President elections 2017 LIVE: Ram Nath Kovind wins with 66% votes

The numbers went overwhelmingly in favour of NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind who was challenged by the Congress-led UPA nominee Meira Kumar. Catch all the live action and news of presidential election 2017 result.

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jul 20, 2017 16:47 IST

Much on the expected lines, NDA's presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind won easily against Opposition candidate Meira Kumar during counting of votes in Parliament.

After final round of counting, Ram Nath Kovind got 7,02,044 votes out of a total of 10,69,358. His opponent and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar won 3,67,314 votes.

India's 14th President Ram Nath Kovind, once sworn-in on July 25, will be the second Dalit President of India after KR Narayanan.

HERE ARE THE LATEST UPDATES:

Ram Nath Kovind has taken an unbeatable lead.
In Rajasthan, Ram Nath Kovind got 166 votes against 34 polled by Meira Kumar. In Nagaland, Ram Nath Kovind got 56 while Meira Kumar secured just one vote. Two ballot papers were found invalid in Nagaland.
Two ballot papers were also found invalid in Odisha, where Ram Nath Kovind got 127 votes against 6 secured by Meira Kumar.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee congratulates Ram Nath Kovind.

Congratulations to Ram Nath Kovind Ji, who will be our next President- Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 20, 2017
The Election Commission has counted a total of 1,965 votes. In terms of value, these votes translate into a figure of 6,84,179.
Ram Nath Kovind has secured 1,389 votes having total value of 4,79,585 against 576 votes having the total value of 2,04,594.
Ram Nath Kovind secured 60,683 votes against 22,941 votes polled by Meira Kumar.
In the first round of counting, the votes from Assam, Arunchal pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar were counted.
In Andhra Pradesh, Ram Nath Kovind got 27,189 while Meira Kumar fail to secure a single vote. In Arunachal Pradesh, Kovind secured 448 against 24 by Meira Kumar.
In Assam, Ram Nath Kovind got 10,556 while Meira Kumar secured 460 votes. In Bihar, Ram Nath Kovind got 22,490 votes agaisnt 18,867 secured by Meira Kumar.
As the electronic voting machines were not used in the Presidential Election, the counting of votes would be done manually.
Just before the results, Opoosition candidate Meira Kumar said, "It's battle of ideologies. I don't want to comment on Ram Nath Kovind, have respect for him. Fought this election with all my might. I believe in voice of conscience."
Counting of votes for Presidential election 2017 begins.

#Visuals Counting of votes for #PresidentialPoll2017 begins in Parliament pic.twitter.com/ffzK0u34CB ANI (@ANI_news) July 20, 2017

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to cast his vote in Parliament on July 17 for the presidential election. The presidential poll on Monday saw nearly 99 per cent voting, the highest ever, according to returning officer said.
Thirty two polling stations including the one in 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.