How India’s Presidents were elected, from Rajendra Prasad to Pranab Mukherjee

The 2017 presidential election results are expected today. This year, a total of 95 candidates filed nominations for the top Constitutional post, of which 93 were rejected on various grounds, leaving only NDA's Ram Nath Kovind and Opposition candidate Meira Kumar in the fray. The winner will become the 14th President of India. Here is how the earlier president were elected.

Updated: July 20, 2017 13:26 IST

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1st Presidential Election (1952): Dr. Rajendra Prasad becomes the first President of Independent India by winning 5,07,400 votes. (Express photo by RK Sharma)

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2nd Presidential Election (1957): Dr. Rajendra Prasad wins again securing 4,59,698 votes. As many as 496 Parliamentarians including MPs from Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and MLAs from 14 state assemblies casted their vote. (Express archive photo on 15.10.1954)

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3rd Presidential Election (1962): Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan wins by 5,53,067 votes. MLAs from 15 state assemblies took part in the election process. (Express archive photo)

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4th Presidential Election (1967): Dr. Zakir Hussain wins with 4,71,244 votes. In this election, the value of the Parliamentarians' votes were increased as 1961 population census was taken into consideration. (Express archive photo)

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5th Presidential Election (1969): V.V.Giri wins by securing 4,01,515 votes. Though 15 candidates filed their nominations, all were eliminated except V.V.Giri and N.Sanjeevan Reddy. The first preferential votes could not decide the winner in this election. (Source: Parliament library)

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6th Presidential Election (1974): Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed wins by securing 7,65,587 votes. As there is a rise of contestants, the election commission introduced the condition of 10 voters as proposes and another 10 as seconders. The security deposit was raised to Rs 2,500. (Express archive photo)

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7th Presidential Election (1977): This was the first time, a candidate won the election without contesting as only Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy's nomination was upheald from among the 37 candidates. (Express archive photo)

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8th Presidential Election (1982): Gyani Zail Singh wins after securing 7,54,113 votes. (Express photo by R.L. Chopra)

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9th Presidential Election (1987): R Venkataraman wins with 7,40,148 votes. As many as 22 MLAs were disqualified by the speaker of the Punjab Assembly.

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10th Presidential Election (1992): Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma won the election by securing 6,75,804 votes of the 10,26,188 votes polled. (Express archive photo)

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11th Presidential Election (1997): K.R.Narayanan becomes 11th President with 9,56,290 votes. The election commission increased the security deposit from Rs 2,500 to Rs 15,000, and the number of proposers and seconders increased from 10 to 50. (Express Photo by Hemant Chawla)

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“Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work.” (Express photo by Jasbir Malhi)

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13th Presidential Election (2007): Pratibha Devisingh Patil becomes the first woman president with 6,38,116 votes. (Source: PTI)

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14th Presidential Election (2012): Pranab Mukherjee won the election by securing 7,13,763 votes. MLAs from 30 state assemblies including from NCT of Delhi and Puducherry cast their votes. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)