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| Turnout | 97.29%[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The2017 presidential election was held in India on 17 July 2017 with the votes counted and the results announced on 20 July 2017.PresidentPranab Mukherjee, whose term of office was due to expire on 24 July 2017,[2] declined to seek re-election due to health concerns and old age.
Governor of BiharRam Nath Kovind of theBharatiya Janata Party had the backing of the governingNational Democratic Alliance coalition, and went up against opposition candidateMeira Kumar of theIndian National Congress in the vote. Kovind secured roughly two-thirds of the votes from theelectoral college of elected members of federal, state and union territory legislatures and was elected to a five-year term asPresident.[3] Kovind's term of office began on 25 July 2017.
There was initial speculation that the incumbent,Pranab Mukherjee, would seek re-election. However, he decided not to run again in 2017, meaning that his term in office ended on 24 July 2017.[4]
ThePresident of India isindirectly elected by anelectoral college consisting of the elected members of both houses ofparliament, the elected members of theLegislative assemblies of the 28 states and the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the Union Territories ofDelhi,Puducherry andJammu and Kashmir.[5] As of 2017, the electoral college comprises 776MPs and 4,120MLAs.The system assigns varying numbers of votes to these electoral college members, such that the total weight of MPs and those of MLAs is roughly equal and that the voting power of states and territories are proportional to their population. Overall the members of the electoral college were eligible to cast 1,098,903 votes, yielding a threshold for a majority of 549,452 votes.[6]
The nomination of a candidate for election to the office of the President must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders. The election is held by means of asecret ballot under thesingle transferable vote system. The manner of election of President is provided by Article 55 of theConstitution.[7][8]
The returning officer for the election was Anoop Mishra, the Secretary General of Lok Sabha.[9]
At the time of the election theNDA coalition itself was short of a majority by about 25,000 votes, but was expected to be able to rely on other parties to breach the small deficit without difficulty.[6]
| Party/Alliance | Party composition | Lok Sabha votes | Rajya Sabha votes | State Assemblies votes | Total votes | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NDA | BJP,SHS,TDP,LJSP,SAD,RLSP,AD,GFP,MGP,[10]AINRC,JKPDP,NPF,NPP,PMK,SDF,SWP | 237,888 | 49,560 | 239,923 | 527,371 | 48.10% |
| Other parties | AIADMK,[11]YSRCP,JD(U),BJD,[12]TRS,[13]INLD,IND | 50,268 | 20,532 | 63,107 | 133,907 | 12.20% |
| Government total (including non-NDA parties' support) | 661,278 | 60.30% | ||||
| UPA | INC,IUML,RSP,KC (M),DMK | 34,692 | 46,020 | 93,137 | 173,849 | 15.90% |
| Other parties | AITC,CPI(M),NCP,SP,BSP,AAP,RJD,AIUDF,JD(S),JMM,AIMIM,CPI,JKNC | 60,180 | 47,436 | 152,776 | 260,392 | 23.80% |
| Opposition total | 434,241 | 39.70% | ||||
Although the election was not a popular vote, some general polling was performed to measure public opinion. In bothBusiness Insider-Ipsos andNDTV polls comparing support of the two candidates, Kovind was the more popular choice with 71%[14] and 63%[15] support respectively.
Two candidates were nominated. Both the governing NDA coalition and the opposition UPA coalition put forward candidates from their dominant parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress respectively.
| Name | Born | Current or previous positions | State of birth | Announced | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ram Nath Kovind | (1945-10-01)1 October 1945 (age 80) Kanpur Dehat,Uttar Pradesh | 26thGovernor of Bihar (2015–2017) Other offices
| Uttar Pradesh | 19 June 2017 | [16][17][18] |
| Name | Born | Current or previous positions | State of birth | Announced | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Meira Kumar | (1945-03-31)31 March 1945 (age 80) Darbhanga,Bihar | 15thSpeaker of the Lok Sabha (2009–2014) Other offices
| Bihar | 22 June 2017 | [19][20][21] |
| National Democratic Alliance |
|---|
| For President |
 |
| Ramnath Kovind |
| United Progressive Alliance |
|---|
| For President |
|
| Meira Kumar |
Ram Nath Kovind was declared as the President-elect after the counting of votes which was held on 20 July 2017.[22] He was administered oath by theChief Justice of IndiaJagdish Singh Khehar, to take office as the 15th President of India on 25 July 2017 at the Central Hall located in The Parliament House, New Delhi.[23]
| Candidate | Coalition | Individual votes | Electoral College votes | % | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ram Nath Kovind | NDA | 2,930 | 702,044 | 65.65 | |||||
| Meira Kumar | UPA | 1,844 | 367,314 | 34.35 | |||||
| Valid votes | 4,774 | 1,069,358 | 98.08 | ||||||
| Blank and invalid votes | 77 | 20,942 | 1.92 | ||||||
| Total | 4,851 | 1,090,300 | 100 | ||||||
| Registered voters / Turnout | 4,896 | 1,098,903 | 97.29 | ||||||
Immediately after the results were announced,Prime MinisterNarendra Modi tweeted,
"Congratulations to ShriRam Nath Kovind Ji on being elected the President of India! Best wishes for a fruitful & inspiring tenure."
In another tweet he added
"Gladdened by the extensive support for Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji among MPs & across various parties. I thank the members of the electoral college."
