India to Elect New President Thursday

New Delhi: India will elect a new president Thursday in what is a direct contest between ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate Pranab Mukherjee and opposition-backed Purno A. Sangma.

The polling will take place in the national and state capitals in which an electoral college consisting of members of parliament and the legislative assemblies will vote.

The votes will be counted Sunday, three days before the five-year tenure of President Pratibha Patil ends.

The 13th Indian president is expected to enter Rashtrapati Bhavan by July 25.

Mukherjee, who had served in the UPA government as finance minister before entering the presidential fray, is the hot favourite to win the election. He is expected to bag around 735,000 of the 10,97,000 votes of the 4,896 electors - 776 MPs and 4,120 assembly members.

Besides UPA members Congress, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, DMK and National Conference, Mukherjee is also supported by the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party, among others.

The Trinamool, which had been undecided on its support for Mukherjee, had changed its mind just two days before the polling and announced it would vote for the UPA candidate with "a heavy heart" due to lack of options.