Ramnath Kovind's tenure nears end: How will India elect its next President?

New Delhi: The presidential election for India will be held in July when the country will be getting its President for the next term. BJP's thumping win in Uttar Pradesh, as well as Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, will have a big impact on the presidential election. So while discussions have begun on who will be India's next President, here's looking at how India's President is elected.

The President of India is elected by an Electoral College, which consists of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all the States and also of NCT of Delhi and the Union Territories.

Nomination

Each candidate running for the post of President of India files his/her nomination on the date set by the Election Commission and deposit a sum of money and submit a signed list of 50 proposers and 50 seconders. The proposers and seconders can be any of the electors eligible to vote in the Presidential election.

Voting

All the elected MLAs, in their respective state and union territories and all elected MPs, at Parliament, are given ballot papers (green coloured for MPs and pink coloured for MLAs) to cast their vote
An elector isn't required to mark preferences for all Presidential candidates. He/she has to only mark their first preference for their vote to be considered in the election.

Counting

On the day of the counting of votes, all ballots are verified and the counting process begins, and firstly ballot papers are taken state-wise. After the state and UT, votes are counted ballot papers of the Members of Parliament are taken for counting.

The Winner

The winner of the Presidential election is not the person who gets the most votes, but the person who gets more votes than a certain quota. The quota is decided by adding up the votes polled for each candidate, dividing the sum by 2 and adding '1' to the quotient.

Oath ceremony of the President-elect

A day after the outgoing President demits the office, the President-elect takes the oath. The oath for President is usually administered by the Chief Justice of India.