Monsoon session of Parliament may be preponed to July 12

The monsoon session of Parliament may be convened for a month from July 12, five days before the date of President's election in which over 776 MPs are eligible to vote.

Sources said that the government has various proposals on dates for the monsoon session, which is usually convened towards the end of July and carries on till August end.

This time, they said, the session was slightly being advanced because of the Presidential election in which MPs and MLAs are voters. A session at that time will ensure that all the MPs are in Delhi, where they usually vote in Parliament. An MP can also vote in his home state where MLAs generally vote.

It is most likely that the session may begin on July 12 and end around August 10-11, the sources said.

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs is likely to meet in the coming days to take a final call on the dates, the sources said.

The last date for filing of nominations is June 28. Scrutiny will follow on June 29 and the last date for withdrawal is July 1. The vote count will be on July 20, four days before incumbent Pranab Mukherjee's term ends. The new President is set to take charge the next day.

The election will see secret ballot and political parties can't issue a whip to MPs or MLAs.

The Election Commission has said special pens will be provided to voters in view of a row that surrounded voting for a Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana last year.

"Electors have to mark the ballot only with this pen and not with any other pen. Voting by any other pen may lead to the invalidation of the vote," Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi has said.

A nomination paper has to be subscribed by at least 50 electors as 'Proposers' and by at least another 50 as 'Seconders'.

The election is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.

Every elector can have as many preferences as the candidates contesting the election and the winner has to secure the required quota of votes to be declared elected -- 50 per cent of the valid votes plus one.