Voting underway in Karnataka for Presidential election

Bengaluru: Voting is underway at 'Vidhan Soudha' here for the Presidential election where the NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu is pitted against joint opposition pick Yashwant Sinha.

There are 28 Lok Sabha members in Karnataka comprising 25 from BJP, one each from Janata Dal and Congress and an independent member. The state has 11 Rajya Sabha members -- five each from BJP and Congress, and one from JD(S) (former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda).

The state Assembly has a total strength of 225 MLAs comprising 120 from the BJP including the Speaker, 69 Congress, 32 JD(S), one from the Bahujan Samaj Party, two independents and a nominated member.

The JD(S) has extended its support to Murmu.

Murmu and Sinha had come to the city a few days ago and sought the support of the MLAs and MPs for their candidature.

According to an Information Department official, the BJP members were the first to queue up to vote.

Karnataka Minister for Water Resources Govind Karjol was the first to cast his ballot.

The polling started at 10 am and will go on till 5 pm.

Meanwhile in Ranchi Polling for the presidential election began on Jharkhand Assembly premises at 10 AM on Monday.

BJP legislators Anant Ojha and Bhanu Pratap Shahi were among early voters.

"I had the opportunity to cast the first vote in Jharkhand Assembly to elect the first person of the country. It is a matter of great pride for me," Ojha said.

"We strongly believe Murmu will work for the betterment of the society including the poor, downtrodden and Dalits," Shahi said.

Voting will continue in Tribunal Hall of Jharkhand Assembly till 5



PM.

Both NDA and Opposition candidates in the presidential election have a deep-rooted connection with Jharkhand.

NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu was the state's governor. She is from the Santal tribe, which has a sizeable population in Jharkhand as well as in neighbouring Odisha, from where she hails.

Murmu had arrived in Ranchi on July 4 to garner support from lawmakers. She had met JMM supremo Shibu Soren and Chief Minister Hemant Soren to seek their support. The party announced its support for Murmu on July 15.

Yashwant Sinha, the joint Opposition nominee, was an MP from Jharkhand's Hazaribag district and was a Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet.

Sinha had concluded his campaign in Ranchi on Saturday. He has met the CM, and Congress MLAs and sought their support for the election.

In the 81-member House, the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance has a combined strength of 48. JMM alone has 30 seats.

BJP has 26 legislators, including Babulal Marandi, the former JVM-P chief who joined the saffron camp after the 2019 assembly elections.

As per calculation of presidential poll, the value of an MLA in Jharkhand is 176, while that of an MP is 700. The total value of votes of 81 MLAs and 20 MPs in the state is 28,256.

With JMM having 30 MLAs and three MPs, its total value of votes will be around 7,380. The value of NDA including BJP and AJSU is around 15,428.

Since the JMM has declared its support for Murmu, the total value of votes in support of the NDA nominee is likely to be around 22,808.

With Congress' support, the value of votes in favour of Sinha is expected to be around 4,392.