India votes to elect new President today
Political parties are taking all steps to ensure that every one of their MLAs votes without fail and that there is no cross-voting
Hyderabad: Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs will vote on Monday to elect the 15th President of India.
In this election, the NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu has a clear edge over joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be cast in her favour.
The polling will take place in Parliament House and state legislative assemblies between 10 am and 5 pm for which ballot boxes have already reached their destinations.
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 the BJD, YSR Congress, Telugu Desam, BSP, AIADMK, JD(S), Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and 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 post.
All necessary arrangements have been made for the 16th Presidential election in the Legislative Assembly in Hyderabad on Monday.
Political parties are taking all steps to ensure that every one of their MLAs votes without fail and that there is no cross-voting.
Parties have decided to hold mock polling for MLAs before they cast their votes to ensure that there are no invalid votes.
While the ruling TRS, Congress and AIMIM extended support to joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, the BJP is supporting Droupadi Murmu.
A total of 119 MLAs will cast their votes. The TRS has 103 MLAs out of 119 in the Legislative Assembly, followed by AIMIM (7), Congress (6), and BJP (3). The TRS has nine MPs out of Telangana’s total of 17 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP has four, the Congress has three, and AIMIM has one. Seven of Telangana’s representatives in the Rajya Sabha are TRS members.
As preparations were made for the election, Krishna Kumar Dwivedi, who has been appointed as the ‘Observer’ for the state of Telangana, paid a visit to the Assembly on Sunday.
According to a press release from the Telangana Legislature Secretariat, the ‘Observer’ inspected the polling station and store room on the first floor of the Assembly building. Additionally, Dwivedi spoke with the Telangana Legislature’s secretary V Narasimha Charyulu, presiding officer Ch. Upender Reddy, and assistant returning officer V.N. Prasanna Kumari.
Vikas Raj, chief electoral officer, said that 119 MLAs from Telangana and one MLA from Kandukur constituency in Andhra Pradesh would cast their votes at Hyderabad. Two voting compartments have been readied to cast votes at the Committee Hall No. 1 in the Assembly Building, he added.
He said that for marking the vote on the ballot paper, the Election Commission has supplied “particular pens”. The pen will be given to the electors in the polling station by the designated official when the ballot paper is handed over. “Voting by using any other pen shall lead to invalidation of the vote at the time of counting,” he said. After the voting, these ballot boxes will be sent to Delhi. All ballot boxes from other parts of the country, too, will reach Delhi ahead of the counting on July 21.