The vote for choosing the President of India was cast by the Members of the Parliament, State Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Assemblies of Union Territories on Thursday. The votes are to be counted on Sunday, July 22, but even before counting, numbers favor Ex-Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in a big way.

The race has been on for the past couple of monthsto elect the 13th President of India, or the 16th person to adorn the chair of the first citizen (including the acting Presidents).. While the ruling UPA Government was in discussions to bring out a suitable candidate, things got heated up when the former Speaker of the LokSabha and former Chief Minister of Meghalaya, P A Sangma mooted the need for someone belonging to a tribal community to become the President of India.

P A Sangma, who is also the co-founder of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was supported by BJP and AIADMK in his quest to become the President. Meanwhile UPA ally Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banarjee exposed signs of dissent within the ruling coalition by picking names, including that of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself as candidates to become the President. The list also included the former President A P J Abdul Kalam and former LokSabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam Singh Yadav supported the list.

P A Sangma

Finally, UPA announced its then Finance Minister and one of the most popular and powerful political figures, Pranab Mukherjee as its presidential candidate. Kalam bowed out of the race in respect to Pranab Mukherjee and both the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party eventually had to assent to the ruling coalition’s decision.