Indian presidential election, 2017

A presidential election was held in India on Monday 17 July 2017 with the votes counted and the results announced on Thursday 20 July. President Pranab Mukherjee's term of office was due to expire on 24 July 2017.^[2]Mukherjee declined to seek re-election.

Indian presidential election, 2017

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Turnout	99% (estimated)[1]
Candidate Ram Nath Kovind Meira Kumar Party BJP INC Alliance NDA UPA Home state Uttar Pradesh Bihar Electoral vote 702,044 367,314 Percentage 65.65% 34.35%
President before election Pranab Mukherjee INC Elected President Ram Nath Kovind BJP

Governor of Bihar Ram Nath Kovind of the Bharatiya Janata Party had the backing of the governing National Democratic Alliance coalition, and went up against opposition candidate Meira Kumar of the Indian National Congress in the vote. Kovind secured roughly two-thirds of the votes from the electoral college of elected members of federal, state and union territory legislatures and was elected to a five-year term as President.^[3]Kovind's term of office will begin on 25 July 2017.

BackgroundEdit

There was initial speculation that the incumbent, Pranab Mukherjee, would seek re-election. However, he decided not to run again in 2017, meaning that his term in office will end on 24 July 2017.^[4]

Selection processEdit

Further information: President of India § Selection process, and Electoral College (India)

The President of India is indirectly elected by an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both houses of parliament, the elected members of the Legislative assemblies of the 29 states and the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry.^[5]As of 2017, the electoral college comprises 776 MPs and 4,120 MLAs. The system assigns varying numbers of votes to these electoral college members, such that the total weight of MPs and those of MLAs is roughly equal and that the voting power of states and territories are proportional to their population (see Electoral College (India)). Overall the members of the electoral college were eligable to cast 1,098,882 votes, yielding a threshold for a majority of 549,442 votes.^[6]

The nomination of a candidate for election to the office of the President must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders. The election is held by means of a secret ballot under the single transferable vote system. The manner of election of President is provided by Article 55 of the Constitution.^[7][8]

The returning officer for the election was Anoop Mishra.^[9]

Electoral college partisan compostionEdit

At the time of the election the NDA coalition itself was short of a majority by about 25,000 votes, but was expected to be able to rely on other parties to breach the small deficit without difficulty.

Party/Alliance	Party Consist	Lok Sabha Votes	Rajya Sabha Votes	State Assemblies Votes	Total Votes	Percentage
NDA	BJP, SHS, TDP, LJSP, SAD, RLSP, AD, GFP, MGP,[10]AINRC, JKPDP, NPF, NPP, PMK, SDF, SWP	237,888	49,560	239,923	527,371	48.10%
Other Parties	AIADMK,[11]YSRCP, JD(U), BJD,[12]TRS,[13]INLD, IND	50,268	20,532	63,107	133,907	12.20%
Government Total (Including Non NDA Parties' support)					661,278	60.30%
UPA	INC, IUML, RSP, KC (M), DMK	34,692	46,020	93,137	173,849	15.90%
Other Parties	AITC, CPI(M), NCP, SP, BSP, AAP, RJD, AIUDF, JD(S), JMM, AIMIM, CPI, JKNC	60,180	47,436	152,776	260,392	23.80%
Opposition Total					434,241	39.70%

Public opinionEdit

Although the election was not a popular vote, some general polling was performed to measure public opinion. In both Business Insider-Ipsos and NDTV polls comparing support of the two candidates, Kovind was the more popular choice with 71%^[14] and 63%^[15]support respectively.

CandidatesEdit

Two candidates were nominated. Both the governing NDA coalition and the opposition UPA coalition put forward candidates from their dominant parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress respectively.

Bharatiya Janata PartyEdit

Main article: Bharatiya Janata Party

Name	Born	Current or previous positions	State	Announced	Ref
Ram Nath Kovind	1 October 1945 (age 71) Kanpur Dehat district, Uttar Pradesh	35th Governor of Bihar (2015–2017) Member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh (1994–2006)	Uttar Pradesh	19 June 2017	[16][17][18][19][20]

Indian National CongressEdit

Main article: Indian National Congress

Name	Born	Current or previous positions	State	Announced	Ref
Meira Kumar	31 March 1945 (age 72) Patna, Bihar	15th Speaker of the Lok Sabha (2009–2014) Union Minister of Water Resources (2009) Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment (2004-2009) Member of the Indian Parliament for Sasaram (2004–2014) Member of the Indian Parliament for Karol Bagh (1996-1999) Member of the Indian Parliament for Bijnor (1985-1989)	Bihar	22 June 2017	[21][22][23]

ResultsEdit

Ram Nath Kovind was declared as the winner after the counting of votes held on 20th July 2017.^[24] He will be administered oath by the Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar, as The 14th President of India on 25th July, 2017 at The Central Hall located in The Parliament House, New Delhi.

ReactionsEdit

Immediately after the results were announced, Prime Minister Modi tweeted, "Congratulations to Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji on being elected the President of India! Best wishes for a fruitful & inspiring tenure". In another tweet he added "Gladdened by the extensive support for Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji among MPs & across various parties. I thank members of the electoral college".