UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee has won the President's post at an overwhelming majority against his rival former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma. Pranab has been elected as the 13th president of India and he is the first Bengali leader to take over the lead at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Pranab crossed the half-way mark by securing 5,64,469 vote value against required 5,25,140 margin to win and continued to maintain a winning edge over his rival Sangma.
"I'd like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation and would like to thank the people of this great country for conferring me this distinction by electing me to this high office," Pranab told reporters outside his residence.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission is waiting for the completion of counting process before it formally announces the final winner of the 13th Presidential election, which was held on July 19. Sources said that Pranab will be sworn-in as the President of India on July 25, coinciding with the end of the five-year term of outgoing President Pratibha Patil.
Ever since the President-elect, Pranab, surpassed the required mark to win the poll, and is congratulated by all the top leaders from the Congress, other parties, including rival BJP.
Since the beginning, Congress was confident about Pranab's victory and claimed that Pranab would secure about 70 percent majority against the oppositional candidate. Pranab's big victory became more evident after Trinamool Congress chief and WestBengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced to cast her support on the ballot for Pranab.
In a clear case of cross-voting, the former finance minister outscored Sangma in BJP-ruled Karnataka as well. Sangam, while congratulating President-elect Pranab on his victory, also alleged that the latest President election lacked the code of conduct. "We need a code of conduct in President poll," he said [Read:Presidential Elections 2012: Karnataka BJP's Internal Feud Benefits Pranab, Party Bosses Embarrassed]
This time only 72 per cent of polling was recorded. Each MP's vote are valued at 708 votes, while the votes of each MLA are variable depending on the strength of the state assembly he/she belongs to. This Presidential poll 2012 electoral college is 4896, consisting of 4120 Members of Legislative Assemblies and 776 both from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Members of Parliament.
