Presidential poll: MPs to get green ballot paper, MLAs will get pink

NEW DELHI: The decision of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) to support the NDA candidate for presidential election has come as a big surprise for Congress, which is a key member of the ruling UPA in Jharkhand.

At a time when speculations are very rife in political circles about the tribal party’s growing closeness to the BJP, the decision of JMM has added fuel to the theory of JMM getting closer to the saffron party.

Notably, the UPA partners Congress and RJD are backing opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, a son of the soil for Jharkhand, in the July 18 presidential poll and JMM had initially given its nod to his candidature.

However, as per political analysts, JMM was caught in an obvious bind when NDA announced the name of Droupadi

NEW DELHI: Elected members of Parliament and members of state legislative assemblies will get ballot papers of different colours on July 18 when they vote to elect the next President of India.

While MPs will get green papers, the MLAs will get ballot papers printed in pink.

The value of an MLA’s vote depends on the population of the state he or she represents. The value of the vote of an MP this time is 700. Hence, the dif

Murmu, who if she wins, will be the first tribal woman president of the country.

Soonafter Murmu’s candidature was announced, JMM was in a dilemma whether to back the “son of the soil” or a “fellow tribal” as both -Murmu and Soren -- are tribal leaders and belong to the Santhal ethnic group which has a sizeable population in ferent colour of ballot papers will help the returning officer count votes based on the value.

The ballot papers are printed with two columns with the first column containing the names of the candidates and the second for marking preferences by the elector for each such candidate.

While Droupadi Murmu is the NDA’s candidate, Yashwant Sinha is the opposition’s pick for the poll to be held on Monday. The electoral college which elects the president through the system of proportional rep

Jharkhand and in neighbouring Odisha, from where she hails.

The JMM decision to support Murmu came at a time when Hemant Soren, its executive president and Jharkhand chief minister, is facing legal proceedings before Jharkhand High Court in a case of officeof-profit in a mine lease and alleged money laundering resentation comprises elected MPs and members of state legislative assemblies. Nominated MPS, MLAs and members of legislative councils are not entitled to vote in this election.

Voting in presidential poll is held in Parliament House and state assemblies. Counting is held in Parliament House. This time, the date of counting is July 21. The value of the vote of a Member of Parliament has gone down to 700 from 708 in this presidential poll due to the absence of a legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.

issues. Besides, the Election Commission has fixed August 5 as the next date of hearing in the mine lease case in which the BJP has sought his disqualification as an MLA under Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Not much was left to the imagination about the growing closeness after pictures of Soren extending a warm welcome to

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his July 12 Jharkhand visit to unveil projects worth over Rs 16,800 crore went viral. Soren had himself taken stock of the preparations for the visit.

Soren had also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other NDA leaders in New Delhi on June 27 but had skipped the nomination by Sinha.