New Delhi: The counting for the coveted post of President of India is finally over. India has got its first woman president Pratibha Patil who won one of the bitterest political campaigns to the top post in the country's 60-year-old post independence history.
Pratibha Patil was voted on Saturday as the 13th President of the country. Patil took an early lead when she bagged 223 votes in Andhra Pradesh - a huge lead over NDA-backed independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who got only two votes in the state. The value of one MLA's vote in Andhra Pradesh is 148.
She won by 306,810 votes against her rival Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who contested the July 19 presidential election as an independent backed by Opposition NDA.
After the results were announced, Patil described the victory as a ‘victory of principles, victory of right thinking’ by the people.
Patil's native Jalgaon village in Maharashtra has been in celebration mood since Saturday morning as her victory was a foregone conclusion against her old rival.
Patil, who had been haunted by unsubstantiated Opposition charges of corruption, fraud and improprieties, has won almost 11,000 more votes than expected. Shekhawat got 331,306 votes.
In New Delhi, Pratibha Patil received 50 votes, while Shekhawat managed 19 and in while in Assam, Patil got 92 votes and Shekhawat, 20. In the state of Arunachal Pradesh, she bagged 58 votes while Shekhawat got just one vote.
In Haryana, Pratibha Patil got 74 votes while Shekhawat got 7. Likewise in Goa she received 25 votes and Shekhawat got 14 and in Himachal Pradesh she got 47 votes to Shekhawat's 20.
Patil won by 3,06,810 votes, despite the fact that she bore the brunt of a vicious campaign. However, with the UPA-Left solidly backing her, her victory has been a foregone conclusion for sometime now.
Patil also had additional support from Shiv Sena and abstention by some key NDA allies like the Trinamool Congress and the JD (S) increased her victory margin.
The first ballot box was opened at the counting centre at Parliament House by Returning Officer P D T Achary in the presence of Union Minister P R Dasmunsi and Satyapal Jain - the election agents of Patil and NDA-backed independent nominee Bhairon Singh Shekhawat respectively.
The sealed ballot boxes were brought by Indian flights to the Capital from capitals of states and union territories where MLAs and some MPs exercised their franchise on Friday.
A total of 682 MPs and 3,755 MLAs cast their ballots and seven states and union territories registered a 100 per cent turnout.
The counting was the climax in a month-long bitter campaign, which saw the worst mud-slinging in the run up to choose the successor to A P J Abdul Kalam.
Polling was conducted in Parliament House amidst tight security and strict vigil by the Election Commission, which gave a series of stringent instructions for voters to follow.
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