Prez poll: Kejriwal, Sisodia cast their votes at Delhi Assembly

By 3 pm, 60 MLAs, including eight from the BJP, had cast their votes, officials said.Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, AAP MLAs Shiv Charan Goel and Bhavna Gaur, and BJPs Mohan Singh Bisht were among the early voters.Earlier in the day, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said the President of India is the highest constitutional post of the country for which voting was on according to the due process and rules.The value of a Delhi MLAs is 58.

A total of 68 MLAs in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia, cast their votes in the Presidential election on Monday.

Delhi minister Satyendar Jain and AAP's Mustafabad MLA Haji Yunus did not vote. While Jain is in judicial custody in a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate, Yunus is in Saudi Arabia for Haj pilgrimage.

The chief minister, after casting his vote at Delhi Assembly, expressed optimism that the country will get a ''strong and prudent'' president after the elections.

NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu is pitted against joint Opposition pick Yashwant Sinha in the poll to elect the next president of the country.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had earlier announced that it would support Sinha in the polls.

Voting began amid tight security arrangements at the Delhi Assembly premises at 10 am. By 3 pm, 60 MLAs, including eight from the BJP, had cast their votes, officials said.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, AAP MLAs Shiv Charan Goel and Bhavna Gaur, and BJP's Mohan Singh Bisht were among the early voters.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said the President of India is the highest constitutional post of the country for which voting was on according to the due process and rules.

The value of a Delhi MLA's is 58. It is a matter of ''concern'' that this value is based on a 51-year-old census conducted in 1971, Goel said.

''It should be updated at least as per the census of 2011,'' Goel said after casting his vote.

BJP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, cast their votes together.

Referring to Murmu, Bidhuri said there is a lot of joy among the people of the country as a tribal woman is going to become the president.

Droupadi Murmu is going to win the election with record votes, he said.

The Delhi Assembly has 70 seats, with the ruling AAP having 62 MLAs and the rest belonging to the BJP.

Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla, all the ministers of the Kejriwal government and newly elected Rajinder Nagar MLA Durgesh Pathak, too cast their votes.

The votes were cast using paper ballot. The ballot box was sealed after 5 pm and transported to the office of returning officer of the elections at Rajya Sabha in Parliament House premises, said a senior poll official.

Arrangements were made at the Assembly premises to check for any COVID-19 symptoms among those entering the premises.

An isolation room was set up at the entry of the Assembly building to screen people for Covid symptoms, officials said, adding that none of the voters had any symptoms.

This is the first presidential poll being held in the country after the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020.

The polling room was set up in one of the committee rooms of the British-era building of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha, officials said.

A medical facility was also set up in a separate room.

Counting of the votes will take place in the national capital on July 21, after all ballots from states and Union Territories are brought here, officials said.

Outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind's term ends on July 24.