The voting for the presidential election started at the Vidhan Bhawan in South Mumbai this morning with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is an MLA from Nagpur, among the early voters.

The voting began here at 10 am.

Former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar also reached the polling centre early to cast his vote.

Jailed NCP MLAs Chhagan Bhujbal and Ramesh Kadam are also expected to cast their votes in the presidential election, a Vidhan Bhawan official said.

A special PMLA court recently allowed Bhujbal’s application seeking permission to vote in the election.

The Bombay High Court had on Friday granted permission to NCP MLA Ramesh Kadam, who is in jail after his arrest in an alleged corruption case, to vote in the election.

Kadam was arrested in August 2015 in a case relating to the alleged siphoning off of over Rs 141 crore from the state-run Annabhau Sathe Development Corporation.

NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind was in Mumbai on Saturday to seek the support of MLAs and MPs.

The Opposition’s candidate, Meira Kumar, visited Mumbai last month to launch her campaign for the top constitutional post.

The tenure of incumbent Pranab Mukherjee, the 13th President of India, ends on July 24.

There are 288 MLAs in Maharashtra who are eligible to vote in the election.

Besides, there are 48 Lok Sabha MPs and 19 Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra.

The MPs from the state are expected to vote in Delhi, the official said.

AP Chief Minister casts vote

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao led the MLAs in casting their votes for the presidential election in Andhra Pradesh on Monday.

Naidu was the first to cast his vote followed by Kodela at the polling booth in the state Assembly’s committee hall.

The ruling Telugu Desam Party MLAs then cast their votes.

The four BJP MLAs also cast their votes along with their ally.

Leader of Opposition and YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy led his party MLAs in the polling process.

All the 175 MLAs in the AP Assembly, including those of the lone Opposition YSRC, had earlier pledged their support to NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

From Andhra Pradesh, the Congress has only four members in the Rajya Sabha and none in the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly.

Presidential poll over in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Voting for the presidential election in Tamil Nadu was over in just about two hours today with 232 legislators, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, and a Kerala MLA casting their votes at the Assembly Secretariat conference hall here.

Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu, Rajesh Lakhoni, said the ballot box would be sealed at 5 pm and taken to Delhi by a 9.10 pm flight.

Assistant Returning Officer (Secretary in charge of TN Assembly), K Boopathy, would take the ballot box to Delhi along with Joint Secretary Subramanian, he told reporters.

Leader of the Opposition and DMK Working President M. K. Stalin told presspersons after casting his vote that his party chief M. Karunanidhi would not be coming to vote in view of his health and doctor’s advice.

“All our party MLAs (88 MLAs except Karunanidhi) have voted,” he told reporters after voting.

While Chief Minister K. Palaniswami was the first to cast his vote at 10 am, AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) legislator and former Minister, S. Semmalai, was the last to exercise his franchise by 11.56 am.

After Palaniswami, his Cabinet colleagues including Forest Minister Dindigul C Srinivasan, and School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan, rebel AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam, his loyalist and former Minister K Pandiarajan, cast their votes.

Following them, Stalin, Congress Legislature Party Leader K R Ramsamy, IUML MLA KM Mohammed Abubacker and all others voted.

Out of the 234 MLAs in the TN Assembly, the RK Nagar seat is vacant and Karunanidhi is not scheduled to vote; the rest of the 232 legislators voted.

Besides them, Pon Radhakrishnan, representing Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency and Parikkal Abdullah from Kerala voted here, taking the total number of voters here to 234.

Radhakrishnan, authorised election representative (agent) of NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind, was present through the voting process.

Besides Radhakrishnan, Semmalai and Assembly Deputy Speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman were also authorised representatives of Kovind.

For Opposition candidate Meira Kumar, Congress MLA S Vijayadharani and DMK whip R Sakkarapani were the authorised representatives.

The tenure of incumbent Pranab Mukherjee, the 13th president of India, ends on July 24.

Earlier, at about 8.30 am the ballot box was inspected by authorities in the strong room in the Assembly complex and brought to the polling station (conference hall) by 9.10 am. Polling began at 10 am.

The polling station was sanitised by police and election officials yesterday, according to Lakhoni.

At the polling station, officials including Chief Electoral Officer, Observer, Assistant Returning officer-cum-presiding officer Boopahty were present.

As soon as voters (MLAs and MP) arrived, their national serial numbers as prepared by the Election Commission were announced in the hall and after scrutiny, MLAs were given pink slips, while a green colour slip was given for the MP to vote.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Puducherry, all 30 elected legislators who are members of the Electoral College exercised their franchise.

Speaker V Vaithilingam was the first to vote, followed by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, his cabinet colleagues and other legislators belonging to the ruling Congress and its alliance partner the DMK, which has two members on its side.

Although the Opposition AINRC has eight legislators in the House, one of its members P. R. N. Tirumurugan representing Karaikal, however, turned up at the booth separately and after casting his vote he left the venue without talking to media.

Tirumurugan virtually drew the attention of all those present at the venue. The remaining seven AINRC legislators, including the Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister N Rangasamy, also cast their votes.

All the four AIADMK legislators also exercised their franchise in the forenoon. The polling ended at 12.45 pm.

Telangana CM casts vote in presidential election

Hyderabad: Voting for the presidential election began in the Telangana Legislative Assembly here today with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao casting the first vote.

The ruling TRS had earlier declared its support to NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind in the election.

The TRS members arrived at the Assembly in a bus from their party office.

The party yesterday conducted a meeting of its MLAs to familiarise them with the voting procedure.

The value of each MLA’s vote in Telangana is 132.

The authorities have made elaborate arrangements for the election.

The Opposition’s nominee for the top constitutional post is former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

Kovind, the former Bihar Governor, and Kumar earlier visited Hyderabad to mobilise support for their candidature.

In the 119-member Telangana Legislative assembly, excluding a nominated member who doesn’t have voting rights in the presidential election, the ruling TRS has a strength of 82, followed by the Congress (19), MIM (7), BJP (5), TDP (3), CPI (1), CPI-M (1) and Independent (1).

There are 16 Lok Sabha members and 10 Rajya Sabha members from Telangana.

Noting that Meira Kumar was the Lok Sabha speaker when the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill (for the formation of Telangana) was passed, the Congress had earlier said all electors in Telangana should vote for her as an expression of gratitude.

UP CM Adityanath, Deputy CM Maurya, Uma Bharti cast ballot

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Union Minister Uma Bharti were among those who cast their votes in the presidential poll here today.

The voting began at 10 am in the Tilak Hall in the Assembly complex.

After casting his vote, the Chief Minister told presspersons that NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind would win the election with a huge margin.

“This is a matter of pride for the people of Uttar Pradesh, the son of the state is going to become the President,” he said.

Both Adityanath and Maurya have not yet resigned from the Lok Sabha and are voters as MPs.

Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav said he voted for Kovind.

“My open support is for Kovindji, who belongs to Kanpur dehat and is our neighbour,” he told reporters, adding, “Meira Kumar did not seek vote from him and he voted on the directions of ’netaji’ (Mulayam Singh Yadav)".

Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) lone legislator Vijay Mishra told presspersons that he supported Kovind.

After casting her vote, Union Minister Uma Bharti said, “Kovind is winnig the elections for sure and the margin will be huge.”

After the conclusion of voting at 5 pm, the ballot boxes will be sealed and sent to Delhi.

Prominent among those who voted included ministers in the Yogi government Srikant Sharma, Sidharth Nath Singh, Swami Prasad Maurya and Suresh Khanna, among others.

The NDA has fielded former Bihar Governor Kovind for the top constitutional post, while former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is the joint Opposition candidate.

Counting of votes will take place on July 20 in New Delhi where all the ballot boxes will be brought from various state capitals.

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