The current President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil's term is coming to an end in July, and the major political parties have begun campaigning to elect their preferred candidate. To become President, a candidate must receive over 50% of the votes from members of both houses of Parliament and state legislatures. Several prominent Indians have been mentioned as potential candidates, including Vice President Hamid Ansari, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, and former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who is leading an online poll. However, the selection process is highly political and the winning candidate may end up being someone not currently under consideration.

1. WHO WILL BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF INDIA ?
Even if the elections for India’s next president are three months away, the race for Rashtrapati
Bhavan is already gathering steam. Leaders of India’s two main political parties – the ruling
Congress party (UPA) and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata party have started drumming up
support from allies and other smaller parties to get their candidate to replace current President
Pratibha Devisingh Patil, whose five-year term ends on July 24.
Indian president have powerful things to do like the opening of Parliament’s sessions and rubber
stamping the appointment of state governors and to lead India’s armed forces. The president can
also review mercy petitions against death sentences. If no party secures a clear majority in
general elections, the president can decide which party should try to secure the support of enough
smaller parties to form a government. For parties, this is largely why who lives in Rashtrapati
Bhavan, the official residence of Indian presidents, matters.
Although presidents play a minor role in decision making, “the process of selecting the president
always turns out to be a huge political exercise.” It’s known as ELECTORAL COLLEGE – a
tedious process by which Indian president get selected. It includes the votes from the elected
members of both the Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative
Assemblies of States and the Union Territories of Delhi and Pondicherry.
For July’s president race, the names of several eminent personalities are Vice President Hamid
Ansari, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, NR
Narayanamurthy (Infosys fame), tech czar Sam Pitroda and Punjab’s Chief Minister Parkash
Singh Badal. The candidate who has attracted most outspoken support so far is former president
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (leading the NDTV’s online poll by almost 68% at a time of writing this
article ). The names of less likely candidates have also been floating like Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee and Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.
We feel that the point is not whether the candidate should be a political person or a non-political
person. But, he/she should be able to resolve constitutional ailments threatening the country at
present.
The Congress is keeping its card close to its chest, so are the other parties. It could be none of
these names, but a complete dark horse that Sonia Gandhi had thrown up the last time.
So, fingers are crossed once again, let’s wait N watch.