New Delhi: Pranab Mukherjee was on Sunday elected the 13th President of India, capping the long innings of the veteran Congress leader and the party's chief troubleshooter over the past eight years. The former finance minister and the candidate of the ruling UPA, who garnered 69.3% votes, defeated his rival PA Sangma, the candidate backed by AIADMK, BJD and NDA (minus Shiv Sena and JD-U), by a bigger than expected margin.
Mukherjee's victory, though expected, turned out to be sweeter for Congress because not only did it end up with a show of a united alliance but also managed to drill a few more holes into the rival camp. While Congress expected its candidate to win 102 votes in BJP-ruled Karnataka, Mukherjee ended up with 117 votes in the 224-member assembly as a few BJP members appeared to have voted against the party line. Sangma got 103 votes, while three votes were declared invalid and one MLA did not vote.
"I would like to thank people of this great country for conferring this distinction by electing me to the high office," Mukherjee said after results. "Now, they have entrusted me with the responsibility to protect, to defend and to preserve the Constitution as President of the Republic. I will try to justify, in a modest way as I can, to be trustworthy to the people."
Mukherjee, who was leader of the Lok Sabha for the past eight years and held the portfolios of external affairs and defence, besides finance, in his career spanning more than four decades, will be sworn in as President on Wednesday. The Chief Justice of India will administer the oath of office to the President-elect, who will take over from Pratibha Patil, at a ceremonial function at 11.30 am in the Central Hall of Parliament.
Sangma while congratulating his rival alleged that the government had induced opposition-ruled states through financial packages to garner support for Mukherjee. "We need election code of conduct for presidential poll," he said. Sangma said the country had lost the opportunity to support the tribals of India.
Mukherjee won 69.3% votes in all. Of the 748 members of Parliament who voted, Mukherjee won 527 votes with a value of 3,73,116 while Sangma got 206 votes with a value of 1,45,848. Fifteen votes, including that of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, were declared invalid. Of these, nine would have gone in favour of Mukherjee.
Besides Congress and its partners in the ruling coalition, Mukherjee won the support of UPA's outside supporters, including SP and BSP, and even a few opposition parties, such as CPM, JD(U), Shiv Sena, AIFB and JMM.
Sangma scored in BJP-ruled states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Goa. However, in Jharkhand, where BJP shares power with JMM, Sangma got fewer than expected votes of only 20 MLAs. Despite campaigning as a tribal candidate, Sangma also lost out to Mukherjee in the northeastern states, including his home state of Meghalaya. He drew a blank in Nagaland, where 58 MLAs voted for Mukherjee. In Mizoram, Mukherjee got 32 votes while Sangma polled 7; in Manipur, Mukherjee won 58 votes compared with just one for Sangma; Meghalaya yielded 34 votes for Mukherjee while Sangma got 23 votes.
Mukherjee swept Kerala and his home state of West Bengal. "In the last one month I have been privileged to visit a large number of states...The warmth of the ordinary people was really remarkable. I have received much more from the people of this great country than I have given," he said.
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