Voting for presidential election begins in J'khand

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.

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 the 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 the 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 neighboring 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 the calculation of the 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 favor of Sinha is expected to be around 4,392.