THE counting of votes to elect India's 15th president was underway on Thursday (20) and Droupadi Murmu, the candidate nominated by the National Democratic Alliance led by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), looked favourite to win as she led her opponent Yashwant Sinha, a former cabinet minister, in the initial rounds.
The voting took place on Monday (18) in which elected members of India's parliament and the legislatures in the country's states and union territories cast their ballot.
Of the 736 electors comprising 727 members of parliament and nine members of legislature who were permitted by India's Election Commission to vote at the Parliament House, 728 electors cast their vote.
Arrangements were made to bring back the ballot boxes from states to Parliament House by July 19.
Whoever wins will succeed incumbent president Ram Nath Kovind who was elected in 2017. If Murmu wins, she will become India's first tribal president and the second woman president after Pratibha Patil.
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