2022 Indian presidential election

The 2022 Indian presidential election was the 16th presidential election in India held on 18 July 2022 to elect the president of India. The incumbent president Ram Nath Kovind did not run for reelection. The election had a turnout of 99.12%.

Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Droupadi Murmu won the election by a margin of 296,626 votes against Yashwant Sinha, the United Opposition candidate. Murmu became the first member of a Scheduled Tribe and second woman to become president, as well as the first president born after independence.

Electoral system
The president of India is indirectly elected by an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both houses of the parliament, the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the 28 states, and the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the union territories of Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir. As of 2022, the electoral college comprises 776 members of Parliament (MPs) and 4,033 members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), not counting the 90 MLAs of the dissolved Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.

The Election Commission of India assigns varying numbers of votes to electoral college members, such that the total weight of MPs and MLAs is roughly equal and that the voting power of a state or territory is proportional to its population. Overall, the members of the electoral college are eligible to cast 1,086,431 votes, yielding a threshold for a majority of 543,216 votes.

For a candidate to be in the president's office, they 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 instant-runoff voting system. The manner of election of the president is provided by Article 55 of the Constitution.

Article 58 of the Indian Constitution provides that the president and vice president of India must be citizens of India and at least 35 years old. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the political parties, in which case each party devises a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. Traditionally, the primary elections are indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The general election in July is an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors in turn directly elect the president and vice president.

By convention, the secretary general of the Lok Sabha and the secretary general of the Rajya Sabha are appointed as the returning officers by rotation. For the 2017 presidential election, the secretary general of the Lok Sabha was appointed as a returning officer. Therefore, for the 2022 presidential election, the secretary general of the Rajya Sabha, Shri P.C. Mody, was appointed as the returning officer in notification by ECI on 13 June 2022.

Election schedule
Under sub-section 1 of Section 4 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act of 1952, the election schedule for the president of India was announced by the Election Commission of India on 9 June 2022.

Electoral college vote value composition

 * All 4 Rajya Sabha seats and 90 State Legislative Assembly seats of Jammu and Kashmir were vacant, as the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly was dissolved.
 * The lone Rajya Sabha seat of Tripura was vacant.
 * Seven seats of the state legislative assemblies across various states (4 of Gujarat, 1 each of Maharashtra, Tripura and West Bengal) are also vacant.

Candidates
On 21 June 2022, Yashwant Sinha, a former AITC leader, was unanimously chosen as the common candidate of UPA and other opposition parties for the 2022 presidential election. On the same day, NDA chose Droupadi Murmu as its presidential candidate.

Potential candidates

 * Vice President –
 * Gopalkrishna Gandhi
 * Sharad Pawar

Campaign
During her election campaign, Murmu visited various states seeking support. Several opposition parties, including BJD, JMM, BSP, SS, YSRCP, SAD, and JDS, announced support for her candidature prior to polling.

Controversy
Congress filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Droupadi Murmu and BJP leaders, alleging poll code violation in Karnataka. The Indian National Congress alleged that the ruling BJP had influenced the MLAs by offering bribes and other inducements in violation of the election code. The MLAs were called for training on voting in the presidential election and allegedly provided luxurious rooms, meals, liquor, drinks and entertainment.

Results


Reactions
Right after Murmu was announced as the winner, numerous congratulations and wishes from other world leaders were posted on social media. Russian President Vladimir Putin extended his greetings to Droupadi Murmu for being elected as the president of India and hoped for further development of the Russian–Indian political dialogue and productive cooperation in different areas under her leadership. President of the United States Joe Biden congratulated her and stated her victory was the "strength of Indian democracy". Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated her and said that he would be willing to work with her to enhance political mutual trust between China and India. The presidents of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, and other countries also congratulated her.

After the election results came out, tribal communities in several states celebrated her victory. Many minority tribal communities in Bangladesh, including the Santal community, congratulated Murmu.