Gujarat: 178 MLAs, one Rajya Sabha member vote in presidential poll

All the 178 eligible MLAs of Gujarat, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, and one Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament took part in the voting to elect the country's 15th President on Monday.

Elected members of state/UT assemblies and Parliament form the body to elect the President and voting to decide the new occupant of the Rashtrapati Bhavan took place in different state capitals and also New Delhi.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, his predecessor Vijay Rupani, Assembly Speaker Nimaben Acharya and Leader of Opposition Sukhram Rathva of the Congress were among the early voters at the state Assembly complex in Gandhinagar where the polling was held.

The voting began at 10 am and though the official closing time was 5 pm, the entire process ended at 3:45 pm. Counting of votes will be held in New Delhi on July 21.

The last one to cast his vote was Congress MLA Mohan Vala, who reached Gandhinagar from Kodinar town in Gir Somnath district to exercise his right after performing final rites of his father, said Gujarat Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Rajendra Trivedi.

The contest for the top constitutional post is between the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's nominee Droupadi Murmu and Congress-led opposition's candidate Yashwant Sinha.

The BJP has 111 legislators in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly.

After casting his ballot, BJP MLA and Gujarat Education Minister Jitu Vaghani expressed confidence that Murmu, a tribal and former Governor, will get more than 111 votes (of the saffron party) as opposition legislators, too, will support her.

“The post of President is not a party post. Not just in Gujarat, Murmu will get votes from other parties across the country,” he told reporters.

Leader of Opposition Rathva said Murmu's selection as the presidential candidate was the BJP's “masterstroke” ahead of the Assembly elections in Gujarat (due in late 2022), Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (slated in late 2023).

It is obvious the BJP wants to woo adivasi voters of these three states ahead of the Assembly elections by projecting Murmu as the country's first tribal woman president, he said.

“It seems the BJP has played a masterstroke. But, it will not have any impact here (in Gujarat) during voting,” Rathva said earlier in the day.

In the 182-member Assembly, 178 MLAs were eligible to vote and all of them cast their ballot. Two seats – Unjha and Bhiloda – are vacant following the deaths of sitting MLAs. Dwarka legislator Pabubha Manek was barred from voting because of a pending court case pertaining to his disqualification and Khedbrahma MLA Ashvin Kotwal recently resigned from the Assembly membership.

Out of the 178 MLAs who were eligible to cast their votes, the BJP has 111, the Congress 63, the Bharatiya Tribal Party two, the NCP one and there is one independent MLA (Jignesh Mevani). The lone MLA of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Gujarat, Kandhal Jadeja, admitted that he has given his vote to Murmu instead of opposition's candidate Sinha. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP is among the opposition parties which are backing the former Union finance minister.

''I have given my vote to the BJP candidate,'' Jadeja said in a video statement after exercising his franchise at the Assembly complex.

Notably, political parties can not issue whip to their MLAs or MPs in the presidential poll.

Though members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were supposed to cast their ballot in New Delhi, Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh, Parimal Nathwani, gave his vote at Gandhinagar.

Nathwani, a top executive of Reliance Industries Ltd, told reporters that he had taken prior permission from the authorities concerned to cast his vote at Gandhinagar instead of the national capital. PTI PJT PD NSK GK RSY RSY