Presidential Election, 2022: 11 candidates file nominations on first day; one paper rejected

NATIONAL, 16 JUNE, 2022 (GPN): By a Notification published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary today (the 15^th of June, 2022), the Election Commission has fixed the following schedule for the Presidential Election, 2022;-

1. June 29, 2022, as the last date for making nominations;
2. June 30, 2022, as the date for the scrutiny of nominations;
3. July 2,2022, as the last date for the withdrawal of candidatures; and
4. July 18, 2022, as the date on which a poll shall, if necessary, be taken.

By another Notification issued on the 13^th of June, 2022, the Commission has appointed Shri P. C. Mody, Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha, as the Returning officer for the Presidential Election, 2022 and Shri Mukul Pandey, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) and Shri Surendra Kumar Tripathi, Joint Secretary and Chief Vigilance Officer, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, as the Assistant Returning Officers.

As required under rule 3 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974, the Returning Officer has by a Public Notice notified today, the 15^th of June, 2022 that:

1. nomination papers may be delivered by a candidate or any of his proposers or seconders to the undersigned at his office in Room No 29, Ground Floor, Parliament House, New Delhi, or if he is unavoidably absent, to the Assistant Returning Officers, Shri Mukul Pandey, officer on Special Duty (OSD)/Shri Surendra Kumar Tripathi, Joint Secretary and Chief Vigilance Officer, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, at the said office between 11 A.M. and 3 P.M. on any day (other than a public holiday) but not later than the 29^th of June, 2022;
2. each nomination paper shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the entry relating to the candidate in the electoral roll for the Parliamentary constituency in which the candidate is registered as an elector;
3. every candidate shall deposit or cause to be deposited a sum of Rupees Fifteen Thousand only.  This amount may be deposited in cash with the Returning Officer at the time of presentation of the nomination paper or deposited earlier in the Reserve Bank of India or in a Government Treasury and in the latter case a receipt showing that the said deposit of the sum has been so made is required to be enclosed with the nomination paper;
4. forms of nomination papers may be obtained from the above said office at the time aforesaid;
5. the nominations paper, other than those rejected under sub-section (4) of section 5B of the Act, will be taken up for scrutiny at Committee Room No. 62, First Floor, Parliament House, new Delhi on Thursday, the 30^th of June, 2022 at 11 A.M.;
6. the notice of withdrawal of candidatures may be delivered by a candidate, or any one of his proposers or seconders who has been authorized in this behalf in writing by the candidate, to the undersigned at the place specified in paragraph (i) above before three o’clock in the afternoon of the 2^nd July, 2022;
7. in the event of the election being contested, the poll will be taken on Monday, the 18th of July, 2022 between the hours of 10 A.M. and 5 P.M. at the places of polling fixed under the rules.Arrangements have also been made for simultaneous publication of these Notifications and the Public Notice issued by the Returning Officer in all the States/Union Territories Gazettes.

For any queries regarding the election process, Shri P. C. Mody, the Returning Officers for the Presidential Election, 2022 and Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha may be contacted in his office (Room No 29, Ground Floor, Parliament House, New Delhi) between 3.30 P.M. and 4.30 P.M. on all working day including Saturday filing within the period of filling of Nomination Papers i.e. 18^th of June, 2022 (other than public holidays).

The process to file nominations for the upcoming Presidential election began on Wednesday after the Election Commission of India (EC) issued a notification calling upon the electors to fill up the vacancy at the country’s highest constitutional post.

Parliamentary sources said a person named Lalu Prasad Yadav from Saran in Bihar famous at one point for the Morton Toffee Factory was among those who filed their papers.

The nomination of one of the candidates was rejected as the person had not attached a certified copy of the entry showing his or her name in the current electoral roll for the parliamentary constituency in which the candidate is registered as an elector.

The first one to file his nomination is one Dr K Padmarajan from Mettuguda in the Salem district of Tamil Nadu.

The candidates who filed nominations on Wednesday were from Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

A nomination paper of a candidate for the election has to be made in the prescribed format and has to be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and at least 50 electors as seconders.

The security deposit for the election of Rs 15,000 should also be deposited.

The following is the list of the 11 who have filed their nominations.

1. K Padmarajan (Tamil Nadu)

2. Jeevan Kumar Mittal (Delhi)

3. Mohammad A Hamid Patel (Maharashtra)

4. Sairo Bano Mohammad Patel (Maharashtra)

5. T Ramesh (Namakkal)

6. Shyam Nandan Prasad (Bihar)

7. Daya Shankar Agrawal (Delhi)

8. Om Prakash Kharbanda (Delhi)

9. Lalu Prasad Yadav (Bihar)

10. A Manithan (Tamil Nadu)

11. Mandati Thirupathi Reddy (Andhra Pradesh)

These nominations will be taken up at the time of scrutiny and candidates may stay in the fray or bow out largely because of the lack of 50 first proposers. In India’s democratic history, only once there has been a Presidential election in 1977 wherein Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was elected unopposed. A total of 37 candidates had filed their nominations and 36 were rejected.

Dr Rajendra Prasad is the only President to have served two full terms. Dr Zakir Hussain and Dr Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed could not complete their terms. Since 1997, the contest for the top post has been a two-horse race between the pick of the ruling party or alliance and the other fielded by the Opposition. That has largely been because of the change in the law making it mandatory for 50 MPs to propose the candidate for the election to the highest office in the country and another 50 supporting his candidature.Ends