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Presidential Election 2022 Result Updates: The BJP-led NDA’s nominee Droupadi Murmu on Thursday became India’s 15th President. She succeeded Ram Nath Kovind and also became the first tribal leader to hold the top constitutional post in the country. Murmu was pitted against the Opposition’s candidate pick Yashwant Sinha, who has now congratulated her on the victory.
Locals of Murmu’s hometown Rairangpur have prepared 20,000 ladoos for distribution among the people and hoardings have been put up congratulating “Odisha’s daughter” as they expressed confidence in her win and geared up for celebrations. Various local organizations such as traders’ bodies, bar associations, and religious and educational institutions, and even government officials are waiting with palpable enthusiasm to congratulate the “daughter of the soil”.
Meanwhile, security arrangements have been tightened at Murmu’s village expecting large crowds towards the end of the day. “Over 10 quintals of ladoos have been made to mark the victory. The sweet will distributed outside Murmu’s house,” a local said.
Folk artistes and tribal dancers rehearsed their performances and are ready to hit the streets as soon as the results are declared. They are waiting with bated breath to witness the first tribal woman president of the country. “We are preparing 20,000 laddus and have put up 100 banners congratulating Murmu, who has her house in our town,” local BJP leader Tapan Mahanta said.
Kovind’s tenure is ending on July 24 and the new president will take oath on July 25. Poll officials counted the votes in room number 63, the strong room of Parliament where the boxes were guarded behind round-the-clock security.
All ballot boxes from state assemblies had reached the Parliament’s strong room on Tuesday evening and were locked there since. The ballot boxes had been flown into Delhi as ‘Mr Ballot Box’ from across the states. ‘Mr Ballot Box’ came seated in the front row of aircraft under the watchful gaze of the Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) of their respective states. According to the EC, each ballot box was issued an e-ticket under the name ‘Mr Ballot Box’.
Polling for the presidential election was held between 10am to 5pm on July 18 at 31 locations including the Parliament house and 30 centres within state legislative assemblies.
Eight MPs, including BJP MPs Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dhotre, were among those who missed casting their votes due to medical reasons.
Kovind had become the President after polling 7,02,044 votes out of a total of 10,69,358 votes, while his rival Meira Kumar polled only 3,67,314 votes.
(with inputs from PTI)
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