India to get a new President today; here’s everything you should know

Counting of votes is underway at the Parliament House in Room Number 62. The ballot boxes collected from all the states are locked up in the room and the results will be out at 5pm.

Counting of votes is happening on four tables and under the supervision of Lok Sabha general secretary Anoop Mishra. There will be eight rounds of counting.

Ballot boxes will be opened in the presence of representatives of the two candidates -- Ram Nath Kovind and Meira Kumar -- and the observers of the Election Commission.

To become a President, a candidate needs more than 50% of votes, which means 49,452 votes.

The Presidential election saw almost 99 per cent voting, the highest ever. A total of 4,895 voters, 4,120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs were eligible to vote.

In the last Presidential polls in 2012, Pranab Mukherjee had defeated PA Sangma with over 69% votes.