The ruling NDA candidate, Droupadi Murmu, is all set for an easy win over Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha in the 16th presidential election that concluded here today with 99.12 per cent overall turnout and 100 per cent voting in 11 states, including Himachal Pradesh.
Congress MP Sonia Gandhi, National Conference MP Farooq Abdullah, Covid-positive Union Minister RK Singh in a PPE kit, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cast their votes during the presidential election at Parliament House in New Delhi on Monday. Mukesh Aggarwal/PTI
Out of the electoral college of 4,809 (776 MPs and 4,033 MLAs), 4,796 electors featured in the final voter list while 4,754 of them cast their vote. Two MLAs were declared ineligible to vote subsequent to a court judgment while five vacancies exist in the Rajya Sabha and six in state Assemblies, leaving 13 electors out.
The Election Commission said of the 771 MPs and 4,025 MLAs (six vacancies and two disqualifications) eligible electors, 763 MPs and 3,991 MLAs cast their vote. Eight MPs didn’t turn up for voting, among them BJP’s Sunny Deol (Gurdaspur) and Union Minister Sanjay Dhotre and Congress’ Mohd Sadiq (Faridkot).
Sources said Deol was abroad for treatment while Dhotre was hospitalised.
The counting of votes will happen at Parliament House from 11 am on July 21 and the results will be declared soon after the counting ended, returning officer and Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody said. The 15th President will take oath on July 25, a day after incumbent Ram Nath Kovind’s term ends.
The 2017 election had witnessed nearly 99 per cent voting, then termed “the highest ever”. Among early voters today were PM Narendra Modi, ex-PM Manmohan Singh and BJP chief JP Nadda. Manmohan and SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav arrived in wheelchairs due to ill health as excitement of the process was palpable around Parliament House’s Room No. 63, one of the 31 voting locations, the others being in states. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi voted around 3 pm while ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and RK Singh, down with Covid, cast their ballot in PPE kits after 4 pm.