Presidential elections 2022: India to get 15th President today; counting of votes at 11 am 

Counting of votes to choose the 15th President of India is all set to begin from 11 am at the Parliament House today. NDA candidate for the top job Droupadi Murmu and Opposition’s Yashwant Sinha are competing for the office of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Current President Ram Nath Kovind’s tenure will end on July 24 and the new President will take oath on July 25.  

Out of total 736 electors, 728 (719 MPs and 9 MLAs) cast their votes. Voter turnout for the presidential polls stood at a staggering 99.18 per cent, according to Rajya Sabha Secretary General and returning officer PC Mody. As per Election Commission of India, 100 per cent voting was recorded from CG, Manipur, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, MP, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Mizoram and Sikkim.  

Here are top points to note 

1. After the counting of votes is complete, returning officer PC Mody will talk about poll trends first and then after the votes of 10 states in alphabetical order have been counted.  

2. Counting of votes will take place in Room 63 of the Parliament House, which has been declared as sanitised and ‘silent zone.’ 

3. 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 only be allowed entry inside the counting hall.  

4. As per news agency PTI, Mody will also brief about poll trends after votes of 20 states have been counted and then declare the result after the total counting is done. 

5. If Droupadi Murmu gets elected to the top office, she will be the first tribal woman to become the President of India.   

6. Total of 4,809 electors (776 MPs and 4,033 elected MLAs) are entitled to vote in this election but nominated MPs and MLAs cannot cast their vote. Value of the vote of an MP is 700.  

7. Members of legislative councils are also not eligible to cast their votes for the presidential election.  

8. Eight MPs including BJP MPs Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dhotre missed casting their votes on medical grounds.

9. Two MPs each from BJP and Shiv Sena and one each from the BSP, Congress, SP and AIMIM missed voting in the polls.   

10. Polling for presidential elections took place from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on July 18 at 31 locations including the Parliament House and 30 centres within State Legislative Assemblies.