President of India

'India scripts victory'. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to greet Ms. Murmu at her residence in New Delhi after the third round of counting showed ...

Ms. Murmu’s lead was substantial from the first round itself when votes of all MPs were counted , but by the third round, her unassailable lead had made it quite clear that there had been much cross-voting in her favour across party lines. Ms. Murmu, who had been a former Governor of Jharkhand, hails from the Santhal tribe and was born in the district of Mayurbhanj, coming up the hard way in life, graduating and teaching in Odisha before entering electoral politics at the local body level and later being elected MLA and serving as a Minister in the Biju Janata Dal-BJP coalition government from 2000 to 2004. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to greet Ms. Murmu at her residence in New Delhi after the third round of counting showed that she had crossed the half-way mark. She received 64.03% of total valid votes polled, much more than what was openly declared in her support and pointing to the fact there had been a lot of cross-voting in Ms. Murmu's favour from the Opposition ranks. Madhya Pradesh saw 19 MLAs cross-vote, while 16 did so in Maharashtra. While there is no whip issued for the Presidential polls, the declared parties and coalitions declare candidates who expect votes to fall on party lines. She was declared elected on Thursday after four rounds of counting, although she had crossed the halfway mark after the third round of counting itself, posting an unassailable lead over her rival and the Opposition’s candidate Yashwant Sinha, who conceded the election thereafter.