Presidential poll today, NDA numbers favour Ram Nath Kovind

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday congratulated NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind “in advance”, on the eve of the July 17 presidential election, and urged ruling alliance MPs to cast their vote.

Welcoming Kovind to the NDA meeting, the Prime Minister recalled how Kovind had worked as Morarji Desai’s “sahyogi” when Desai was Prime Minister, and said the government will offer all “sahyog” (cooperation) to him.

The PM also asked NDA MPs to reach out to the “new millennial voters”, those born in 2000 and after, and said they should be welcomed and made aware of their responsibilities.

With the numbers favouring Kovind in Monday’s presidential election, against the Opposition’s candidate Meira Kumar, the result is a foregone conclusion as nearly two-thirds of the electoral college is backing him, including some non-NDA parties.

Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar made light of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's call to MPs and MLAs for a “vote of conscience”, saying that not only had 40 parties supported Kovind’s presidential bid, non-NDA CMs of Bihar, TN and Odisha had also announced their support.