NDA’s Droupadi Murmu has a clear edge over Opposition’s Yashwant Sinha

New Delhi: Polling for the Presidential election is underway at the Parliament House and in State Legislative Assemblies. Voting began at 10 am and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to cast his vote. Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, Chief Ministers from across the country and other MPs and MLAs too cast their votes this morning.

In all, around 4,800 MPs and MLAs will cast their votes through ballot papers till 5 pm today to elect the 15th President of India. The counting of votes will take place on July 21 while the next President will take oath on July 25.

With the support of BJD, YSRCP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JD(S), Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and now JMM, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Droupadi Murmu has a clear edge over Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha as over 60 percent votes are expected to be polled in her favour. If elected, she will become the first woman from the tribal community to hold the country’s top Constitutional post.

In the 2017 election, Ram Nath Kovind became the President after defeating joint Opposition candidate Meira Kumar.

Kovind had polled 7,02,000 votes compared with Meira Kumar’s 3,67,000, out of a total of 10,69,358 votes.

EVMs not deployed: Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are not deployed in polls to elect President and Vice-President of India, members of Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Councils. The EVMs are based on a technology where they work as aggregators of votes in direct elections such as the Lok Sabha  and State Assemblies.

Voters press the button against the name of the candidate of their choice and the one who bags the maximum number of votes is declared elected. But the election of the President is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote. In accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote, every elector can mark as many preferences, as there are candidates contesting the election

Margaret Alva is VP candidate: The dwindling support for the Presidential nominee Yashwant Sinha did not deter the Opposition from announcing the nominee for the Vice-President. A day after NDA picked Jagdeep Dhankhar, Governor of West Bengal, as the Vice-President candidate, the Opposition leaders led by Sharad Pawar announced Margaret Alva, the former Governor of Rajasthan, as their candidate.

NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar announced that 17 parties are on board for the unanimous decision. Alva had joined politics in 1969, serving several terms in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. She also served as the Union Minister in Rajeev Gandhi’s Government.

Meanwhile, Jagdeep Dhankhar filed his nomination papers today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was with him, as were Cabinet Ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah and BJP President J.P. Nadda. The polls scheduled for Aug. 6. The last date to file nominations is tomorrow. The term of the current Vice-President, M. Venkaiah Naidu, ends on Aug. 10.