Prez poll: Voting underway in Parliament, Modi casts vote

New Delhi, July 18 (SocialNews.XYZ) Polling for President election started on Monday in Parliament and respective state Assemblies to elect the next President of the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast his votes at a polling booth in Parliament House. The ruling BJP-led NDA has fielded Draupadi Murmu as its candidate while opposition has fielded former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha as their joint candidate.

Polling started at 10 a.m. at booths set up inside Parliament and state Assemblies where MPs and MLAs were casting their votes. Secretary General, Rajya Sabha is the Returning Officer for this election.

Nine MLAs will be voting in the Parliament House while about 42 MPs will cast their vote in various Legislative Assemblies. Four MLAs from Uttar Pradesh will cast their vote in Parliament, one each from Haryana, Odisha and Assam and two from Tripura.

The President is elected by the members of the Electoral College consisting of elected members of both Houses of Parliament and elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all States, including National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The nominated members of either Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha or Legislative Assemblies of the States are not eligible to be included in the Electoral College and therefore, they are not entitled to participate in the election. Similarly, members of the Legislative Councils are also not electors for the Presidential election.

Total 776 Members of Parliament and 4,033 MLAs will vote in the Presidential elections. Total value of votes is 10,86,431. Value of votes of MLAs is 5,43,231 and MPs are 5,43,200.

Source: IANS