Election Commission will notify Presidential elections in May

The Election Commision will issue a notification for the presidential elections after May 25 and for the post of the vice-president after June 22, Election Commissioner G V G Krishnamurty announced on Tuesday. President Shankar Dayal Sharma's term expires on June 24 and that of Vice President K R Narayanan, on August 20.

Krishnamurty said electoral colleges would be constituted for these indirect elections. The electoral college for the Presidential election will comprise the elected members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and the members of the legislative assemblies. This does not include nominated members. For the vice-presidential election, the members of the two houses, including nominated members, would be eligible to choose, he said.

Since November 28, 1994, Krishnamurty said, eight vacancies for nominated members in the Rajya Sabha were yet to be filled up by the President on the recommendation of the Union council of ministers. These would be filled up before the notification was issued, he said. The eight vacancies should be filled by prominent persons from the spheres of art, science, literature and social services.

Before notification, the EC plans to take up the matter of the whip issued by political parties for these elections. Krishnamurty felt the electorate should be allowed conscience votes in these elections and not be prompted by a whip, which would curtail the freedom of speech.

Under Article 324 of the Constitution, Krishnamurty said the EC was competent enough to intervene in case any undue influence was exerted to vitiate the conduct of free and fair elections. The candidates should be looked upon as leaders of national stature who could command respect, settle constitutional deadlock and would not involve themselves in inter-state disputes, he said.

The Presidential and vice-presidential candidates should be asked by their supporters and sponsors to send audited statements on the expenses incurred on the elections, only for the purpose of record. At present there is no ceiling on expenditure for these two candidates, he said.

Krishnamurty said since the deposit for contesting the assembly elections and parliamentary elections had already been raised to Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively, the Presidential candidates's deposits could not be lower. It should be raised from the present Rs 2,500 to Rs 15,000, he said.

The election commissioner said Presidential and vice-presidential candidates should be allowed to express their views on various national issues on the electronic media.

For the first time the elected members of the Delhi and Pondicherry assemblies will participate in the Presidential election.

The electoral college for the Presidential election now comprises 776 members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha besides 4,072 members of state legislative assemblies. Lok Sabha Secretary General S Gopalan will be the returning officer for the Presidential elections and the secretaries to the state assemblies will be the assistant returning officers.