Presidential polls: Murmu leads with 540 votes

NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu leads with 504 votes in the elections to select the 15th President of India. Yashwant Sinha polled 208 votes.

Rajya Sabha Secretary General P.C.Mody, the chief returning officer for the poll told reporters that out of 748 votes polled by MPs, Murmu got 540 votes, Sinha 208 and 15 votes became invalid.
Murmu has secured votes with a value of 3,78,000 and Sinha has secured votes for a value of 1,45,600, Mody said.

The process of counting the votes started at 11 am in room number 63 in Parliament House, where the ballot boxes brought from all the state assemblies were kept.

While the counting of votes of the members of both houses of Parliament will begin first, those of the states will be counted in alphabetical order, sources said.

The odds are stacked in favour of Murmu, who, if elected, will be the first woman from the tribal community to occupy the country's top constitutional post.

Kovind's tenure ends on July 24 and the new president will take oath on July 25.

(With inputs from PTI)