As the tenure of Ram Nath Kovind will come to an end on July 24, approximately 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs are voted today to elect the 15th President of India. The polling started in Parliament House and state legislative assemblies at 10 AM and ended at 5 PM today, July 18.

The numbers are stacked in Murmu's favour after she received support from Shiv Sena, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) recently. The counting of votes will take place on July 21 while the next President will take oath on July 25.

Another Opposition meeting is to be held today at 6 pm to discuss VP polls, at the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Vice-Presidential polls to be discussed in the meeting. Opposition's Vice-Presidential candidate Margaret Alva to also attend the meeting: Sources

Congress MPs Sonia Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and Digvijaya Singh arrive in Parliament to cast their votes for Presidential elections.

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BJP MP Gautam Gambhir And AAP Mla Harbhajan Singh cast their vote.

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Congress MLA from Odisha, Mohammed Moquim, today went against the party line and voted for the NDA's Presidential candidate, Droupadi Murmu, who is also from Odisha. "It's my personal decision as I've listened to my heart, which guided me to do something for the soil and that's why voted for her," he said.

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Yogi Adityanath Casts His vote.

With the support of BJD, YSRCP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JD(S), Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and now JMM, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Droupadi Murmu has a clear edge over Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be polled in her favour. If elected, she will become the first woman from the tribal community to hold the country’s top constitutional post. Presidential Election 2022: Who is Draupadi Murmu? Here is Everything You Need to Know About NDA’s Presidential Candidate

The President is elected by an electoral college consisting of MPs of both Houses of Parliament and MLAs of the states and Delhi and Puducherry. Nominated members of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and the Assemblies, and members of state Legislative Councils, are not part of the electoral college

Before naming Sinha, a former Union minister during Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, the opposition camp had approached former Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah to take part in the presidential battle.  In the 2017 election, Ram Nath Kovind became the President after defeating joint opposition candidate Meira Kumar. Kovind polled 7,02,000 votes compared with Kumar’s 3,67,000, out of a total of 10,69,358 votes.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 18, 2022 08:42 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).