Pratibha Devisingh Patil was declared elected the 12th President on Saturday evening. On July 25, she will become the first woman to head the Indian Republic.
Ms. Patil defeated her lone opponent, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, by an impressive margin of 3,06,810 in an electoral college with votes valued at 10.98 lakh, in what has been described as the most keenly — and, hotly — contested poll.
As a candidate of the United Progressive Alliance and the Left parties, Ms. Patil secured 65.82 per cent of the total votes cast, while the NDA-supported Shekhawat polled 33.18 per cent.
Reflecting the UPA-Left’s national spread, Ms. Patil made her presence felt in every State, whereas Mr. Shekhawat drew a blank in West Bengal, Kerala, Tripura and Mizoram. He secured healthy margins in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Ms. Patil’s victory as “a vote against divisive forces.”
Soon after the results were declared, Mr. Shekhawat announced his resignation from the office of Vice-President, though his term was to last till August 18.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment