Droupadi Murmu Vs Yashwant Sinha: India's 15th President to be announced today
Premium- President election 2022: The counting will take place in Room No 63 in Parliament House and the result will be declared immediately after that
India will get its 15th President today, July 21. The counting of votes to elect the new President will take place on Thursday at the Parliament House from 11 am onwards. This time, the contest is between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led candidate Droupadi Murmu and opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha. Droupadi Murmu is seen to have a clear edge in the contest. Murmu, if elected, will be the first tribal woman to occupy the top constitutional post in the country. Incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind’s tenure is ending on July 24 and the new president will take oath on July 25.
On Thursday, the counting will take place in Room No 63 in Parliament House and the result will be declared immediately after that. The immediate precincts of Room Number 63 have been declared as sanitised and "silent zone".
Only counting officers, officials deployed to assist the Rajya Sabha Secretary General, candidates and one authorised representative of each candidate, observers appointed by the Election Commission, and media persons with valid passes will be allowed entry into the counting hall. Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody is the returning officer for the Presidential election.
Mody will first brief on the poll trends after all votes of MPs have been counted.
All ballot boxes from state assemblies had reached the Parliament’s strongroom on Tuesday evening and have been locked there since. The ballot boxes had been flown in to the national capital as ‘Mr Ballot Box’ from across the states.
According to the EC, each ballot box was issued an e-ticket under the name 'Mr Ballot Box'. 'Mr Ballot Box' came seated in the front row of aircraft under the watchful gaze of the Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) of their respective states.
The voting to elect the country's new Rashtrapati (President) concluded on July 18 at the Parliament House and at 31 designated places in the capitals of all states besides the Union Territories of Puducherry and Delhi.
Over 99% of the total electors had cast their ballot in the poll that took place Monday, according to the Election Commission.
Eight MPs, including BJP MPs Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dhotre, were among those who missed casting their votes.
Actor-politician Deol missed voting since he is abroad for medical treatment, while Dhotre gave it a pass since he was in the ICU.
Two MPs each from BJP and Shiv Sena, and one from the BSP, Congress, SP, and AIMIM missed voting in the Monday (July 18) polls.
How an Indian President is elected?
Members of Parliament (MPs) of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, except nominated MPs, and all MLAs in legislative assembly in all states act as electors in the presidential election.
A total of 4,809 electors, comprising 776 MPs and 4,033 elected MLAs, are entitled to vote in the election, but nominated MPs and MLAs, and Members of the Legislative Council are not.
Droupadi Murmu's hometown confident of her win, gears up for celebration:
Laddus are being prepared and hoardings have been put up congratulating "Odisha's daughter" as presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu's hometown Rairangpur expressed confidence in her win and geared up for celebrations on Wednesday, hours before the declaration of results.
Folk artists and tribal dancers rehearsed their performances and are ready to hit the streets as soon as the results are declared. They are waiting with bated breath to witness the first tribal woman president of the country.
"We are preparing 20,000 laddus and have put up 100 banners congratulating Murmu, who has her house in our town," local BJP leader Tapan Mahanta said.
Several organisations have planned mass feats as people from rural areas are likely to throng Rairangpur town in Mayurbhanj district from noon.
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