Prez poll: Polling in Uttarakhand underway

Voting for the Presidential election in which NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu is pitted against joint opposition pick Yashwant Sinha began at the state Assembly here on Monday at 10 am.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri, cabinet ministers Subodh Uniyal, Premchand Aggrawal and Rekha Arya were among the first to cast their votes.

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Yashpal Arya and Congress MLA from Haridwar (rural) Anupama Rawat also voted in the morning.

The ruling BJP has 47 members in the Uttarakhand Assembly, while the Congress has 19, and the Bahujan Samaj Party and Independents two each.

Uttarakhand has five Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha seats -- all represented by the BJP in Parliament.