President-elect Pranab Mukherjee Sunday thanked the people for his
election to India's highest office and said it would be his
responsibility to defend and protect the constitution.
"I have
deep gratitude and appreciation for the people of this great country for
conferring this distinction of electing me to the high office,"
Mukherjee told reporters here.
"It would now be my responsibility
to defend and protect the Constitution as president...I would try to
justify in modest way to be trustworthy of my people," he said.
Mukherjee
said though he had polled over 7 lakh votes, the final result was still
awaited and would be declared by the returning officer.
According
to Mukherjee, during the last one month of campaigning for the
presidential election he visited all the state capitals but interacted
only with the legislators. Still, he said, he could feel the
overwhelming support and affection of ordinary people.
"The overwhelming support and affection of ordinary people which I felt during the tour was really remarkable," he said.
He
also thanked all sections of society, the political parties and
parliamentarians for the support during his more than four decades of
public life.
"I received much more than I gave them," he said.
Mukherjee appreciated the congratulations from his rival P.A. Sangma.
