Prez poll: NDA's pick Kovind leads over Meira Kumar, counting underway

New Delhi: As the counting for the 14th President continues, NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind is leading with 60,683 votes.

Counting showed that the Opposition candidate Meira Kumar has bagged 22,941 so far.

"Ram Nath Kovind gets 60,683 votes, Meira Kumar gets 22,941 in Assam, Arunachal, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, " Returning Officer Anoop Mishra said.

The name of the next President of India will be known on Thursday with the counting of votes to be completed by 5 pm.

Counting of polls began at 11 am.

The ballot boxes received from states are being counted on an alphabetical basis and the votes would be counted on four separate tables.

There would be eight rounds of counting. The results would be declared by around 5 pm, a senior official said.

Close to 99 per cent voting was recorded for electing India’s next President.

Thirty-two polling stations, including the one at Parliament House, were set up in various states.

A total of 4,896 voters — 4,120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs — were eligible to cast their ballot. MLCs of states with legislative council are not part of the electoral college.

While the value of an MLA’s vote depends on the population of the state he or she belongs to, the value of an MP’s vote remains the same at 708.