New Delhi: According to notification issued by the Returning officer for the election to the office of President of India, elections to fill the office of President and Vice-President of India shall be held on July 17.Accordingly, the candidates can file their nomination paper’s at the office of returning officer, Room no 18, ground floor parliament house New Delhi to the Assistant Returning Officers, Ravindra Garimella, Joint Secretary or Shri Vinay Kumar Mohan, Director Lok Sabha Secretariat, at the said office from 11am to 3 pmon any day (other than a public holiday) not later than the June 28, 2017.The nomination papers, other than those rejected under sub-section (4) of section 5B of the Act, will be taken up for scrutiny at the said office in Room No. 18 Ground Floor, Parliament House, New Delhi on June 29, 2017 at 11 am.The notice of withdrawal of candidatures may be delivered by a candidate, or any one of his proposers or seconders who has been authorized in this behalf in writing by the candidate, before the Returning Officer before 3 pm on 1 July 2017.The polling will be held on July 17, 2017 between 10 am to 5 pm at the designated places of polling. The process of filing nominations for the July 17 presidential poll began today with the Election Commission issuing a notification in this regard.The nomination process will continue till June 28.The ruling NDA and a loosely knit group of opposition parties have intensified efforts to zero in on a “mutually acceptable” presidential candidate. But they would go their separate ways if a consensus proves elusive.After a prolonged silence on the issue, BJP chief Amit Shah has constituted a three-member committee comprising union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu which will hold consultations with the NDA allies and the opposition on the issue.Leaders of opposition parties will hold their meeting this afternoon to chalk out their joint strategy and come up with a consensus candidate.The 10-member sub-group of the opposition is meeting for the first time after its constitution recently.Sources said the opposition leaders will try and come out with some possible names for the post of President, but will await the government initiative in this regard.In a bid to ensure that non serious candidates do not file nomination for the prestigious election, laws were amended a few years ago.Now, a candidate who is supported by 50 ‘electors’ and seconded by another 50 can file nomination. Elected members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and elected members of state legislative assemblies are the electors.If the elections are held in case both the NDA and the opposition field their candidates, then the results will be announced on July 20.The term of present incumbent Pranab Mukherjee comes to an end on July 24.The election will be held on July 17, if necessary. The voting hours will be from10 am to 5 p.m.Meanwhile, the Joint Chief Electoral Officer, J&K, Dr. Raman Kumar Kesar chaired a joint meeting of officers of concerned departments to review the preparations for the smooth conduct of Presidential election.Earlier, the Joint Chief Electoral Officer also visited Assembly Secretariat and discussed the issue with regard to the Presidential election with the Secretary, J&K Legislative Assembly, and M R Singh. They also inspected the venue viz Assembly Lobby, fixed for holding the Presidential election. Among others, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Krishan Lal, General Manager, Government Press, Aijaz Ahmad Akhoon, Assistant Chief Electoral Officer, Kashmir Abdul Wase-ul-Deva and other senior officers from Election department attended the meeting.
