Near 100% voting in contest for Prez

Lawmakers across India voted on Monday to elect the country’s 14th President in a contest in which the ruling NDAs candidate Ram Nath Kovind has an overwhelming edge over opposition-backed Meira Kumar.

The election saw “98-99 per cent” voting with Lok Sabha Secretary General and Returning Officer for the presidential election Anoop Mishra on Monday terming it “probably the highest turnout ever (in presidential poll)”.

Mishra informed that a total of 717 MPs and five MLAs were supposed to vote in Parliament House. Of these, 714 MPs and four MLAs voted here.

BJP chief Amit Shah, who is an MLA from Gujarat, was among those who sought permission to vote in Delhi.

The MPs who did not cast their vote were Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal, BJD’s Rama Chandra Hansdah and Anbumani Ramadoss of PMK.

Mishra said the total strength of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is 776 and 771 MPs were eligible to cast their votes. He said the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have two vacancies each, while BJP MP Chedi Paswan does not have voting rights.

Mishra said 54 MPs had sought permission to vote in state capitals.

He said that 10 states -Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhgand, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, and Union Territory of Puducherry -- recorded 100 per cent voting, and added that the rest of the states also recorded “almost 100 per cent” voting.

He termed it “probably the highest percentage of votes polled ever (in Presidential poll)” and attributed it to enthusiasm among the electors.