UPA-Left nominee Pratibha Patil won the presidential
election to become India's first woman president in a bitterly contested poll
that saw some cross voting from the BJP.
Patil won by a huge three lakh
margin defeating NDA-backed independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
She will be sworn-in as president on July 25.
''This is the
victory of the principles which our Indian people uphold,'' Patil told
mediapersons outside her residence.
In the final count, Patil got a vote
value of 6,38,116 while Shekhawat secured 3,31,306 in an electoral college of
10.98 lakh.
The winner got 65.82 per cent of the valid votes, Lok Sabha
Secretary General and returning officer PDT Achary said at the end of counting
of votes.
In Parliament, she got 442 votes against 232 of Shekhawat. In
states and union territories put together, the winning candidate bagged 2,489
votes against the loser's 1,217.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee
congratulated president-elect Pratibha Patil.
In a message sent along
with flowers to the UPA-Left presidential candidate, he said, ''Please accept my
heartiest felicitation on your resounding victory and my best wishes for your
glorious tenure as our
rashtrapatiji.''
Cross voting
factorDashing all hopes of the BJP-led alliance for a conscience
vote in favour of Shekhawat, the 72-year-old former Governor of Rajasthan
significantly picked up votes of the value of 11,000 more than
expected.
She was helped by cross voting in BJP-ruled states of Gujarat
and Chhattisgarh.
In the other saffron-ruled state of Madhya Pradesh,
Shekhawat did not poll even the expected votes with 11 declared invalid because
of writings like 'Om' and 'Jai Shri Ram', apparently indicating rebellion among
the BJP voters.
All India (MLA + MP) |
|
Pratibha Patil |
B S Shekhawat |
Actual |
638116 |
331306 |
Expected |
626350 |
341201 |
Difference |
11766 |
-9895 |
Total Votes |
1094681 |
MP
|
|
Pratibha Patil |
B S Shekhawat |
Actual |
312936 |
164256 |
Expected |
310812 |
167088 |
Difference |
2124 |
-2832 |
Total Votes |
546576 |
MLA |
|
Pratibha Patil |
B S Shekhawat |
Actual |
325180 |
167050 |
Expected |
315538 |
174113 |
Difference |
9642 |
-7063 |
Total Votes |
548105 |
'Victory of
principles'A beaming Patil thanked the people for her success, which
she said was a ''victory of the principles which our Indian people
uphold''.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi
drove to her residence shortly after her official announcement to greet her on
her victory.
Gandhi said she was happy and proud that for the first time
after independence, a woman has been chosen as the Head of State. She thanked
the leaders of the UPA constituents and other allies, including BSP supremo
Mayawati.
The Prime Minister said Patil's election was a vote against
''politics of divisiveness'' and in favour of unity and strengthening the
foundations of our secular republic.
The counting of votes was almost on
predictable lines with Patil taking most of the states except in Haryana where
two of her supporting MLAs did not vote and in Jammu and Kashmir, she appeared
to have dropped some votes.
Unexpected supportPatil got
unexpected support from dissidents in the rival camps in BJP and AGP. In
Gujarat, apparently four BJP anti-Modi MLAs voted for Patil, as did 15 AGP
legislators in Assam.
Shekhawat failed to open his account in the
combined Marxist-Congress bastion of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. In Mizoram
too, he scored a duck.
However, in his home state of Rajasthan, Shekhawat
appeared to have got the votes of four INLD MLAs who defied their party's
decision to abstain.
The other state where he got far more than expected
votes was Tamil Nadu with 58 votes from AIADMK, MDMK and probably actor
Vijaykant.
Patil scored impressively in Maharashtra where Shiv Sena broke
ranks with BJP and supported her. She got 223 of the 281 votes polled while
Shekhawat got 58.
The electoral college consisted of 4,472 votes. Of
this, 4,394 were the valid votes with a value of 9,69,422.
In the
proportional representation system of voting, while MPs have a uniform value of
708 for each vote, the value of an MLA's vote differs from state to state with
UP accounting for a maximum value of 208 whereas Sikkim accounts for the lowest
value of seven for each vote.
Murky pollsThe counting of
votes for the presidential poll started at 11 am (IST) on Saturday. The first
ballot box was opened at the counting centre at Parliament House by
Achary.
Union Minister P R Dasmunsi and Satyapal Jain, the election
agents of Patil and Shekhawat respectively, were present at the
occasion.
The sealed ballot boxes were brought by Indian flights to the
capital from the 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.