Pranab Mukherjee was today declared elected as President, polling 69.3 per cent votes with a value of 7,13,763 and defeating NDA candidate PA Sangma. Here are the events of the day as they took place.
6:10 pm: “I would like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation and would like to thank the people of this great country for conferring me this distinction by electing me to this high office,” Pranab Mukherjee tells mediapersons outside his residence.
The overwhelming support, affection of the ordinary people which i felt during my tour and vist of state capitals for really remarkable, he said.
I will try to justify the faith that the people have put in me, Mukherjee said.
Ever the statesman, Mukherjee also thanked Sangma for his congratulations.
“I would also like to reciprocate the congratulations that PA Sangma has extended to me,” he said.
5:55 pm: Mamata Banerjee congratulates Pranab Mukherjee on his victory. The party is also likely to attend the swearing in.
5:45 pm: The Prime Minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi have reached the residence of Pranab Mukherjee to greet him on his victory.
5:40 pm: PA Sangma comes out complaining about the presidential election and says that there needs to be a code of conduct for the presidential election.
After starting on a tame note by congratulating Pranab Mukherjee on his victory and wishing him every success, Sangma said the country had lost the opportunity to support the tribals of India.
“I may have lost the election but the nation has also lost a golden opportunity to show solidarity with tribals,” Sangma said.
“The process in presidential poll has been partisan and political. Perception is that UPA did not build consensus,” he said.
The NDA-backed presidential candidate accused the UPA of using economic inducements in the presidential poll. “We need election code of conduct for presidential poll,” he said.
He said the NDA and he would be meeting on Tuesday to decide whether to approach court over the election.
He also criticised the MLAs of the north eastern states for backing Mukherjee instead of him.
“People of north east are no more capable of standing on their own feet. They have become dependent on central government,” he said, adding that they needed to change the situation.
He said inducements like economic packages and threats were used by the UPA to get political support for the presidential poll. Sangma alleged threats were issued to leaders like Mulayam Singh, Mamata Banerjee and others saying that there were charges against them.
5:05 pm: “I am very happy. I thank everybody for their love and support. I thank all the people of my country,” Mukherjee told a Bengali news channel.
“In the last one month I have covered the entire country. And with the emotions and feelings that I have sensed in the common people revolving round this presidential election, it felt like it was not a presidential election but a general election.
“I am very happy, and I will strive to live up to the expectations and faith that people have bestowed on me,” Mukherjee said in his first comments.
5:00 pm: The BJP now says it will probe the incident of cross voting in Karnataka.
“There may have been problems in Karnataka in the party earlier but the party is now united behind Jagdish Shettar in the state,” Shahnawaz Hussain, BJP spokesperson said.
The party is expected to conduct a formal inquiry into the matter.
4:45 pm: TR Baalu of the DMK meets with Pranab Mukherjee who is already innundated with calls congratulating him on the victory. He manages to drape a shawl around him though.
The mood is considerably upbeat at the Congress party now.
“Its a great victory for our alliance and for the Congress party,” V Narayanasamy, MoS, Prime Minister’s Office tells Times Now.
4:40 pm: Chidambaram leaves from Pranab Mukherjee’s residence and thanks all the political parties for their support.
4:25 pm: Pranab Mukherjee is likely to be sworn in as the President of India on 25 July. Meanwhile celebrations have gone into overdrive. Watch the video here.
4:22 pm: PC Chidambaram apparently is the first of many to visit Pranab Mukherjee after his victory. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA president Sonia Gandhi are also expected to be visit later.
4:20 pm: In 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly that is BJP dominated, Mukherjee got 73 votes while Sangma got 156. Four votes were invalid.
But its now a moot point. All that matters now is the margin by which he has won the presidential poll.
4:15 pm: And Pranab Mukherjee has got the number of votes to be the next President of India, CNN IBN reports.
4:00 pm:A clean sweep for Mukherjee in Kerala. He won all the 124 votes polled and one vote was invalid. The 15 other members of the 140 member assembly had abstained from voting.
3:50 pm: Cross voting alert! Karnataka, where the BJP is in power, saw Sangma getting only 103 votes out of 224 while Pranab Mukherjee’s UPA credentials didn’t stop him from getting 117 votes.
Three votes were invalid and one MLA did not vote.
3:45 pm: Even as the nation waits for the result of the presidential poll, Pranab Mukherjee’s sister said she always knew he was going to be the President. She says she predicted it 44 years ago. Read more here.
3:40 pm: Pranab Mukherjee continues to stretch his lead and takes Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. In Jharkhand, Pranab got 60 votes while Sangma got 20.
In Jammu and Kashmir Pranab got 68 votes and in Himachal Pradesh he got 44 votes. In Jammu and Kashmir Sangma managed 15 votes while in Himachal Pradesh he got 23 votes.
Mukherjee now has 4,70,452 votes so far and needs another 50,000 votes to seal his victory in the presidential poll.
3:25 pm: Celebrations continue outside Pranab Mukherjee’s residence. Read more.
Looks like they may celebrating for a long time today.
3:10 pm: Pranab Mukherjee presently has 4,58, 322 votes in his favour while Sangma trails far behind at 1,91,785. Not too far now for the veteran politician.
In another state’s result, in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, Mukherjee got 53 votes while Sangma received 29. Eight were invalid.
3:05 pm: Another state in Sangma’s pocket. Mukherjee got 59 votes and Sangma 123 votes in 182-member Gujarat Assembly where BJP has the majority.
In terms of vote value, Mukherjee got 8673 while Sangma got 18,081.
2:55 pm: Thanks to the support of the BJP, PA Sangma manages to give the election a semblance of a fight.
In Chhattisgarh and Goa, Sangma got a majority of the votes. In the 90-mmember Assembly Chhattisgarh, 39 votes went to Mukherjee while Sangma got 50. One vote was invalid.
In terms of vote value, Mukherjee got 5,031 while Sangma got 6,450.
Mukherjee got 9 votes and Sangma 31 in 40-member Goa Assembly. In terms of vote value, Mukherjee got 180 while Sangma got 620.
2:35 pm: In Bihar where the JD(U) had promised to support Pranab Mukherjee he gets 146 votes and Sangma gets 90, possibly thanks to the BJP MLAs backing him.
Arunachal Pradesh results are also in. 54 votes for Mukherjee, 2 for Sangma and three are invalid.
2:25 pm In the 126-member Assam Assembly, Mukherjee got 110 votes while Sangma got 13. Two votes were invalid while one did not vote.
In terms of vote value, Mukherjee got 12,760 while Sangma got 1,508.
2.08pm: With early trends coming in, the Congress has expressed confidence that UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee will sweep the Presidential elections. “Mr Mukherjee is way ahead of Mr. Sangma, we believe that Pranab Mukherjee will get more than 7 Lakh votes”, said the leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, Rajiv Shukla.
“Even in Arunachal Pradesh, which is a Northeastern state, PA Sangma got only 3 votes whereas Pranab Mukherjee got 42 votes”, he added.
1.52pm: The results of the Andhra Pradesh vote has been released. Pranab Mukherjee has won 182 votes with a value of 36,936. Sangma has won just 3 votes.
1.24pm: Early results have shown UPA Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee jump into an early lead, garnering 527 of the 748 MP votes. The opposition candidate PA Sangma gets support of 206 MPs. 15 votes have been declared invalid. Of the 15, Nine votes were for Pranab and six were for Sangma.
1.10pm: The segregation of valid and invalid polls is underway in Parliament, and reports have emerged that 15 votes have been deemed invalid so far. Media reports added that the invalidity of the votes was being strongly contested by both government and opposition MPs.
The counting will get underway only after the segregation of all the votes is complete.
1.03pm: UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee had a breakfast of milk and fruits and was relaxed and “eagerly awaiting the outcome” of the vote counting, an aide said Sunday.
“He is relaxed. He is eagerly awaiting the results and confident of winning,” a close aide of Mukherjee told IANS.
“Mukherjee read the newspapers in the morning and went for a walk at 6am, He also prayed, which he usually does,” the aide added.
Mukherjee, who is pitted against opposition-backed PA Sangma, is all set to win.
Many senior leaders from Maharashtra and Rajasthan, including Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had come to meet Mukherjee in the morning at his house – No. 13, Talkatora Road.
With his win a foregone conclusion, Congress workers were carrying boxes of sweets into his home for distribution after the results are announced. “He loves all kinds of Bengali sweets,” the aide said.
11.29am: BJP leader Sudheendra Kulkarni has admitted that it is a foregone conclusion that UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee will win the Presidential polls today. “Just because we voted against Pranab, does not mean we have any less regard for Pranab-da. He is a great leader”, Kulkarni said in an interview with the Times Now channel.
Kulkarni added that the main reason behind the decision to back Sangma for President, was getting the NDA together with a post Presidential poll scenario in mind. Kulkarni added that he hoped Pranab Mukherjee would make a good President, adding that he hoped that he displayed the necessary acumen to guide India through what is looking like an extremely difficult time for the country.
11.22am: The counting of votes began amidst tight security in Parliament House in the presence of authorized representatives of both Mukherjee and Sangma.
The ballot boxes of votes cast in Parliament House were taken up for counting first, after which those from the states will be opened.
Authorised representatives inspected the seals of the ballot boxes and the counting began after ascertaining that they were not tampered with.
As many as 95 per cent of the 4,896 electors — 776 MPs and 4,120 MLAs — had exercised their franchise on Thursday at the polling centres set up in Parliament House and 30 other states and Union territories with assemblies.
All the ballot boxes from the states had reached Parliament House yesterday and were kept in a strong room.
11.15am: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has said UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee was the best choice for President, adding that his candidature was a huge victory for the Congress Party, as his personality had inspired support across party lines.
Speaking to the Times Now channel, Dixit said it was unprecedented for such support to be garnered across political lines. She added that she was positive that Mukherjee would be able to put aside his persona as a Congressman and function as a neutral President who had the best interests of the country at heart. “He will be a very wise President”, she said.
11.00am: Counting is underway to determine who will be the next President of India. The counting began at 11am in Room no 63 of Parliament. The counting is being overseen by a group of Ministers representing both candidates, including Home Minister P Chidambaram.
The votes will be counted in six batches, with each batch being overseen by a group of representatives from both candidates. The votes of MPs will be counted first, followed by the counting of state level votes in alphabetical order.
10.14am: Ahead of the results of the Presidential polls, here is a quick look at how voting took place and how ballots will be counted.
The process:
The President of India is elected by an electoral college comprising MPs and MLAs.
- 776 MPs, (all except those nominated to Parliament) are eligible to vote.
- 4120 MLAs are eligible to vote.
- One MP’s vote is considered equal to 708 votes.
- The value of an MLA’s vote is variable, depending on the population of the state the MLA represents.
How the numbers stack up:
Support for Pranab: UPA (+TMC) + RJD + SP + BSP + JDS + CPM + FB + NDA allies (Shiv Sena and JDU) = 66.7 per cent
Support for Sangma: BJP + SAD + JMM + BJD + AIADMK = 30.3 per cent
Undecided parties: TDP + others = 3 per cent
9.30am: The counting of votes will begin at 11am in Parliament today. Results are expected to be revealed by around 4pm in the evening. As per the norm, the ballot boxes from the states were brought to the national capital for the counting.
The polling percentage has been less than expected this time with only 72 per cent of the total votes – valued at 11 lakh – polled. Of the total votes polled – estimated to be around 8 lakh – Pranab is expecting around 5.6 lakh votes.
As of now, only the vote of Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has been declared invalid by the Election Commission on the ground that he violated the code of secrecy by revealing his vote. Yadav had initially voted for Sangma and then torn the ballot paper when he realised his mistake.
Kanu Kalsaria, BJP MLA from Mahuva in Gujarat, voted for Pranab and openly declared that he did so as he is unhappy with the functioning of the Narendra Modi government.
9.00am: The results of India’s 13th Presidential election will be revealed later on Sunday, and barring a miracle, the result is a foregone conclusion. UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee enjoys a vast majority of political support, as he is backed by the constituent allies of the UPA government, as well as Mulayam Singh Yadav‘s Samajawadi Party, Mayawati‘s BSP, Nitish Kumar’s BJD and the Shiv Sena.
His rival PA Sangma is backed by the BJP, Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK, Naveen Patnaik’s BJD and Punjab’s ruling party the SAD.
Pranab will win, barring a miracle
Polling took place on Thursday and was largely uneventful apart from Samajawadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav having his vote cancelled by the Election Commission after he attempted to vote twice.
Yadav had reportedly mistakenly cast a vote for PA Sangma and voted again upon realizing his mistake. However following a complaint from the BJP, his vote was subsequently declared invalid.
The rejection of his vote is fairly significant, especially as one MP’s vote represents that of 708 people. A candidate will need 5,48,507 votes to be elected as the President.
The President of India is elected by an electoral college comprising MPs and MLAs, where 776 MPs, except those nominated to Parliament will cast their vote.
And given the number of political parties that have pledged support to him, UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee is expected to win by a comfortable majority of nearly 70 percent, if they stick to their word.
