Presidential polls: 127 MLAs from Odisha vote for Kovind, 17 for Meira

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Thursday congratulated Ram Nath Kovind for being elected the new President of India.
“Congratulate Shri Ramnath Kovind Ji on being elected President of India. We look forward to work under his leadership at @RashtrapatiBhvn”, the CM tweeted.
The regional party had extended its support to the NDA nominee for the post.
Kovind won the election by securing two-thirds of the total electoral college votes. While 522 MPs voted for him, former Lok Sabha Speaker and UPA candidate Meira Kumar polled 255 votes.
According to details of voting in Odisha assembly, 127 MLAs (mostly BJD and BJP) of the total 147 voted for Kovind and 17 for Meira. Besides 15 MLAs from Congress as one among them, Subal Sahu, abstained due to illness, George Tirkey and Laxman Munda voted for the UPA candidate.
Two votes were found invalid during the polling process.
Current President Pranab Mukherjee’s term is ending on July 24 and Kovind will be sworn-in the next day as the 14th President of India.
The election for the post of Vice President is scheduled to be held on August 5.