Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa and former Union Defence Minister, Derek O'Brien, spokesperson, Trinamool Congress, and Mukul Roy are among the 14 Rajya Sabha Members of Parliament who have been given permission by the Election Commission to vote in their respective states instead of casting their ballot in Parliament for the Presidential elections scheduled for Monday.
Further, Dinesh Trivedi, former Union Railway Minister, Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh are among the 41 Lok Sabha Members of Parliament who have been given permission to vote in their states by the EC for the Monday polls.
In a statement the Commission said it had permitted five Members of Legislative Assemblies to exercise their vote in Parliament and four MLAs to vote in other State Legislative Assemblies.
The electoral college for the President consists of all Members of Parliament from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (excluding nominated members) and MLAs of State Legislatures.
MPs and MLAs will be provided with a special pen, which has a special ink, with which they will have to mark their preference from among the two candidates vying for the top post in the country. EC officials were categorical that if the ballot paper is marked by any other pen then the vote will be declared invalid.
Ram Nath Kovind, Governor of Bihar, is the NDA’s candidate for the Presidential polls and is pitted against Meira Kumar, former Lok Sabha Speaker as the Opposition candidate. The counting of votes will take place in Parliament on July 20.
The new President will be sworn into office on July 25.