New Delhi: NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind was on Thursday elected as the 14th President of India, defeating opposition nominee Meira Kumar. Counting of votes cast in the July 17 for Presidential poll was on Thursday in Parliament.
The final result was declared in evening that Ram Nath Kovind is the successor of President Pranab Mukherjee, who demits office on July 25. There would be eight rounds of counting, and the announcements would be made after every round.
To choose the successor to President Mukherjee was held simultaneously at 32 polling stations one in Parliament House and one each in 29 state assemblies and two union territories with assemblies.
Of the total 4,880 valid voters — 4,109 members of legislative Assemblies (MLAs) and 771 elected members of Parliament (MPs) — 99.49 per cent cast their vote to elect the next President of India. In the fray were the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA’s) candidate Ram Nath Kovind, and the Opposition candidate Meira Kumar.
The counting of votes was started at 11 am on Thursday, July 20, and at that time it was believed that Kovind has an edge over Kumar and he win.
The margin of his victory is interesting to note, given that there were reports of many instances where voters from Opposition parties also voting for Kovind in the election.
“The voting was close to 99 per cent. I think this would perhaps be the highest-ever percentage,” Anoop Mishra, Lok Sabha, secretary general and returning officer for the election, had said on Monday.
Mishra had said while the sanctioned strength of the Lok Sabha (LS) and the Rajya Sabha (RS) is 776 (543 and 233), 771 MPs were eligible to cast their votes. There are two vacancies each in the LS and the RS, while one BJP MP, Chhedi Paswan, did not have voting rights following a judicial pronouncement.
Of the total 771 MPs who are entitled to vote, 768, or 99.61 per cent, cast their votes. Likewise, of the 4,109 MLAs entitled to vote, 4,083 or 99.37 per cent cast their votes, officials said.
