From HT Archives: Zakir Husain wins presidential contest with a big majority

New Delhi Dr Zakir Husain on May 9, 1967 won the Presidential contest by a comfortable majority, surpassing the most optimistic estimates of the Congress. Both in Parliament and state assemblies, he had a decisive lead over his rival, Subba Rao, the Opposition nominee.

Dr Husain polled 471,244 votes against 363,971 votes secured by Rao. It gave him a lead of 107,273 votes. Parliamentary affairs minister Dr Ram Subhag Singh, campaign manager of the Congress party, had anticipated a margin of 60,000 votes. There were 41 invalid papers, representing over 7,000 votes.

Jubilant Congress leaders hailed the victory as a clear indication of the party’s solidarity and refutation of the Opposition propaganda on defections in Congress ranks. The opposition leaders were visibly depressed.

There is a big disparity in Dr Husain’s margin over Subba Rao in the State Assemblies -- of 7,454 votes -- and the lead in Parliament -- of 97,344 votes. Dr Husain was backed by 447 MPs and Subba Rao by 278.

The Congress nominee got a majority of votes in 12 States, including three where non-Congress governments are in power, West Bengal, Punjab and UP. But the other five non-Congress states – Bihar, Kerala, Haryana, Madras and Orissa -- voted solidly for Rao.

The result was officially announced by returning officer BN Banerjee, secretary, Rajya Sabha, at 3pm, though the counting of ballot papers was over an hour earlier. The counting started at 10am at the Parliament House.

It was a thrilling finale to the drama that had been exciting the imagination of the entire country for the last one month. Fortunes of the two leading candidates fluctuated every hour of the counting and an element of suspense was maintained as box after box was unsealed.

Members of the Congress Working Committee, which was in session at the AICC office, had several anxious moments as they got reports from the counting hall. At one stage, when Dr Husain’s margin dropped to 1,600, they got worried.

The final result came as big morale-booster to the Congress after the general election reverses. Indira Gandhi’s supporters were particularly happy since her stand had been vindicated.

Close race For quite some time, there appeared to be a close race between Dr Husain and Rao. Hope alternated with despair in the two camps as reports from the counting room mentioned the tilting of balance-on Dr Husain’s side at one time and on Rao’s at the other.

At 12.30pm, Dr Husain had a lead of over 9,000 votes when boxes from 11 states had been counted but within 15 minutes his margin was reduced to 1,600 Kerala, where Rao got 89 ballots against 30 by Dr Husain, materially changed the position.

The UP result was also known in these crucial 15 minutes but the state was evenly divided 210 for Dr Husain and 209 for Rao.

Dr Husain again improved his margin to 8,000 when counting of votes from Rajasthan and Mysore was over. But soon it slumped to 3,739. Bihar had tilted the scales against Dr Husain.

At this stage, counting in 15 out of 17 states had been completed. Madhya Pradesh was the last but one state to be counted. It increased Dr Husain’s lead to 7,454. West Bengal, the last state, had the biggest surprise for the Congress. The party leaders were prepared for a deficit here and anticipated an overall lead of around 100,000. Just then, they received the cheering report from the counting hall that West Bengal, too, had voted for Dr Husain. As soon as the election result was known, Dr Ram Subhag Singh rushed to the official residence of Dr Husain at Maulana Azad Road to congratulate him. He also called on the Prime Minister. Mrs Gandhi was one of the earliest to call on Dr Husain.

PM’s message In a message, she said: “I offer my warmest congratulations and good wishes to Dr Husain on his election as our Rashtrapati. A life time of dedicated service had earned the President-elect the affection, respect and goodwill of the entire nation.”

Asked for comments by newsmen at Dr Husain’s house, she replied: “There is no need to say anything. Facts speak for themselves.”

Subba Rao came to know of the election result in Madras while on his way to Bangalore. He conveyed his congratulations to Dr Husain. A Madras report quoted him as saying: “The election has strengthened the democratic forces in the country.”

Polling for the presidential election took place in New Delhi and the state capitals on Saturday last. The last of the ballot boxes was brought to Delhi last night.

Large crowds of people who had gathered in the premises of Parliament and outside were kept in tenterhooks as the results swayed with the progress of counting. By half past one in the afternoon it became evident that Dr Husain, was in a comfortable lead.