99% voting in Presidential poll, Droupadi Murmu set for easy win

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 18

The ruling NDA candidate, Droupadi Murmu, is all set for an easy win over Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha in the 16th presidential election that concluded here today with 99.12 per cent overall turnout and 100 per cent voting in 11 states, including Himachal Pradesh.

4,754of eligible 4,796 electors cast vote

3,991of eligible 4,025 MLAs turn up

763of eligible 771 MPs vote in Parl’s Room No. 63

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Eight MPs skip voting

2 of BJP, 1 each of Sena, Cong, BSP, AIMIM, SP and DMK

Nirmala comes in PPE kit

Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and RK Singh vote in PPE kits

100% vote in 11 states

HP, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, MP, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim & Tamil Nadu

SAD Mla abstains

In defiance of the SAD’s decision to vote for Murmu, MLA Manpreet Ayali abstained from voting and sought a change in the party leadership

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Vote Counting on July 21

15th prez’s oath on July 25

Out of the electoral college of 4,809 (776 MPs and 4,033 MLAs), 4,796 electors featured in the final voter list while 4,754 of them cast their vote. Two MLAs were declared ineligible to vote subsequent to a court judgment while five vacancies exist in the Rajya Sabha and six in state Assemblies, leaving 13 electors out.

The Election Commission said of the 771 MPs and 4,025 MLAs (six vacancies and two disqualifications) eligible electors, 763 MPs and 3,991 MLAs cast their vote. Eight MPs didn’t turn up for voting, among them BJP’s Sunny Deol (Gurdaspur) and Union Minister Sanjay Dhotre and Congress’ Mohd Sadiq (Faridkot).

Sources said Deol was abroad for treatment while Dhotre was hospitalised.

The counting of votes will happen at Parliament House from 11 am on July 21 and the results will be declared soon after the counting ended, returning officer and Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody said. The 15th President will take oath on July 25, a day after incumbent Ram Nath Kovind’s term ends.

The 2017 election had witnessed nearly 99 per cent voting, then termed “the highest ever”. Among early voters today were PM Narendra Modi, ex-PM Manmohan Singh and BJP chief JP Nadda. Manmohan and SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav arrived in wheelchairs due to ill health as excitement of the process was palpable around Parliament House’s Room No. 63, one of the 31 voting locations, the others being in states. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi voted around 3 pm while ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and RK Singh, down with Covid, cast their ballot in PPE kits after 4 pm.

Trends signalled cross-voting in the favour of Murmu, the first tribal woman leader to run for the highest office of the country, with some MLAs of the Congress and the Opposition NCP openly saying they had backed her. “I am a Congress MLA but I have voted for Droupadi Murmu. My heart guided me to vote for her and to do something for the soil of Odisha,” Congress MLA Mohammad Moquim said on record. The AIUDF, which supported Sinha in Assam, said at least 20 Congress MLAs had cross-voted for Murmu. There is no whip in the presidential poll.

Earlier today, Sinha alleged use of money power.

The BJP, meanwhile, assessed that Murmu would comfortably cross two-third mark in the electoral college of 10,86,431 votes and perhaps more with cross-voting reports in favour of the NDA nominee surfacing. In the 2017 presidential election, NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind had polled 7.02 lakh votes as against Opposition candidate Meira Kumar’s 3.67 lakh votes. In 2012, UPA’s Pranab Mukerjee was declared elected having polled 7.13 lakh votes against Opposition’s PA Sangma, who garnered 3.15 lakh.

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#Droupadi Murmu #Yashwant Sinha