From cross-voting to 100% votes, here is how Droupadi Murmu beat Yashwant Sinha in states

On Thursday, former Jharkhand Governor and NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu created history by becoming the first tribal woman to be elected as the President of India. She secured a staggering 6,76,803 votes, i.e 64.03% of the total votes as against the joint opposition's candidate Yashwant Sinha who bagged only 3,80,117 votes. Over 99% of the Electoral College comprising 771 MPs and 4025 MLAs cast their vote in the election through a secret ballot.

While 100% voting was reported from MLAs in Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Puducherry, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu, 8 MPs including BJP's Sunny Deol did not cast their vote. The nominated MPs and MLCs of various states were not eligible to participate in this election. If we take the state-wise results into account, the extent of support for Murmu becomes amply clear. 

President election 2022: State-wise analysis

Droupadi Murmu won votes from all states and Union Territories whereas no MLA from Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim voted for Yashwant Sinha. Even though NDA didn't have any support in Kerala with LDF and UDF being the two main alliances, she still received the vote of one MLA from the state. Moreover, the ex-Odisha Minister got the exact number of expected votes from Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand, and Delhi.

Out of these states, 100% of the MLAs from Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, and Sikkim voted for Murmu. In a big setback for Sinha, there was heavy cross-voting for Murmu in multiple states. For instance, the NDA candidate secured 104 votes from Assam- 22 more than the strength of the alliance in the state Assembly. In opposition-ruled Jharkhand, she got 10 more votes apart from JMM, BJP and Independents. Meanwhile, BJP continued its upward trajectory in Gujarat in the run-up to the Assembly polls by winning 121 votes from the state- 10 more than the NDA quota. 

Cross-voting also benefited Murmu in Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, West Bengal and Punjab. However, she secured fewer votes than the NDA's stipulated strength in Karnataka, Tripura and Puducherry. However, this is not to suggest that some BJP MLAs necessarily backed Sinha as the alliance's victory margin in the aforesaid two states and one Union Territory depended on parties such as IPFT, JD(S), AINRC and Independents. Among the parliamentarians, Murmu had a decisive advantage over Sinha as he garnered the support of 540 MPs even as 15 votes were declared invalid. 

Here is the result: