Polling for the Presidential election will begin on Monday in the Parliament and respective state Assemblies to elect a new President of India as President Ram Nath Kovind's tenure ends on July 24.
Draupadi Murmu is the NDA candidate, who is contesting against Yashwant Sinha, supported by the Opposition parties. The voting will begin at 10 am.
A polling booth has been setup inside the Parliament premises where Members of Parliament will cast their votes. The Rajya Sabha's Secretary General is the Returning Officer for this election.
The President is elected by members of the Electoral College consisting of elected Members of Parliament and that of all the state Assemblies, including National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
However, nominated Members of Parliament, state Assemblies and Members of Legislative Council are not eligible to vote.
A total of 776 Members of Parliament and 4,033 MLAs will vote in the Presidential elections. The total value of votes is 10,86,431, of which votes of MLAs are 5,43,231 and MPs are 5,43,200.
The value of each vote is determined by the population of each state as per Census 1971. This is why the value of each MLAs vote varies significantly and is not the same.
The numbers
For instance, the value of MLA's vote is as high as 208 in Uttar Pradesh and as low as 7 in Sikkim. Further quantified, UP's 403 MLAs contribute 208 x 403 which is equal to 83,824 votes. On the other end of the spectrum, Sikkim's 32 MLAs contribute 32 x 7 which is 224 votes. This is how the total number of votes of all the MLAs amount to 5,43,200.
To bring about equality between MPs and MLAs, the process states that 776 MPs should contribute the same total number of votes as the MLAs. Thus the value of 5.43 lakh is distributed among 776 and the total electoral pool thus amounts to 10.86 lakh. After the state of UP, it is Maharashtra, whose collective quantified value of votes is 50,400.
Hence, given the process, BJP clearly has an advantage due to its recent win in the assembly polls, including UP. But the BJP and its allies have fewer MLAs than it had in 2017. On the other hand, the number of MPs has gone up, making it confident of a win.
The Presidential elections in 2017 were held on July 17 and the result was announced on July 20.
