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All eligible members in the 140-strong Kerala Legislative Assembly, save the lone BJP representative, will vote for Opposition candidate Meira Kumar in today's elections for the country's 14th President.
This would mean that NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind, whose crowning is a foregone conclusion, would only get the popular votes generated by O Rajagopal, the BJP member in the Kerala House.
The ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), the six-member Kerala Congress (Mani) and dissident PC George are expected to vote for Meira Kumar.
The Kerala Congress (Mani) has been sitting as a separate block in the House after quitting the UDF and has been known to be making overtures to the NDA.
But K.M. Mani, its supreme leader, is of the view that Meira Kumar has experience as Speaker of the Lok Sabha and also has a 'proud lineage' in politics, which weighed in favourably with his party.
Meanwhile, the NDA candidate skipped Kerala while travelling to most other states to mobilise votes as part of his presidential election campaign. Meira Kumar had flown down here seeking votes.
Each MLA in Kerala represents 152 popular votes. Voting began at 10 this morning and will go until 5 pm. The ballots will be flown to Delhi by the evening. Counting of votes takes place on July 20.
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