Rom Nath Kovind VS Meira Kumar
NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind (Left) and Opposition Nominee Meira Kumar (Right)

A total of 4,896 voters — 4,120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs — decided the fate of NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind and Opposition nominee Meira Kumar when the presidential election took place on Monday. The results of the polls will be announced on July 20.

The voting to elect the 14th President of India will take place in the Parliament House in New Delhi and the respective state assemblies between 10 am and 5 pm. The counting of votes will happen on July 20 with all the ballot boxes from different states being brought to the capital.

Both Kovind and Kumar belong to the Dalit community and have campaigned in several states to seek the support of the legislators. While Kovind has the support of BJP and its allies, Kumar has the backing of Congress and 17 other Opposition parties. 

Here are all the LIVE updates:

7:56 pm IST:

7:35 pm IST:

7:33 pm IST: I&B Minister Venkaiah Naidu has been named the vice presidential candidate of the NDA

7:25 pm IST:

7:24 pm IST:

7:16 pm IST:

7:15 pm IST:

7:11 pm IST:

7:05 pm IST: MPs Tapas Paul and Ramchandra Hansdah did not vote as they are in police custody, says the secretary general.

6:57 pm IST:

6:55 pm IST:

6:40 pm IST: NDA vice-presidential candidate will be announced around 7.30 pm when BJP president Amit Shah holds a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi.

6:19 pm IST:

6:15 pm IST: PM Modi arrives at the party headquarters in Delhi for the parliamentary board meeting to decide on the vice presidential candidate.

6 pm IST:

5:53 pm IST: NDA's vice presidential candidate will file nomination papers on Tuesday at 11 am, reports ANI.

5:50 pm IST:

5:48 pm IST: 

5:45 pm IST: 

5:27 pm IST: Voting for presidential polls comes to an end in Andhra Pradesh with all 175 legislators having cast their votes for their franchise.

5 pm IST: Voting for presidential polls comes to an end in Madhya Pradesh with 228 legislators having cast their votes for their franchise.

4:30 pm IST: All the 81 elected MLAs of Jharkhand Assembly have cast their votes for the presidential polls.

4:16 pm IST: "I'm not aspiring to become anything. The party finally decides about the candidature. All other things are only speculations. Whatever Parliamentary Board decides is final," I&B Minister Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.

3:12 pm IST: "It's a vote against injustice. For the sake of the country, we urge everyone to not support BJP and stand beside the people," says West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

She added: "We (TMC) are voting for Meira Kumar as it is a vote against the atrocities of the BJP. The BJP desperately wants numbers but we are pro-people."

NDTV quoted her as saying that the TMC was "voting for the losing candidate (Meira Kumar) to protest against the BJP."

3 pm IST:

2:30 pm IST: "The rumours that NCP MPs and MLAs are voting for the NDA Presidential Candidate are false, we are voting for our candidate Meira Kumar, we have been part of her candidature selection process and we were with her during filling of her nomination papers. All rumours are baseless and should be ignored," Nawab Malik, national spokesperson of the NCP, wrote on Twitter.

2:07 pm IST:

1:57 pm IST:

1:50 pm IST: Will the BJP's vice-presidential candidate be from South India?

Read: BJP's vice-presidential candidate from South India? Here are the possibilities

1:40 pm IST: With more than 4,800 voters engaged in the election of the 14th President of India, the Election Commission of India has come up with a series of initiatives that will guarantee a free and fair Presidential election.

Read: Presidential Elections 2017: 3 initiatives rolled out by the Election Commission for the first time

1:30 pm IST:

12:50 pm IST: "This is a historic day. We have not compromised on our beliefs. They are thinking about cross voting because the NDA is scared that it will get less votes. We don't believe in negative politics," Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said.

12:30 pm IST:

12:25 pm IST: "This is an ideological battle. This is not a rhetorical or symbolic fight, I've travelled and campaigned with her (Meira Kumar). The mood in the campaign is of confidence and enthusiasm. The numbers might be stacked against her, but we know what we are fighting for," Meira Kumar's son, Anshul, told CNN-News18.

He added: "There's been a lot of excitement and energy in the camp as we fight for her (Meira Kumar's) principles. It's not a question of numbers, only the conscience matters. Nothing matters more than the conscience."

12:06 pm IST:

11:54 am IST: "Ram Nath Kovind is a secular man. I along with Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and many others have decided to vote for Kovind ji. He is a man of reputation. We were never consulted before the Samajwadi Party announced that it would support Meira Kumar," Shivpal Yadav was quoted by CNN-News18 as saying.

11:43 am IST: "All NCP MPs & MLAs have voted for Meira Kumar," says Praful Patel

11:22 am IST:

11:16 am IST:

11:14 am IST: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal casts his vote in the state assembly during the presidential elections.

11 am IST:

10:50 am IST:

10:44 am IST: DMK working president MK Stalin casts his vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

10:36 am IST: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has cast his vote from the state assembly in Amravati. 

10:35 am IST: MLAs Chhagan Bhujbal and Ramesh Kadam, who are currently in prison, will be brought to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly to cast their votes.

10:30 am IST: PM Modi and Amit Shah cast their votes in Parliament

10:25 am IST: The Election Commission has disqualified Madhya Pradesh Minister Narottam Mishra from voting in the presidential election since the poll panel had disqualified him for three years over charges of paid news, not giving a true account of the expenses incurred in the 2008 Assembly polls.

10:23 am IST: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath arrives at the state assembly to cast his vote.

10:22 am IST: "The good part is that whoever wins the Presidential Elections, it will be a Dalit who will become the President of India... It is a huge victory for our movement and party," BSP chief Mayawati told reporters.

10:20 am IST:

10:19 am IST:

10:15 am IST: PM Modi and Amit Shah on their way to cast their votes in the Parliament for the Presidential polls.

10:10 am IST: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami casts his vote during the Presidential Elections 2017, CNN-News18 reports.

10:04 am IST: Amit Shah arrives at the Parliament in Delhi. The Monsoon Session also begins from today.

9:50 am IST:

9:40 am IST: "Ram Nath Kovind ji will win with a comfortable and respectable margin," I&B Minister Venkaiah Naidu told reporters today.

9:32 am IST: PM Modi and BJP President Amit Shah will cast their votes at 10 am in the Parliament

9:15 am IST: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sundat that it would have been better if the president had been chosen by consensus. "However, it is a matter of satisfaction and pride that the election campaign has been a dignified one. All the political parties need to be congratulated. All parties must train their MPs and MLAs to cast their votes so that not a single vote is wasted," the PM added.

9 am IST: BJP parliamentary board meeting to nominate the party's candidate for the vice-presidential polls will take place at the party headquarters in Delhi at 6 pm today. The opposition has nominated former West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi as their vice-presidential candidate.

8:51 am IST:

8:44 am IST:

8:42 am IST: The President's Bodyguard are currently rehearsing for the transition between outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee and the swearing-in or incoming ceremony of the new commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces in Delhi's Vijay Chowk.

The President's Bodyguard is an elite household cavalry regiment of the Indian Army.

President Mukherjee's tenure will end on July 24.

8:35 am IST: Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav will vote for NDA's Kovind, CNN-News18 reported citing sources. The party had earlier declared their support to opposition nominee Kumar.

8:32 am IST: Leaders of opposition parties will meet in the Parliament at 10 am today, ANI reports.

8:30 am IST: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has called the elections an "ideological battle" against the NDA government. On Sunday, she had sought "a vote of conscience", calling the contest "a clash of ideas and a conflict of disparate values."

8:15 am IST: The President is elected by an electoral college, which consists of elected members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and legislative assemblies of the all the states and union territories. Members of Legislative Council do not participate in the voting process.

The electoral college consists of 4,120 MLAs and 776 MPs. Its total strength is 10,98,903 votes with the value of one MLAs vote depending on the population of the state he or she represents. However, the value of an MP's vote does not vary -- it is 708.

Also Read