It will be the 16th Presidential election on July 18, 70 years after the first one was held when Dr Rajendra Prasad won. There were five contesting candidates then with the last one getting just 533 votes.
The second election in 1957, which was also won by Prasad, had three contesting candidates.
The third election also saw only three contestants, but the fourth election in 1967 saw as many as 17 contestants with nine getting zero votes and five getting less than 1,000 votes. In comparison, the winner of 1967 election, Zakir Hussain, secured more than 4.7 lakh votes.
The fifth election had 15 contestants with five failing to secure even a single vote. This election in 1969 had many firsts, including strict secrecy of voting and allowing some MLAs to cast their votes at Parliament House in New Delhi instead of their state capitals. It was for the sixth election in 1974, there was only two contestants. For the seventh election in 1977, total 37 candidates filed their nominations.
On scrutiny, the returning officer rejected the nominations filed by 36 candidates and only one validly nominated candidate remained in the field, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. The eighth presidential election in 1982 saw two contestants, while the ninth election in 1987 had three.
The 1987 election also witnessed one candidate, Mithelesh Kumar Sinha, who eventually came third with 2,223 votes, requesting the Commission for facility to put forth his views over AIR/Doordarshan.
The 10th election in 1992 had four contestants, Ram Jethmalani (2,704 votes, third place) and Kaka Joginder Singh Urf Dharti-Pakad (1,135 votes, fourth place). There have been only two contestants since the 11th presidential election held in 1997, when the security deposit and the numbers of proposers and seconders were increased significantly.
The Presidential polls’ rules have undergone changes from time to time. In a move aimed at weeding out non-serious candidates in these polls that once saw nominations getting rejected for 36 out of total 37 candidates, anyone desiring to contest would need 50 electors as proposers and 50 others as seconders .
Besides, the candidate would need to deposit an amount of Rs 15,000 as security. According to the EC, the security deposit was increased from Rs 2,500 to Rs 15,000 in 1997, when the total numbers of proposers and seconders were also increased from 10 each earlier.