Droupadi Murmu vs Yashwant Sinha: Counting of votes underway for presidential election

New Delhi [India], July 21 (ANI): The counting of votes for the recently-held 15th Presidential election is underway at the Parliament House.
The counting of votes commenced at 11 am on Thursday with the results of the contest between BJP-led NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu and joint Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha to be declared today.
The results will declare on who will succeed incumbent Ram Nath Kovind to become the country's 15th President.
The counting is underway in Room No 63 in Parliament House and the result will be declared immediately after the counting. The immediate precincts of Room Number 63 have been declared as sanitised and "silent zone".
Only counting officers, officials deployed to assist the Rajya Sabha Secretary General, candidates and one authorised representative of each candidate, observers appointed by the Election Commission and media persons with valid passes are allowed to enter into the counting hall.
Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody is the returning officer for the Presidential election.
Out of 736 electors comprising 727 MPs and nine MLAs permitted by the Election Commission to vote at the Parliament house, 728 (719 MPs and nine MLAs) cast their votes. The total turnout at Parliament House was 98.91 per cent.
The voting took place on July 18 and was completed in a peaceful manner.
Droupadi Murmu is seen to have a clear edge in the contest with several political parties extending support to the NDA candidate.
Meanwhile, Yashwant Sinha expressed gratitude to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and said that now a time has come when for a larger national cause.
"I am grateful to Mamataji for the honour and prestige she bestowed on me in the TMC. Now a time has come when for a larger national cause I must step aside from the party to work for greater opposition unity. I am sure she approves of the step," he said in a tweet.
Amid the counting of votes in the presidential polls, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that not only tribals, but the whole country will be proud to have first woman tribal president.
"Not only tribals, but everyone in the country is going to have a sense of pride in having the 1st woman tribal President. I have learnt that all prominent tribal leaders will be coming to Delhi to greet the new likely to be President," Rijiju said.
Notably, people belonging to the native place of NDA candidate Murmu, Rairangpur in Odisha, have made sweets anticipating her victory in the contest against Yashwant Sinha, the Opposition candidate.
The people of her native place have also planned a victory procession and tribal dance on Thursday.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also planned to begin celebrating in more than one lakh tribal villages as soon as the results are announced, sources said on July 14.
The BJP workers have been instructed to begin the celebration after the announcement of the victory of Murmu all over the country, especially among the tribal community in more than one lakh villages across the country. (ANI)