July 21, New Delhi (NDTV) – India got its first tribal President today as NDA choice Droupadi Murmu scooped up over 60 per cent of the total vote value. Opposition’s Yashwant Sinha conceded defeat after three rounds of counting. The President-elect will take oath on July 25.
Droupadi Murmu got 64.03 per cent of total vote value after three rounds of counting. Yashwant Sinha ended up with 35.97 per cent.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with senior members of his Cabinet and BJP chief JP Nadda, visited Ms Murmu to congratulate her. Celebrations broke out across the country, complete with sweets and colourful tribal dances.
The voting figures also indicate a considerable amount of cross-voting by opposition MPs and MLAs in Ms Murmu’s favour. While parties have declared support for one candidate or the other, there is no penalty for cross-voting in the Presidential elections.
The winner of the Presidential election is not the candidate who gets only the most votes, but the one who crosses a quota. This quota is determined by adding votes polled for each candidate, dividing by two, and adding ‘1’ to it. Basically, one more than 50 per cent. If someone does not cross this at first, subsequent preferences marked on the ballot paper come into play.
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