Presidential poll begins, Modi among first to vote

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 Meira 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.