India to get new Prez today
NEW DELHI: The suspense over who will occupy India’s top Constitutional post comes to an end as the counting of votes for the 15th presidential election will be held here on Thursday. The name of the winning candidate will also be announced on the same day.
Ruling NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind looks set to defeat UPA’s Meira Kumar but the counting will reveal the scale of victory. The winning candidate replaces Pranab Mukherjee, whose term ends on July 24. Voting for the post of President took place on July 17 for which 32 polling stations, including the one at Parliament House, were set up in various states.
Lok Sabha secretary general Anoop Mishra, also the returning officer for the presidential election, said the counting will begin at 11am. The ballot box of Parliament House will be opened first, followed by the ballot boxes received from states in alphabetical order.
The votes will be counted on four separate tables and there will be eight rounds of counting.
The BJP claimed Kovind had the support of more than 40 political parties, which accounted for more than 70% of the electoral college with a total vote value of 10,98,903.
India’s President is elected through a complex voting pattern involving MPs from the two houses of Parliament and members of the legislative assemblies.