By IANS
New Delhi : The race for India's next president formally kicked off Saturday with the Election Commission issuing a notification for the July 19 election.
Rajasthan Governor Pratibha Patil is the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate for president while Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is expected to be fielded as the National Democratic Alliance-backed nominee.
It seems almost certain that voting will go ahead as the ruling coalition and the opposition have not agreed on a consensus candidate even as talks were still on to hammer out an agreement
The president is elected by an electoral college of MPs and elected members of state legislatures.
The ruling UPA-Left has got over 513,000 votes while the opposition NDA has over 354,000 votes. The eight regional parties that recently got together, comprising the Third Front, account for 105,000 votes.
With the notification, filing of nominations kicks off and will carry on till June 30. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on July 2 and the last date for withdrawal of nomination is July 4.
Counting of votes is scheduled for July 21, three days before incumbent A.P.J. Abdul Kalam demits office.
In all, 776 parliamentarians including 543 from the Lok Sabha and 4,120 legislators from various states, including Delhi and Puducherry, constitute the electoral college, whose total vote value adds up to 1.098 million votes.
Lok Sabha Secretary General P.D.T. Achary has been appointed Returning Officer for the election.