October 2016 Children's Group presidential election
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An indirect presidential election, in order to elect the 8th President, was held in Children's Group on 2 October 2016. The last date for filing nominations was 1 October 2016, whereas the votes were counted on the election date itself. The two leading candidates for the presidency were incumbent Deputy Prime Minister Anoushkaa Patranabish from South Guwahati and incumbent Lieutenant Governor of Central Guwahati and former President-Prime Minister Sarala Baishya.
Selection process
An electoral college consisting of the members of the executive council elected the President. At least 2 electors as proposers and 2 electors as seconders were needed to subscribe the nomination of a candidate for election. This election was held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote method. The voting took place by secret ballot. Article 1(A) of the constitution provided the manner of election of President.
Background
The third presidential election of the year was held on 2 October 2016 to elect a successor to the incumbent President Tanishkaa Patranabish who was elected in March 2016 and re-elected in May 2016.
The ruling Secular Party nominated Deputy Prime Minister Anoushkaa Patranabish as its presidential nominee while the opposition Independent Party nominated former president and serving Lieutenant Governor of Central Guwahati Sarala Baishya as its nominee.
Election
The election took place on 2 October 2016 and the votes were counted and the results were announced on the same day. Prime Minister Varuna Sriraya was the returning officer in the election.
Candidates
Two candidates had contested the presidential election.
| Portrait | Candidate | Positions held | Party | Home state |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Portrait of Anoushkaa Patranabish in 2018.jpg | Anoushkaa Patranabish (born 2010) |
Deputy Prime Minister (since April 2016) Vice-president (2012-2015) |
Secular Party | South Guwahati |
| File:Sarala Baishya (2).jpg | Sarala Baishya (born 2005) |
Lieutenant Governor of Central Guwahati (since September 2016) Prime Minister (2014) President (2014-2015) |
Independent Party | South Guwahati |
Anoushkaa Patranabish
Anoushkaa Patranabish had filed her nomination paper in the presence of the United Alliance coalition leaders. Three set of papers-one each by Varuna Sriraya, Tanishkaa Patranabish and Arnab Sil, supporting her candidature were submitted to the Election Commissioner Anirban Phatowali. Her candidature was announced by CGUA on 1 October 2016.
Sarala Baishya
Sarala Baishya filed her nominations papers with support of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Aviraj Kar.
Other speculated candidates
Prior to the official announcement of the candidates, the following names were widely speculated for the presidency:
- Tanishkaa Patranabish, incumbent President (declined to re-contest for a third term)
- Arnab Sil, incumbent Vice-President
- Varuna Sriraya, incumbent Prime Minister
- Bishnu Chetry, Minister of Finance, Salaries and Tax and Revenue
- Asmi Patranabis, Minister of Home Affairs and External Affairs
- Saikat Seal, Governor of North Guwahati
Results
| Candidate | Party | Electoral College votes |
% | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anoushkaa Patranabish | Secular Party | 20 | 90.9 | ||||||
| Sarala Baishya | Independent Party | 2 | 9.09 | ||||||
| Total | 22 | 100 | |||||||
Deputy Prime Minister Anoushkaa Patranabish was elected as the President with 20 electoral votes (90.9%) defeating former president and her rival candidate Sarala Baishya who received 2 electoral votes (9.09%). The election’s Returning Officer Varuna Sriraya announced:
“I declare that Sushri Anoushkaa Patranabish has been duly elected to the office of the President of Children's Group”.
Aftermath
Following her election as the President, Anoushkaa Patranabish submitted her resignation as the Deputy Prime Minister and was succeeded by outgoing president Tanishkaa Patranabish who was appointed as the deputy prime minister. Anoushkaa Patranabish was sworn-in into office on 2 October at 7:30 PM local time at the Central Auditorium Hall of the Rashtra Niwas.
However, in some turn of events, the Senate adopted an impeachment motion against president Anoushkaa Patranabish in December 2016 which culminated in her successful impeachment on 13 December 2016. Since the line of succession was flawed following the resignation of Vice-President Arnab Sil on 27 November 2016 and him being succeeded on ad-interim basis by home minister Bishnu Chetry, and with the prime minister Varuna Sriraya serving as the chief justice, the position of acting president was offered to the Governor of South Guwahati. The lieutenant governor of Central Guwahati Sarala Baishya was serving as the Administrator of South Guwahati since 27 November 2016, thus making her eligible to become the acting president. Baishya would later be formally elected to office for a permanent term in January 2017.
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