Ballots in box for next President, race for VP begins:
- Election to choose the 15th President of India was held on Monday in a race between the BJP’s Droupadi Murmu and the opposition’s Yashwant Sinha. A total of 776 Members of Parliament and 4,033 MLAs were eligible to vote in the presidential election. Votes will be counted on July 21 and the new President will take oath on July 25.
- Of 736 electors (727 MPs and nine MLAs) permitted to vote at the Parliament Complex, 728 cast their votes — 719 MPs and nine MLAs. Eight MPs abstained — including two each from the BJP and the Shiv Sena, one each from the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM. More here
- Ballot papers are used in the presidential election unlike the general elections. The EVMs are designed for direct elections while presidential polls are indirect, based on proportional representation.
- Droupadi Murmu, 64, is set to become the youngest President of India — also the first tribal person to hold the country’s highest office. Like incumbent Ram Nath Kovind, Murmu is a former governor.
- Breaking ranks: Murmu saw non-BJP parties and legislators switching sides to support her — including the Congress’s ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Shiv Sena and the Biju Janata Dal.
- Congress MLA from Odisha Mohammed Moquim defied his party and voted for Murmu saying, “It’s my personal decision as I’ve listened to my heart.”
- Boycott: An Akali Dal MLA, Manpreet Ayali, went against the party backing Murmu to boycott the presidential election citing “sentiments of the Sikh community” in Punjab, which has no tribal population.
- Meanwhile, the NDA’s Vice Presidential candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar filed his nomination on Monday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders. He is up against the opposition’s Margaret Alva for the August 6-election.courtesy.. times of india
