Pranab Mukherjee elected as 13th President, P A Sangma cries foul - Politics - Politics News - ibnlive
Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday scripted history by becoming the first person from West Bengal to be elected as the President of India. He defeated his opponent, former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma, with a huge margin to be elected as the 13th President of the country.
Following the declaration of the results, Mukherjee thanked the people of the "great country" for his win with a record margin of sorts bagging 69 per cent of the votes.
Meanwhile, though Sangma congratulated Mukherjee on the win, he lashed out at his opponent saying the poll was not fair. Sangma did not even rule out moving court on the election, saying its process was "exceptionally partisan".
Not ruling out moving the Supreme Court on the election, he said, "We are meeting a day after tomorrow to review the whole situation where this matter will come up for discussion."
Addressing mediapersons, the former Lok Sabha speaker said the presidential and the vice presidential elections must have a code of conduct to make the elections fair.
When asked to clarify on his statement that the elections needed to be made fair, Sangma said that several states were given financial packages.
Sangma accused the UPA of indulging in unfair practices saying the election was not fair and the country had lost a great opportunity to elect a tribal President. "Election process was exceptionally partisan and political through economic and other packages, inducements and threats," he said.
Following the counting, Rajya Sabha Secretary General V K Agnihotri officially declared Pranab Mukherjee elected as the 13th President of the country with 3095 votes valued at 7, 13, 763. His opponent P A Sangma secured 1483 votes valued at 3, 15, 987.
The total number of votes cast in the presidential elections was 4659, valued at 10, 47, 971, of which 4578 votes, at a value of 10, 29, 750, were valid. There were 81 invalid votes valued at 18, 221.
Agnihotri presented the certificate to Pranab Mukherjee on winning the presidential elections.