Maximum votes were plod -98.9% votes in Prez polls

By Our Special Correspondent

Voting for the presidential election - a contest between Draupadi Murmu of the BJP-led NDA and Yashwant Sinha of the opposition - ended on Monday. Returning Officer PC Modi said that a total of 98.9 percent polling was recorded in Parliament.

According to the stand taken by various parties, Murmu looks certain to become the 15th President of India, the first tribal and the youngest at 64 to hold the country's highest office.

According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission, counting of votes will be on July 21 and the new President will be sworn in on July 25.

After the voting, the Election Commission said that out of 736 voters (727 MPs and nine MLAs) allowed to vote in Parliament House, 728 (719 MPs and nine MLAs) had cast their votes.

The returning officer had earlier said that six MPs had not voted, but revised the number to eight after re-compiling the data. Two MPs from BJP and Shiv Sena, one MP each from Congress, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party were chosen to be absent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah as well as Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were among those who cast their vote at the Parliament House.

Voting for the presidential election was also held in the state assemblies. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cast her vote wearing a full PPE kit as she was suffering from Covid-19 after returning from Bali, Indonesia, where she attended the G20 Finance Ministers' meeting.

Official sources said that she was infected with Covid-19 during her visit and precautions are being taken to avoid infecting others. Like her, Union Power Minister RK Singh also voted in a PPE kit as he too was suffering from a viral infection. Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali did not cast his vote and declared a "boycott" of the elections over "unresolved" issues related to Punjab.

He accused the BJP-led Center as well as the previous Congress-led government in the state of failing to address the issues. Ayali said in a video message that she is boycotting the poll at her level, going against her own party which has declared support for Draupadi Murmu. He also said that the party leadership did not consult him before deciding to support Murmu.

Kuldeep Bishnoi, a Congress MLA from neighboring Haryana, who cross-voted in last month's Rajya Sabha elections, reiterated that he voted according to his conscience. Bishnoi, who indicated that he had supported NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu, said, "Like the Rajya Sabha, I cast my vote in this election as per my conscience."

Murmu is poised for an easy victory - she needs more than 50 percent of the votes - with several non-NDA parties also pledging their support, mainly for her tribal identity. If elected, she would be the 15th President of India and the first tribal person to hold the post. Congress partner Jharkhand Mukti Morcha also chose to go with Murmu, the former governor of the state.

Uddhav Thackeray's blunt Shiv Sena is also with her, as these states have a sizeable tribal population. For example, in Andhra Pradesh, all sides are covered with murmu.

If Murmu wins, she will not only be the first tribal person to hold the highest office, but also the second woman overall; First President born in independent India; and the youngest at 64.

The current President, Ram Nath Kovind - whose term ends on July 24 - is only the second Dalit person to hold the post. Yashwant Sinha, a former bureaucrat who served as a minister in the BJP regime before its split a few years ago, is among others in a group with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, backed by the Congress and the Left.

He was selected after NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi - rejected the offer. Despite allegations of cross-voting, parties cannot bind their legislators with any collective 'whip' in these elections.

Every MP and MLA can cast a secret ballot as they like without fear of anti-defection law if they go against their party's stand.