Presidential Voting Begins As Legislators Begin to Vote

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India’s elected MLAs and MPs will vote to elect the next President on Monday. BJP-led NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind appears to have the advantage against his opponent Meira Kumar, a former Lok Sabha Speaker and the opposition’s nominee. 

 The voting will be held between 10am and 5pm. Paper ballots will be used in the presidential election and the votes will be valid only if the special violet ink pen is used to vote. 

 The electoral college of the presidential election comprises 4,120 MLAs and 776 MPs with a total vote value of 10,98,903 -- 549,408 for 543 Lok Sabha and 233 Rajya Sabha parliamentarians, and 549,495 for 4,120 legislators in state assemblies. 

 Apart from the JD(U), the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the YSR Congress Party, both factions of the AIADMK and the Biju Janata Dal have extended support to Kovind. With the Samajwadi Party still a divided house, its two factions are likely to vote for two different candidates during the presidential election. 

 A day before the presidential election, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi described on Sunday the contest as a fight against a “narrow-minded, divisive and communal vision”. 

 Addressing opposition leaders in the presence of their presidential and vice presidential nominees --- Meira Kumar and Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the Congress president told participants to “fight the battle and fight hard” despite the ruling dispensation seemingly having a numerical advantage.

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