India begins counting of votes for its next president today

India has begun counting votes for its next president today with the ruling coalition’s candidate, Ram Nath Kovind, tipped to win.

About 4,800 members of parliament and state assemblies cast votes this week to choose between Kovind and Meira Kumar, a former speaker backed by the main opposition Congress party as the fourteenth president.

A political commentator Shekhar Gupta, said Kovind had maintained a low-profile through his public career, a quality valued by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party led government.