Kovind vs Meira: MPs, MLAs to vote for presidential candidate today

President election: The MPs will vote on Green ballots and the MLAs will vote on pink ballots

The elected representative of the Parliament and various state assemblies on Monday will vote to elect India's next President.

There are two candidates in the fray for the coveted post- National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate Meira Kumar. President Pranab Mukherjee's term is expiring on July 25.

In the last presidential elections 2017 in 2012, Pranab Mukherjee had defeated P A Sangma and got over 69 per cent votes.

Ram Nath Kovind, former Governor of Bihar, was announced as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA's candidate for the post of President of India by BJP president Amit Shah on June 19, 2017. Kovind is a leader and a politician from the BJP. Kovind filed his nomination for the election on June 23, 2017.

Also Read : Presidential elections 2017: Kovind likely to sail through as numbers favour NDA in

Meira Kumar, the former Speaker of Lok Sabha, was announced as the Indian National Congress (INC)-lead opposition's candidate for the post of President of India, after a meeting held on June 22, 2017.

Both Kovind and Kumar are from the Dalit community and have canvassed hard by visiting states to seek the support of legislators.

The president is elected by an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both houses of parliament, the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the 29 states and the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry. As of 2017, the electoral college comprises 776 MPs (Members of Parliament) and 4120 MLAs (Members of Legislative Assembly).

Also Read : Ram Nath Kovind vs Meira Kumar: Voting begins for India's next President

The total strength of the Electoral college is 10,98,903 votes. Members of Legislative Council (MLCs) don't take part in the election of President of India.

The value of an MLA's vote depends on the population of the state he or she represents. But the value of the vote of an MP does not vary -- it is 708.

Though the poll result will be announced on July 20, it is expected that Kovind will emerge as winner as he has also support of non-NDA parties like All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), Janata Dal- United (JD-U), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and independents.

In terms of the percentage, the total electoral votes come to over 60 percent in favour of Kovind, which is much higher than the requisite 50 percent. Read More