NEW DELHI – Pranab Mukherjee, the ruling United Progressive Alliance’s key strategist and a long-time minister, was yesterday elected India’s 13th president by an overwhelming majority of MPs and legislators across the political spectrum, leaving his rival P A Sangma bruised.
One of India’s most experienced and canny politicians, Mukherjee, the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate, won the sweepstakes with a massive margin, bagging 713,763 votes, about 70 percent, leaving Sangma way behind with 315,887 votes.
Sangma projected himself as a representative of “tribals,” but his sales pitch simply did not work.
The president-elect, who has the unique distinction of holding key portfolios of finance, defence and external affairs in an eventful four-decade political career, was backed not just by partners of the Congress-led UPA but also by the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Shiv Sena, which broke ranks with the opposition alliance.
Also endorsing the candidature of the veteran Congressman were the CPI-M, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Mukherjee takes over from Pratibha Patil, India’s first woman president. The swearing-in ceremony will be held in parliament on July 25, the day Patil moves out of the 340-room presidential palace and the 76-year-old Mukherjee moves in.“I thank all the people of my country,” Mukherjee told reporters.
“And with the emotions and feelings that I have sensed in the common people revolving round this presidential election, it felt like it was not a presidential election but a general election,” he said.
Mukherjee’s victory was fraught with political significance in other ways too. In BJP-ruled Karnataka, there were reports of cross-voting though leaders said the BJP was united.
