Indian Presidential Elections-2012: Pranab Mukherjee New President!

The Republic of India has got a new President elected today, July 22, 2012. Pranab Mukherjee, the former Finance Minister and the chief trouble shooter for the coalition government of India, has been declared elected for the top office. The poll for the post took place on 19^th July and counting of votes was taken up from today.

As expected, Pranab Mukherjee swept the elections winning nearly 70 percent of total votes cast. He got astounding support from the members of the Indian Parliament irrespective of party lines. The votes in the Indian states split up depending on which political party the particular state government belonged to, but there were surprises too in some of them in favor of Pranab. The fact that Pranab Mukherjee was a candidate no political party could possibly object got vindicated in the results.

It had been a straight contest between the UPA-2 (United Progressive Alliance—the ruling coalition) nominated Pranab Mukherjee and the largely self-styled candidate PA Sangma who was proposed by two regional parties initially and got nominated in the last minute by the NDA (National Democratic Alliance—the opposition of India), of course, with quite a few differences within it.

The Indian Presidential Election is not a direct poll with the people of the country voting while it is a direct election in the US. The system of Indian Presidential Poll is based on proportionate voting—the voters being the Members of both houses of Parliament (MP) and the Members of the Legislative Assemblies (MLA) and the Legislative councils of the states and union territories of the country. The value of the vote of An MLA is arrived at by dividing the total population of the state by the number of MLAs of that state multiplied by 1000. The vote value of an MP is arrived at by dividing the total of MLAs’ vote value by the number of MPs. Then both of the vote values are added to arrive at the grand total votes of the country. To get elected a Presidential candidate has to cross the halfway benchmark of total vote value.

In the Indian Presidential Elections-2012 Pranab Mukherjee secured 7, 13,763 votes crossing the halfway mark of 5, 25,140 votes with quite a few members abstaining. PA Sangma could secure only 3, 15,987 votes. Messages of greeting poured in for Pranab and the Prime Minister, the Congress President and other dignitaries visited him at his residence. The defeated candidate PA Sangma congratulated Pranab too, but at the same time he announced his resolve to go to the court alleging bias and partisanship in the process of the Presidential Elections-2012.

After a lot of twists and turns, and bouts of acrimony in the race to the Presidential Elections, Indiahas finally got a worthy personality for the top post. Congratulations to Pranab Mukherjee! He is the 13^th President of India to be elected and will be sworn in on July 25, 2012. The outgoing President Pratibha Patil is scheduled to deliver a farewell address to the nation on the evening of July 24.

Now it is over to the people of USAfor electing their President.

Micromax Cup Cricket: India Win The First ODI Against Sri Lanka!

India defeated Sri Lanka by 21 runs in the first one day international cricket match at Hambantota in Sri Lanka today.

India won the toss and elected to bat first. The start was a little shaky with Gautam Gambhir getting out early and Sehwag, joining the team after a break, was living dangerously. But with the ever dependable Virat Kohli the duo steadied the innings and very soon anchored the team for a big total. Settling down to his attacking best Sehwag looked good for a century, but was unfortunately run out for 96. Kohli showed his class by notching up his fourth hundred in five matches scoring 106 runs off 113 balls. With a sound knock of 54 by Suresh Raina and a cameo by skipper Dhoni Team India reached an imposing total of 314/6 in allotted fifty overs. For Sri Lanka all their bowlers proved to be expensive and only Perera managed to capture three Indian wickets.

Set a daunting target of 315 runs Sri Lanka too started shakily losing Dilshan early to Irfan Pathan. They kept on losing wickets at regular intervals with only Sangakkara solidly defending one end. Skipper Mahela Jaywardene too fell for a low score. At 191/6 in 38 overs the job looked to be almost done for India, but Sangakkara went on to score a brilliant century and laid a challenging partnership with Perera--the most successful bowler in the Indian innings. The duo threatened to take the match away from India.  

Irfan Pathan and R Ashwin bowled economically for India. Coming back into the team Zaheer Khan conceded 63 run in his 10 overs capturing only one Sri Lankan wicket. Pathan, Yadav and Ashwin took two wickets each.

Finally the target proved to be too tall for Sri Lanka to overhaul. Sangakkara’s wicket in the 48^th over was the final blow. He made 133 runs, but failed to see his team through. Their innings folded up for 293 falling short by 21 runs.

India has made a good beginning winning the first one day international, a feat they normally fail to accomplish on most foreign tours. Virat Kohli was the natural choice for the man of the match. India go up 1-0 against Sri Lanka in the five match series with the second one day international coming up on July 24. The Scorecard: 

Micromax Cup Cricket: India Vs Sri Lanka ODI Series From Tomorrow!

Team India is set to kick off the new cricket season. They meet their traditional rivals Sri Lanka in the first one-day international tomorrow at Hambantota, in Sri Lanka. The India-Sri Lanka bilateral cricket series hosted by Sri Lanka is part of the Future Cricket Tour Programs (FTP) prepared by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

India Tour of Sri Lanka-2012 consists of five one day internationals to be played during July 21-August 4 and just one Twenty20 international on August 7. Most members of Team India attended a two-day warm up camp in Chennai before coming to Sri Lanka. While Sachin Tendulkar opted for rest Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan have come back into the team.

India skipper MS Dhoni is under pressure to perform after the disappointments of the Australia Tri-Series and the Asia Cup, and the slide in ICC rankings. Seemingly refreshed by a hard-earned rest of about two months Dhoni had said during the camp that their performance would show what improvement the team had made in the meantime. Dhoni would take heart from the fact that he has a good record in Sri Lankawinning 10 out of 17 ODIs played there. Differences apart, Team India got a boost with the return of Sehwag who can now partner Gambhir again. Zaheer’s return is also going to strengthen the team’s bowling attack. The presence of Ajinkya Rahane in the team is also a plus, but his inclusion in the final eleven is uncertain.

This series is important due to several reasons. First, the T20 World Cup is going to be played in Sri Lankain September, 2012. Second, Team Indiafaces up to a very hectic season hosting tours of New Zealand, England, Pakistan and Australia in the coming months. And not the least, India is going to play all of these in sub-continental conditions and is not scheduled to set foot abroad till late 2013.

Let us brace up for an exciting cricket series! The Schedule!