Election for India’s next President to be held on July 18

<p>
Elections to choose India’s next President will be held on July 18, the Election Commission announced today. The counting of votes has been scheduled for July 21.</p>
<p>
Addressing the media, Chief Election Rajiv Kumar said, India's next President is to be elected before July 25.</p>
<p>
A total of 4,809 members of the electoral college comprising MPs and MLAs will elect the successor to incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind whose term ends on July 24.</p>
<p>
Kumar said the election will be held with a full COVID-related safety protocol in place during the voting and counting of votes.</p>
<p>
There has been speculation that President Ram Nath Kovind will not get a second term in office and the name of a new candidate  for the post is expected to be announced soon. So far, only the country’s first president, Dr Rajendra Prasad, was elected twice.</p>
<p>
While government sources earlier indicated that a consensus candidate will be preferred, the opposition is likely to put up a joint candidate. However, given the sharp differences between the opposition parties this is also a difficult task. </p>
<p>
The BJP had picked Mr Kovind, a member of the Dalit community, as its choice for President in 2017. He was Governor of Bihar at the time.</p>
<p>
Mr Kovind became the 14th President of India, after he defeated opposition candidate Meira Kumar, a Congress politician who represented the Dalit community and was a former Speaker of the Lok Sabha.</p>