Voting begins in India to elect next president

NEW DELHI, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Voting to elect the next president of India began on Monday across the country as the incumbent Ram Nath Kovind will complete his five-year term later this week.

Elected representatives from Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) across all the states will cast their votes to elect the country's 15th president.

The counting of votes is slated to take place on July 21.

Ruling National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) candidate Droupadi Murmu is expected to win the election against the Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, as NDA had a majority in both the Houses of Parliament and most states' assemblies.

Both Murmu and Sinha have had illustrious political careers in their past. While Murmu has been the Governor of eastern state of Jharkhand, Sinha has held the positions of the country's finance minister and the external affairs minister.

While Murmu has been a member of the main ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sinha was a member of the Trinamool Congress party, now the ruling party in the eastern state of West Bengal, after quitting the BJP a couple of years ago.

The president of India is elected indirectly by the elected representatives, and each state's lawmakers have a different vote value.