Ram Nath Kovind vs Meira Kumar: India's next President to be named on Thursday; counting to begin at 11 am

New Delhi: The counting for the Presidential Election held on July 17 would take place on Thursday and the fate of two contenders -- the ruling NDA's candidate Ram Nath Kovind and the combined Opposition nominee Meira Kumar – would be known by 5.00 pm.

As per Lok Sabha secretary general Anoop Mishra, who is also the returning officer of the election, the counting will commence at 11 am.

First, the ballot box of Parliament House would be opened, and then, the ballot boxes received from states would be counted on an alphabetical basis.

Officials said all preparations have been made for the vote count and that all ballot boxes have already reached Parliament House by Tuesday evening amid tight security.

The votes will be counted on four separate tables. There will be eight rounds of counting, and announcements made after every round.

Officials said the seals of ballot boxes will be opened on Thursday in the presence of representatives of the two candidates -- former Bihar governor Kovind and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar -- and the observers of the Election Commission.

An Election Commission official who has witnessed previous two presidential polls said that usually results are declared at around 5 pm.

Close to 99 percent voting was recorded for electing India's next president.

Polling to choose the successor to President Pranab Mukherjee, who demits office on July 24, was held simultaneously at 32 polling stations -- one in Parliament House and one each in 29 state assemblies and two union territories with assemblies.

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

In the electoral arithmetic, Kovind has a distinct advantage over his rival as parties like the Janata Dal-United and the Biju Janata Dal, otherwise not allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party, had decided to vote for him.

The Janata Dal-United has about 1.91 percent of electoral college votes, while the BJD of Odisha has 2.99 percent.

In addition, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi in Telangana (two percent), different factions of AIADMK (5.39 percent), and the YSR Congress (1.53 percent) also had announced their backing for Kovind.

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.

The total value of votes of the presidential electoral college is 10,98,903, and the NDA candidate is slated to get over 63 percent votes.

In the 2012 Presidential Election, Pranab Mukherjee had defeated PA Sangma and got over 69 percent votes.

(With Agency inputs)