Pranab Mukherjee voted India’s 13th President

PTI

New Delhi, 22 July 2012: Pranab Mukherjee was today elected as the 13th President, marking a new journey for the veteran Congress leader after over four decades of life in active politics.

 

Mukherjee, UPA nominee, got 5,64,469 vote value, well beyond the half-way mark of 5,25,140 in an electoral college of over 10.5 lakh when counting of votes polled by the MPs and MLAs of 20 of the 30 states was completed.

 

His rival P A Sangma, who was backed by BJP and some other opposition parties like AIADMK and BJD, could manage only 2,57,466 vote value, according to Rajya Sabha Secretary General V K Agnihotri, who is the Returning Officer for the poll.

 

Mukherjee, 76-year-old Congress leader, brings to the top Constitutional post a wealth of experience as he has held key positions in the party and government, including holding the portfolios of Finance, Defence and External Affairs.

 

He established a clear lead right from the beginning when counting of votes of MPs completed and maintained it across the states, except the BJP-ruled ones. He sprang a surprise in BJP-ruled Karnataka where he got the votes of 117 MLAs against BJP’s 103 in the 224-member Assembly.

 

Out of 748 MPs, who had voted, he secured 527 votes with a value of 3,73,116 against 206 for Sangma which has a value of 1,45,848.

 

Fifteen votes including that of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav were invalid. Of these, nine were to be in favour of Mukherjee while six for Sangma.

 

Voting for the Presidential election took place on July 19. The electoral college for the poll comprises MPs and MLAs.

 

Cross-voting in favour of Pranab in Karnataka

Faction-ridden ruling BJP in Karnataka suffered a humiliation today when Pranab Mukherjee secured a backing of 117 MLAs as against P A Sangma’s 103, with some BJP members cross-voting in favour of the UPA nominee.

 

Mukherjee had only a pledged support 98 MLAs -- 71 from Congress and 27 from JD(S) -- but he managed to secure the support of 19 more legislators.

 

Sangma could only garner 103 votes, even though BJP has 119 members in the Assembly. Of the 224 members, an MLA did not vote in the July 19 poll.

 

The situation for BJP in the state has been volatile as it had to change the Chief Minister thrice in the past two years.

 

The value of votes polled by Mukherjee in Karnataka was 15,327 while it was 13,493 for Sangma.

 

In Gujarat also, a BJP MLA cross-voted in favour of Mukherjee. Mukherjee had a pledged support of Congress (54), NCP (3) and JD-U (1). However, he got 59 while Sangma got 123.

 

Earlier, BJP MLA Kanubhai Kalsariya claimed that he had voted for Mukherjee. In terms of vote value, Mukherjee got 8,673 while Sangma got 18,081 in Gujarat.