Narayanan Elected President

Vice-president K R Narayanan was declared elected President yesterday.

Narayanan defeated former chief election commissioner T N Seshan, securing 4,231 votes against 240 polled by Seshan.

Seshan suffered the humiliation of losing his security deposit. While 171 votes were invalid, 191 electors did not cast their votes in an electoral college of 4,833.

According to the final figures provided by the returning officer and Lok Sabha secretary general, S Gopalan, the value of votes secured by Narayanan stood at 9,56,290 while that of Seshan at 50,631. The value of invalid votes was 40,344. A candidate should secure 1/6th of the total votes polled to retain his deposit. Narayanan got the highest ever vote value in all the presidential elections held so far. He polled as much as 94.97 per cent votes, while Seshan got 5.03 per cent.