date of polling | 18-Jul-22 |
| 5 | Date of polling | 18-Jul-22 |
The ruling party and the opposition have proposed the name of their candidates for the seat of the president. The list of nominated candidates are as follows :-
Nominee 1 – Draupadi Murmu Alliance- NDA (BJP) Home State- Odisha
Positions held- 9th governor of Jharkhand, member of legislative assembly from Rairangpur (2000-2009), Minister of State in the 1st Naveen Patnaik ministry (2000-2004)
Nominee 2 – Jaswant Sinha Alliance- United Opposition (IND), Home State – Jharkhand, Positions Held– External Affairs Minister of India (2002-2004), Leader of the House (Rajya Sabha) (1990-1991), Finance Minister of India (1990-1991, 1998-2002), member of parliament Loksabha from Hazaribagh (1998-2014), member of Rajya Sabha from Bihar (1988-1994)
Other minor candidates:
Candidate |
Occupation |
Home State |
| A. Manithan | Journalist & social worker | Tamil Nadu |
| D.S Agarwal | Retired professor | Delhi |
| Jeewan K. Mittal | Business of facilitating identity | Delhi |
| K. Padmarajan | Doctor & businessman | Tamil Nadu |
| Lalu Prasad Yadav | Farmer & social worker | Bihar |
| M.Tirupathi Reddy | N/A | Andhra Pradesh |
| Mohammad A.Patel | N/A | Maharashtra |
| Om P. Kharbanda | Doctor | Delhi |
| Saira Bano M. Patel | House Wife | Maharashtra |
| Shyam Nandan Prasad | N/A | Bihar |
| T. Ramesh | N/A | Tamil Nadu |
Elections are the festival of democracy and all eyes are on the 15th presidential elections India is going to conduct. There are various anticipations among the citizens about the president to be. But we must appreciate the term of service of Shri Ramnath Kovind for holding the position so efficiently and gracefully in his best of capacity. We hope the next Madam/Sir President would surely uphold the scrutiny of the law of land- Constitution of India and make a great example of a nation having two heads of state.
Long Live Democracy!
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