Bhubaneswar: Voting for electing the new President of India began on Monday. Odisha Chief Minister and BJD President Naveen Patnaik was among the early leaders to cast his vote for the election.
Naveen, who has already asked his party MLAs and MPs to extend support to NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, cast his vote in the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
“It’s an honour to cast my vote for the Presidential Election. It is indeed a matter of pride for our state that the daughter of Odisha, Smt. Droupadi Murmu is a candidate for the highest office of our country. Wish her all the very best”, the CM said.
Other Odisha MLAs also cast their vote in the premises of the Assembly.
Murmu is the NDA candidate, who is contesting against Yashwant Sinha, supported by the Opposition parties.
The President is elected by members of the Electoral College consisting of elected Members of Parliament and that of all the state Assemblies, including National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry. The nominated Members of Parliament, state Assemblies and Members of Legislative Council are not eligible to vote.
A total of 776 Members of Parliament and 4,033 MLAs will vote in the Presidential elections.
The total value of votes is 10,86,431, of which votes of MLAs are 5,43,231 and MPs are 5,43,200.