Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton move closer to Presidential face-off

Washington, Mar 16: Real estate mogul Donald Trump has swept the crucial Republican presidential primary in Florida taking away with all the 99 delegates from the State which will provide major impetus to his aspiration to become the US President even as Hillary Clinton has won the North Carolina Democratic primary.

The former Secretary of State was projected to bag at least 56 delegates out of 107 at stake in North Carolina.

Clinton also won in Florida after having a massive lead over her sole rival Senator Bernie Sanders. Clinton had support of 65.6 per cent of the votes as against 30.6 per cent for Sanders.

Notably, Republican Senator Marco Rubio has ended his campaign after suffering a humiliating loss in his home state of Florida. It has been a "devastating" night for Rubio in Florida where he polled just 27.8 per cent of the votes as against Trump's impressive 45.3 per cent.

"Word is that, despite a record amount spent on negative and phony ads, I had a massive victory in Florida," Trump said in a tweet even before major television channels projected his victory.

Being billed as Super Tuesday 2.0, primary elections were held in five States – Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois and Missouri. Initial reports suggested that Clinton and Trump had leads in North Carolina where 72 delegates are at stake for the GOP.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz was closely following Trump.

However, in Ohio where 66 delegates are at stake, State Governor John Kasich was leading against Trump. Clinton was leading in Ohio.

The primary elections held in five states on Tuesday is part of the process of both the Republican and Democratic parties to nominate their presidential candidates for the November 8 elections, which would elect the next occupant of the White House.

PTI