The Election Commission on Wednesday announced that the presidential election will be held on July 19.

Announcing the poll schedule at a press conference in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy said the notification for the election will be issued on June 16 and the last date of withdrawal of nomination would be June 30.

The results will be declared on July 21. The President elect would take over from President A P J Abdul Kalam on July 25 when the present incumbent demits his office.

The commission has appointed P D T Achary, secretary general of Lok Sabha, as the returning officer to conduct the poll.

PTI adds:

776 Members of Parliament, including 543 from Lok Sabha and 4,120 legislators from various states, including Delhi and Puducherry, constitute the electoral college whose total vote value comes to 10,98,882 votes.

The ruling UPA alliance has got over 5.13 lakh votes while the strength of the opposition NDA is over 3.54 lakh votes and the combination of eight regional parties constituting the third front accounts for 1.05 lakh votes.

While Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is all set to enter the fray as National Democratic Alliance-backed independent candidate, the identity of the United Progressive Alliance nominee still remains a suspense amidst reports that Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil was the front runner.

Though Bahujan Samaj Party, having substantial votes, has come out in support of UPA, the Left parties, accounting for over one lakh votes, will be holding consultations with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi before announcing their decision.

Left is rooting for External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and feels Patil was not that strong a candidate to be pitted against Shekhawat.

The UPA and the NDA are expected to have meetings in the next few days, which would decide their nominees and the stage would finally be set for election to the highest office.

All presidential elections so far had witnessed a contest except for in 1977 when Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was elected unopposed. Only the first President Rajendra Prasad held the office twice in 1952 and 1957.

Last time too there was a contest when Kalam emerged as a dark horse and won with a thumping majority with the Left parties putting up little resistance by fielding Lakshmi Sehgal.