New Delhi: Lawmakers across the country began casting their vote on Monday for the election of the 14th President of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah exercised their franchise at Parliament House a little after 10:00 a.m. when the voting began, Scores of NDA members had queued up outside Room No. 62, where a polling booth has been set up for Parliamentarians and five MLAs who have opted to cast their votes here.
NDA candidate Ramnath Kovind is in direct contest with the joint opposition nominee Meira Kumar. Both Kovind and Kumar are from the Dalit community and have canvassed hard by visiting states to seek support of legislators.
Kovind, a former Bihar Governor, has a clear edge in the election with support from 63% voters in the electoral college that has a vote valure of 10.98 lakh.
The candidature of Kumar, a former Lok Sabha Speaker, has been supported by 16 opposition parties including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, CPI(M), SP, BSP, DMK, JD(S) among others.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi had on Sunday called for a conscience vote terming in the presidential election, which she termed was as a “clash of ideas” and “conflict of disparate values”.
“Ramnath Kovindji will win with a comfortable and respectable margin,” Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.
(Agencies)
