National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind was on Thursday elected as the new president of India, securing a massive margin over the opposition candidate Meira Kumar in a straight fight.
In an electoral college of 4,986 voters with a vote value of 10,98,903, Kovind got 2,930 votes carrying a value of 7,00,244, while the former Lok Sabha Speaker secured 1,844 votes with a value of 3,67,314.
While Kovind got 65.65 per cent of the total valid vote value of 10,69,358, Meira Kumar got 34.35 per cent.
Announcing the election of Kovind as the 14th President, Returning Officer and Lok Sabha Secretary General Anoop Mishra said Kovind had got the required votes under the quota allotted to him in the transferable vote system under the Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections Act.
"I declare Ram Nath Kovind as duly elected to the office of president," he said.
NDA's Ram Nath Kovind was leading over opposition-backed Meira Kumar on Thursday after the first round of vote count in the presidential election.
According to Lok Sabha Secretary General Anoop Mishra, the Returning Officer for the July 20 election, Kovind secured 60,683 value of votes after ballots from four states—Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Bihar—were counted.
Meira Kumar secured no vote from Andhra against Kovind's 27,189 value of votes, he said. In Arunachal Pradesh, Kovind secured 448 and Meira Kumar 24.
The NDA candidate bagged 10,556 from Assam against Meira Kumar's 4,060. In Bihar, it was a close fight with Kovind getting 22,490 and Meira Kumar 18,867.
