The Parliament House and state legislative assemblies are currently hosting voting in the presidential election. Around 4,800 MPs and MLAs will cast their votes from 10 am and will continue till 5 p.m. on Monday to choose the 15th President of India, as Ram Nath Kovind’s term ends on July 24. On July 21, votes will be counted, and on July 25, the future president will take oath.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Droupadi Murmu has a clear advantage over the Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha by the support of the BJD, YSRCP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JD(S), Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena, and now the JMM. It is predicted that she will receive more than 60% of the vote, compared to over 60% for Sinha. If elected, she will hold the nation’s top constitutional position for the first time as a woman from the tribal community.
The secret ballot system is used, and parties are not allowed to issue voting whips to their MPs and MLAs. Due to the absence of a legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, the value of a member of Parliament’s vote has decreased from 708 to 700 in this presidential election.
The opposition camp had approached Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, and Farooq Abdullah to compete in the presidential race before settling on Sinha, a former Union minister under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee administration. Ram Nath Kovind was elected as president in 2017 after defeating Meira Kumar, a joint opponent. Out of a total of 10,69,358 votes cast, Kovind received 7,02,000 votes compared to Kumar’s 3,67,000 votes.