Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Voting is under way to elect the next President of India
Former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar will face off in the elections to pick India's 14th President. Voting has ended for for a battle that the opposition has pitched as "ideological". Ms Kumar's candidature was announced by the opposition only after the ruling NDA had named its candidate; Prime Minister Narendra Modi's choice of a Dalit candidate was seen as a masterstroke to divide the opposition and keep allies together. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United broke ranks with the opposition to announce support for Mr Kovind and BJP's fractious ally Shiv Sena found itself outmanoeuvred. In this election, the numbers are stacked against the opposition. The BJP and allies have well over 60 per cent of the vote.
Here are the highlights from the 2017 Presidential Election:
See you on counting day!Click here for all the latest updates on 2017 Presidential Poll. The race to Rashtrapati Bhavan will end on July 20. Till then, this is us signing off.
The secret box that holds the name of India's next PresidentThe counting of votes which will take place on July 20 will decide who will take up the nation's top post as India's 14th President.
Presidential Election 2017: Returning Officer Anup Mishra says "Close to 99 per cent voting in presidential poll".
Earlier today,
(Yogi Adityanath casting his vote at Assembly building for Presidential Election in Lucknow. )JUST IN: Voting for the presidential elections ends, results to be announced on July 20.
Trinamool Congress' support for opposition presidential nominee Meira Kumar is a mark of protest against the BJP's "atrocities": Mamata Banerjee
"We are voting for Meira Kumar because it's a vote against the atrocities of the Bharatiya Janata Party, violence in the name of cow vigilantism, interference in federal structure... It's a vote against injustice," said the 62-year-old party chief said.
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Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao casts his vote in Hyderabad
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said, "After the election, who so ever wins, it is going to be a Dalit President. So it is great for the country."
(File Photo: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said she will be happy with the result of the 2017 presidential election, irrespective of who wins, as both candidates are Dalits.) After voting today, ballot boxes from the states will be flown to Delhi and stored in Room 62 in Parliament. Votes will be counted and results will be announced on Thursday, July 20. The new President will take oath on Tuesday, July 25.
Ram Nath Kovind is set for an easy win in today's election for the next President of India versus Meira Kumar, with the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance confident that the former Bihar Governor will get about 70 per cent of the vote. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was among the first to vote in Parliament this morning, has congratulated Mr Kovind in advance and has said that "the presidential poll this time is historic. Probably for the first time no party made any undignified or unwarranted comment on the rival candidate.
(Photo: Ram Nath Kovind is set for an easy win in today's election for the next President of India versus Meira Kumar) Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cast his vote at the Delhi Legislative Assembly a short while ago.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cast his vote at the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly a short while ago.
Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi cast their votes.
(Photo: Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi leave after casting their votes to elect the next President of India) Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Opposition presidential candidate Meira Kumar says, "Today is a very important day. Today the collegium will take a decision. This contest is to fight for social justice, transparency, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of press. It's an ideology that binds us together. I ask members of collegium to pay heed to the voice of their conscience and keep the best interest of the country in mind.
(Photo: Opposition presidential candidate Meira Kumar speaks to the press on voting day) Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik casts his vote at the Odisha Legislative Assembly
Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Nationalist Congress Party or NCP leader Praful Patel said that all NCP lawmakers and legislators have voted for Opposition candidate Meira Kumar. Mr Patel cast his vote a short while ago.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu casts his vote in Amaravati
Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Opposition candidate Meira Kumar's son Ansul says, "It's not personal fight but fight of ideologies... The forces which are present should be decimated. If it's just about numbers then why we are going through the whole process. The winner can be announced earlier based on the parties support. We are excited... We are part of it. I have traveled with my mother."
(File Photo: Opposition's presidential candidate Meira Kumar) Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh casts his vote.
Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has cast his vote
Presidential Election 2017: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to cast his vote this morning at Parliament's room number 62.
(Photo: PM Modi casts his vote for the 2017 Presidential election) Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan arrives at the state Legislative Assembly to cast his vote
Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: DMK working president MK Stalin casts his vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly
Presidential Election 2017: Here are 5 important facts1) Voting Time: 10 am to 5 pm
2) Polling Booth in Parliament : Room No. 62, Parliament of India
3) Total Number of MPs and MLAs (Members of the Electoral College for Presidential Election, 2017) is 4896. It includes 776 MPs and 4120 MLAs. Narottam Mishra, BJP MLA from Madhya Pradesh, has been disqualified from voting in the Presidential election. So the actual number of MPs and MLAs who can vote today is down to 4895. The
full list is available here.
4) The Election Commission has permitted 41 Lok Sabha MPs and 14 Rajya Sabha MPs to vote in State Legislative Assemblies. 5 MLAs including BJP chief Amit Shah have been permitted to cast their vote in Parliament. 4 MLAs have been allowed to vote in other State Legislative Assemblies.
5) Lok Sabha Secretary General Anoop Mishra, who is also the Returning Officer of Presidential election, is scheduled to address a media briefing at 6:30 pm today in the Parliament's committee room No. 63.
Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: BJP President Amit Shah casts his vote
Presidential Election 2017 LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi casts his vote
Here are some interesting facts about the Presidential election:
1) This will be the second time India will elect a Dalit President since 1997. So far, KR Narayan has been the only person from the Dalit community to hold this post.
2) A special serial numbered pen with violet ink will be used for voting by lawmakers, who have been barred from carrying their personal pens inside the voting chamber. Following the ink controversy in the Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana in 2016, the Election Commission has decided to use special pens for the electors to mark their votes in the presidential and vice-presidential polls.
3) Electronic voting machines are not used in the 2017 elections as they are formatted for first-past-the post system of voting. The Election Commission has called for different coloured ballot papers for this year's polls. While it is green for members of Parliament, MLAs will use pink ballot papers to cast their votes.
4) Varahagiri Venkata Giri, better known as VV Giri, who held the post of President from 1969-64, became the first Acting president of India after the death of Zakhir Hussian in his office. He is the only one who was both president and acting president.
5) Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the only president to win unopposed in independent India. Even though 37 candidates filed their nominations, 36 of them were rejected. He was elected president following the death of Zakhir Hussian, who was the third president of India.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said the presidential poll is a fight against "narrow-minded communal vision". The interaction between the opposition lawmakers and the candidates for president and vice president's post took place on Sunday evening - hours before today's Presidential elections. Apart from Congress lawmakers - among whom was former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh -- leaders from 16 other Opposition parties attended the meet. The gathering included NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda, BSP's Satish Mishra and Samajwadi party's Ram Gopal Yadav. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren, too, made a rare public appearance. Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja too were present and so was Derek O'Brien and Prof Sugata Bose of the Trinamool Congress.
(File Photo: Congress President Sonia Gandhi holds a meeting of opposition leaders) Voting has begun to elect the next President of India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached Parliament, will cast his vote shortly.
(Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi outside Parliament ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament beginning today. He will vote for the presidential election shortly) 4896 legislators across the country - parliamentarians and legislators - will vote in today's elections, the result of which will be announced on July 20.
(Photo: Presidential election contest between Ram Nath Kovind and Meira Kumar) Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal, which is supporting Mr Kovind, skipped both the opposition meeting with Meira Kumar and the NDA meeting with Mr Kovind on Sunday. The move was seen as an effort to maintain an equal distance with the ruling BJP and the opposition. Mr Kumar's support to Mr Kovind had come as a big blow to the opposition, which had picked the Presidential elections as an occasion to forge an anti-BJP bloc ahead of the 2019 general elections. His choice has also revealed the growing rift with Lalu Yadav, his ruling alliance partner in Bihar, triggering speculations of split.
(Photo: Nitish Kumar and his party - the JD(U) - have pledged support to Ram Nath Kovind for the presidential election) At a meeting of lawmakers from 17 opposition parties on Sunday, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said the election is a fight against "narrow-minded communal vision". "In these contests, the numbers may be against us, but the battle must be fought and fought hard," she said. "We cannot and must not let India be hostage to those who wish to impose upon it a narrow-minded, divisive and communal vision."
(Photo: Opposition's Presidential candidate Meira Kumar filing her nomination) Besides JD(U), the NDA has the support of several regional parties including both factions of the AIADMK, Telangana's ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal and the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh. After the announcement of Mr Kovind's candidature by the BJP last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally spoke to a number of opposition leaders, including Congress' Sonia Gandhi, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu and BJD's Naveen Patnaik, to seek their support.
(Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to all parties, including the opposition for their support for Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind) The Congress, which had been dragging its feet over picking its candidate, has managed to keep together a chunk of the opposition with its choice of 72-year-old Meira Kumar -- the daughter of Dalit icon and former deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram. Ms Kumar, who is from Bihar, is a five-time Lok Sabha member and had been a minister in the UPA government. Later, she was chosen unopposed as the Speaker of the 15th Lok Sabha.
(Photo: Opposition's presidential candidate Meira Kumar with Congress president Sonia Gandhi) 71-year-old Ram Nath Kovind, a lawyer, had served twice as a Rajya Sabha member before he took over as Bihar Governor. If elected, he will be India's second Dalit president after KR Narayanan, who served from 1997 to 2002. Mr Kovind's selection is seen as a move by the BJP to consolidate its growing support among politically vital backward castes. But it is Mr Kovind's past as a long-time BJP worker which was instrumental for his selection, the opposition has alleged.
(Photo: Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah) Ram Nath Kovind vs Meira Kumar: In the presidential election, the numbers are stacked against the opposition. The BJP and allies have well over 60 per cent of the vote.
(Presidential Election 2017: On voting day, the numbers are in favour of Ram Nath Kovind) Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United broke ranks with the opposition to announce support for Mr Kovind and BJP's fractious ally Shiv Sena found itself outmanoeuvred.
(Photo: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar meets Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind) Meira Kumar's candidature was announced by the Opposition only after the ruling NDA had named its candidate; Prime Minister Narendra Modi's choice of a Dalit candidate was seen as a masterstroke to divide the opposition and keep allies together.
(Photo: Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind with Prime Minister Narendra Modi) The Presidential contest between former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, has been pitched by the opposition as a battle of "ideologies". Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said the presidential poll is a fight against "narrow-minded communal vision".
(Photo: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi with opposition's Presidential candidate Meira Kumar) Former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar will face off in the elections to pick India's 14th President at 10 am today.
(Photo: The Rashtrapati Bhavan)