Voting for the presidential election in which NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu is pitted against joint opposition pick Yashwant Sinha began on Monday. Polling began at 10 am and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to cast his vote.
Former PM Manmohan Singh, and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi cast their votes at the Parliament House in Delhi, several chief ministers including West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Keriwal, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Odisha CM Naneev Patnaik, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, and Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel cast their votes at their respective state assemblies.
The voting process would conclude at 5 pm. Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs are entitled to vote in the election, but nominated MPs and MLAs, and members of Legislative Councils are not. The counting of votes will take place at Parliament House on July 21 and the next President will take oath on July 25.
With the support of regional parties such as BJD, YSRCP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JD(S), Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and now JMM, Murmu’s vote share is likely to reach nearly two-thirds and she is set to become the first woman from the tribal community to occupy the top constitutional post. The NDA nominee now has over 6.67 lakh votes after the support of various regional parties, out of a total of 10,86,431 votes. Nominated MPs and MLAs, and members of legislative councils are not entitled to vote in this election.
