Prime Minister Narendra Modi casts his vote in Delhi to elect the 15th President of India. (ANI)
Presidential Election Live updates: Polling in the Presidential election is underway at the Parliament House and the state legislative assemblies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, chief ministers from across the country, and other MPs and MLAs cast their votes on Monday morning. In all, around 4,800 MPs and MLAs will cast their votes till 5 pm on Monday to elect the 15th President of India. The counting of votes will take place on July 21 while the next President will take oath on July 25.
With the support of BJD, YSRCP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JD(S), Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and now JMM, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Droupadi Murmu has a clear edge over Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be polled in her favour. If elected, she will become the first woman from the tribal community to hold the country’s top constitutional post.
Before naming Sinha, a former Union minister during Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, the opposition camp had approached former Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah to take part in the presidential battle. In the 2017 election, Ram Nath Kovind became the President after defeating joint opposition candidate Meira Kumar. Kovind polled 7,02,000 votes compared with Kumar’s 3,67,000, out of a total of 10,69,358 votes.