Celebrations have begun at UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee's native village Birbhum in West Bengal ahead of the formal declaration of the 2012 presidential poll results.
 
Locals were seen singing, dancing and celebrating. 
 
Mukherjee's election to the office of the President of India will bring an end the lament of Bengalis of not seeing a local boy occupying the highest constitutional post of the country.
 
Mukherjee, often referred to as the best Prime Minister India never had, began his political career in 1969 and has served in every Congress cabinet since Indira Gandhi was prime minister.
 
The counting of ballots began amidst tight security in Parliament House in the presence of authorised representatives of both Mukherjee and Sangma. The ballot boxes of votes cast in Parliament House were taken up first for counting after which those from the states will be opened. 
 
Authorised representatives inspected the seals of the ballot boxes and the counting began after it was ascertained that they were not tampered with. 
 
As many as 95 per cent of the 4,896 electors -- 776 MPs and 4,120 MLAs -- had exercised their franchise on Thursday at the polling centres set up in Parliament House and 30 other states and Union territories with

assemblies. 
 
Mukherjee nears the finish line of Rashtrapati Bhavan, as his candidature has been backed by major outside allies like the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party besides the UPA. 
 
Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, JD-S, CPI-M, YSR Congress and Forward Bloc have also extended their support to Mukherjee along with National Democratic Alliance partners Janata Dal-United and Shiv Sena.
 
Security has been stepped up at Pranab Mukherjee''s residence at 13, Talkatora Road in New Delhi.
 
P A Sangma, a former Lok Sabha Speaker, jumped into the fray playing the tribal card with the initial support of the Biju Janata Dal and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. 
 
The BJP and Akali Dal decided to back Sangma, who quit the NCP, the party he founded with Sharad Pawar, to contest the election.
 
The new president will be administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice on July 25 at the historic Central Hall of Parliament.
 
The President of India is the head of state of the Republic of India. The President is the formal head of the legislature, executive and judiciary branches of Indian Democracy and is the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The powers to pardon and clemency are vested with the President of India