There was also a break in the ranks of the opposition
ThePrint Bureau
New Delhi: A record 99.9 per cent voting was registered in the Presidential polls today- with just three MPs not marking the ballot paper .
The three MPs are:
- Biju Janata Dal’s MP Ramchandra Hansda, who is behind bars on allegations of the Odisha chit fund scam and was later suspended by the party
- Trinamool Congress’ Tapas Pal who is an accused in the Rose Valley chit fund scam
- Anmbumani Ramadoss of the Pattali Makkal Katchi.
While Hansda and Pal couldn’t get permission to vote as they are behind bars, Ramadoss is believed to have chosen to boycott the election for the 14th President of India.
Even as voting was underway, there were reports of the opposition’s unity being hit and many NCP and Samajwadi Party legislators voting for Kovind. While the NCP dismissed these reports, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav openly spoke in support of Kovind.
Sources in the BJP told ThePrint that they expected over two-third of the votes cast to be in favour of the NDA Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind. It is estimated 42 political parties voted for the NDA candidate instead of the opposition candidate Meira Kumar.
The winning candidate will need to secure 5,49,452 votes and the counting of the votes will begin on July 20 at 11 am.The NDA and its allies have about 48 per cent of the vote share. (Read our primer on the presidential election)