Eminent missile technologist Abdul Kalam was Thursday elected India's 12th President in a contest in which he beat the Left-backed Capt. Lakshmi Sahgal, bagging nearly 90 percent vote value in a preferential system of election.
The 71-year-old Kalam, born in a Muslim family in Rameswaram inTamil Nadu, got 4,152 votes with a vote value of 922,884, against Sahgal's 459 votes accounting for 107,366 votes value in a race which was heavily loaded against her with the entire political spectrum supporting Kalam.
Kalam will succeed K.R. Narayanan, whose term expires on July 24.
The president elect will be sworn in at the Central Hall of Parliament the next day.
After a three-hour counting of votes, Kalam's election was announced by Upper House Secretary General R.C. Tripathi, who is also the Returning Officer.
After declaring the results at a press conference, Tripathi handed over a copy of the notification declaring Kalam as the President-elect to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan, who was Kalam's election agent.
Immediately after the results were declared, Mahajan drove to Kalam's residence to hand over the declaration.
While Kalam secured 89.58 percent of the value of votes, Sahgalgot 10.42 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2002)
