| Massive turnout marks presidential election |
NEW DELHI It is advantage Pranab Mukherjee, the United Progressive Alliance candidate, as Indian lawmakers on Thursday voted to elect the country’s 13th president, recording a massive turnout that could be anywhere close to 95 per cent.
Mukherjee was in a direct contest with opposition-backed PA Sangma in the elections for which polling that began at 10am and ended at 5pm in Parliament House here and in assembly complexes in the states and union territories with legislatures.
The counting will take place on Sunday when the winner of the contest will be known, though it is almost clear that Mukherjee will romp home with a massive 735,000 of the 1,097,000 votes from among 4,896 electors - 776 MPs and 4,120 assembly members.
At the end of the voting, the returning officer and Rajya Sabha Secretary-General VK Agnihotri told reporters that “the polling was conducted in a peaceful and orderly manner in all the designated places for voting.”
In Parliament House, where room number 63 on the first floor was the designated polling centre, 683 of the 699 MPs cast their ballots, while another eight members of legislative assemblies, who were permitted to vote here, too participated in the voting.
“Accordingly, this accounts for 96.06 per cent voting in Parliament House,” Agnihotri said.
From among the state assemblies, information was available immediately from only 22, while details from another eight were awaited, he added.
“Of the 4,112 MLAs and 77 MPs, who were allowed to vote in the states, 2,997 MLAs and 40 MPs in 22 states cast their ballots. That makes it 72 per cent voting from the states for which information is available,” Agnihotri said.
MPs and MLAs queued up in Parliament House and state assembly buildings, right outside the polling booths, even before the voting began and there was a steady flow of electors through the day till polling ended. Bapi Raju Kanumuri, the Congress MP from Narsapuram in Andhra Pradesh, was the first MP to vote in Parliament House. As voting picked up, many MPs, including women, were seen standing in the queue to vote. Mukherjee, who has a clear edge over opposition-favoured Sangma, came to vote shortly after 11am. Congress MPs were seen greeting him.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi accompanied Mukherjee as the leaders cast their ballot one after the other amid camera flashlights.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi also voted shortly after.
BJP-led NDA members Janata Dal-United and Shiv Sena have also extended their support to the former finance minister besides the Communist Party of India-Marxist and Forward Bloc.
The Communist Party of India, Telugu Desam Party and Telangana Rashtra Samiti have said their MPs and legislators will abstain from voting.
Sangma said he was still “hopeful” despite the numbers being stacked against him.
Mukherjee was more than confident of getting more votes than expected in the presidential polls just after the voting ended, even stating he would get “many more votes.”
But some anxious moments were witnessed after SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav reportedly voted for Sangma by mistake and later returned his ballot paper to the returning officer claiming it was torn. He was permitted to cast a fresh ballot by Agnihotri.
Agencies
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