New Delhi, July 22: India got its first Bengali President-elect as veteran Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee inflicted a crushing defeat on P.A. Sangma, who was propped up by the main Opposition BJP. The 76-year-old Mukherjee, who got nearly 70 per cent votes, is set to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan at a time the polity is getting more fragmented.

Every inch a politician and a Congressman, Mukherjee will need a dramatic metamorphosis to excel in his new role. The fact that he got bipartisan support, with the main rival political formulation splitting over the question of his suitability, will weigh on his mind even as the Congress has a tradition of using the highest office to support its political agenda.

Although the outgoing President, Pratibha Patil, too, was in the Congress, she was not as political as Mukherjee, who remained inextricably involved in day-to-day partisan warfare.

Mukherjee bagged 7,13,763 votes against Sangma’s 3,15,987 votes out of the total 10,29,750 valid votes. Surprisingly, 81 ballots with a value of 18,221 were found invalid. As many as 527 parliamentarians voted for Mukherjee and 206 for Sangma. Fifteen votes of MPs, including that of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, were declared invalid. Of these, nine were to be in favour of Mukherjee and six for Sangma.

Mukherjee was the beneficiary of heavy cross-voting in Karnataka where as many as 19 disgruntled BJP legislators defied the party line. Mukherjee stepped out of his home just before the formal announcement, expressing deep gratitude and appreciation for those who supported him and “the people of this great country” for electing him to this high office.

Recalling the warmth he received during his campaign, Mukherjee said he had got much more from the country, the political establishment and Parliament than he gave. “Now, I have been entrusted with the responsibility to protect, defend and preserve the Constitution and I will try to justify the trust reposed in me.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with his wife, drove to Mukherjee’s residence to congratulate the President-elect. So did Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. Senior Congress leaders, ministers and other important personalities kept visiting him throughout the day. Mukherjee will be sworn in on July 25. Parliament will bid farewell to Pratibha Patil in the Central Hall on July 23.

Congressmen assembled at Mukherjee’s residence, beating drums and distributing sweets and loudly thanking Sonia for rewarding a Congress soldier. The theme song was: He truly deserved it. Party workers openly spoke against the tendency to prefer non-political persons and even argued against choosing what some described as “non-deserving” politicians.

Mukherjee’s rival Sangma accused the Congress of winning the support of “discredited parties” by inducements, threats and packages.

Sangma demanded a model code of conduct for the presidential election, too. He explained that while some parties were pressurised using legal cases, others such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were given central aid to ensure Mukherjee’s victory.

Sangma described the election as “exceptionally partisan and political” and as a “lost mission to show solidarity with the tribals of the country”.

While Sangma got fewer votes than Mukherjee in his home state of Meghalaya, he managed to bag none in Nagaland and all the tribal votes went against him in Jharkhand. Asked if he would move the Supreme Court to challenge the election of Mukherjee as he had promised earlier on the office-of-profit issue, Sangma said a meeting would be held day after tomorrow to decide. He thanked the BJP, AIADMK, BJD, Akali Dal and the AGP for projecting him as the presidential candidate.

Sangma will have to file an election petition within 30 days if wants to challenge Mukherjee’s election.

Mukherjee, who first came to Parliament in 1969 as a Rajya Sabha member and became a minister in 1973, had held key portfolios such as defence, external affairs, finance and commerce in his over four-decade-long career.

He had been a member of the Congress Working Committee since 1978. He headed almost all the political committees set up by Sonia after 1998.

In Parliament, Mukherjee acted as the face of the party, managing political and administrative problems, interacting with the Opposition and coalition partners and taking all the key decisions despite not being the Prime Minister. At cabinet meetings, he often piloted bills, berated erring ministers and took the final decision of the nature of legislation.

But, Mukherjee desperately wanted to be the President as he planned to quit active politics and take the second-best political reward if the Prime Minister’s post was beyond his reach.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who congratulated Mukherjee for his victory, said she would attend his swearing-in ceremony on July 25.

Naveen congratulates

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who had supported Sangma, today congratulated Mukherjee after the results were announced. Naveen, who is yet to make a decision about his BJD’s choice for the vice-presidential candidate, refused to entertain questions from the media on the issue.

The election results from the state were on expected lines. Naveen had supervised the voting to ensure that there was no cross-voting from his party as there was a fear that the supporters of rebel leader Pyari Mohan Mohapatra might grab the opportunity to embarrass the leadership by voting in favour of Mukherjee.