Pranab Mukherjee is President-elect and will take oath as the 13th President of India at 11.30 am on Wednesday, July 25.
Pranab Mukherjee is President-elect and will take oath as the 13th President of India at 11.30 am on Wednesday, July 25.
The returning officer for the presidential elections, VK Agnihotri, announced a little after 6.30 pm on Sunday, "Pranab Mukherjee has been duly elected to the office of President of India."
Mr Mukherjee has won the election with 69.31 per cent votes; he polled 713,937 votes of the total 10,29,924 votes. His opponent Purno Sangma had 315,987 votes or 30.69 per cent of the total votes.
Mr Mukherjee waited till votes from only one state were left to be counted and he had crossed seven lakh votes, to say thank you. "I express my deep gratitude and thank people of this great country for conferring this distinction by electing me to this high post. I have received much more from the people, parties, Parliament than I have given them... I will try to justify," a beaming Mr Mukherjee said.
On Wednesday morning, Mr Mukherjee will be escorted by the President's Military Secretary to Rashtrapati Bhavan. From there President Pratibha Patil and Mr Mukherjee will leave in a ceremonial cavalcade for the swearing-in ceremony. The short route will be lined with soldiers.
Congress activists apply colours on portrait of Pranab Mukherjee, as they celebrate his victory.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi visited.
Supporters distribute sweets during celebrations outside president elect Pranab Mukherjee's, residence in New Delhi.
Congress workers celebrating.
Sources told NDTV that Mr Mukherjee, the UPA's nominee, bagged 527 votes out of the 748 votes of MPs. His opponent and the NDA's candidate, PA Sangma, got 206 votes, according to sources. That meant 3, 73,116 lakh votes in Mr Mukherjee's kitty.
Counting for the Presidential elections began at 11 am today and celebrations began alongside. As expected Mr Mukherjee took an early lead winning 72 per cent of the MP votes, which were counted first.
