Voting for presidential election underway today

New Delhi: Voting is underway on Monday for the election of the 16th President of India.

Polling began at 10 am and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to vote. Polling will be held till 5 pm. The counting of votes will take place on July 21 and the swearing-in ceremony of the next President will take place on July 25.

Draupadi Murmu from national democratic alliance (NDA) and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha from United Progressive Alliance (UPA) are candidates for the post of president.

Draupadi Murmu has previously served as the Governor of Jharkhand. If the tribal leader Murmu is elected, Murmu will be the first President of India belonging to the tribal community. Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha is the candidate from opposition parties who was once a senior BJP leader. Sinha had quit the BJP in 2018, alleging that the BJP did not have internal democracy.