The ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu is leading against opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha after the end of the first round of counting of votes that began at 11 am today.
Murmu secured 540 out of the 748 votes of the MPs, while Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha bagged 208 votes while votes of 15 MPs were declared invalid, Returning Officer of the Indian Presidential Election P C Mody said.
“These are figures for parliament (votes), please wait for the next announcement,” said PC Mody who is also the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha.
According to Mody, eight MPs did not cast their votes in the presidential election.
With each MP having a vote value of 700 in this presidential election, Murmu secured a total of 5,23,600 votes, which is 72.19 per cent of the total valid MP votes, indicating some cross-voting in her favour, reports said quoting officials.
On the other hand, Sinha’s total vote value stood at 1,45,600, which is 27.81 per cent of the total valid votes.
The counting for the second round of votes of the Member of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) has begun, officials said.
The voting took place on July 18 that was completed in a peaceful manner. Droupadi Murmu is seen to have a clear edge in the contest with several regional political parties extended support to the NDA candidate.
- If she got elected, Murmu, the former Jharkhand Governor and a resident of Indian state of Odisha, will be the first tribal and second woman president after Prativha Patil (From 2007-2012) of India.
