India’s new President to be announced today; Counting of votes begins

NEW DELHI: The counting of votes to elect the 15th President of India is in progress in the Parliament House. Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Modi will announce the results immediately after the counting. The winner of the contest between BJP-led NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu and joint Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha will succeed incumbent Ram Nath Kovind.

The election was held on 18th of this month. A total of 4025 MLAs and 771 MPs had votes, of which 99% voted. All the MLAs of twelve states including Kerala have cast their votes.

The NDA candidate has received support even from the opposition. Shiv Sena, JMM and SBSP have announced their support for Draupadi Murmu. If elected, she will be the first woman from a tribal community to become President of India.

Yashwant Sinha was jointly nominated by 17 opposition parties. The Aam Aadmi Party also came out in support of Sinha.

The swearing in ceremony will take place on Monday.

Meanwhile, the election to determine the Vice President of India will be held on August 6. Jagdeep Dhankhar will be the NDA candidate in the election. Dhankar is currently the Governor of Bengal. The current Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s tenure will end on August 10.