Record 99 percent turnout in Presidential election

A record 99% of eligible voters (elected MPs and MLAs) across the country exercised their franchise in the 14th Presidential election that pitted NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind against the joint Opposition candidate Meira Kumar.

Kovind enjoyed a clear edge over Meira as the ruling BJP had rallied the support of almost 40 political parties comprising 63% of the total votes. The counting of votes is scheduled to commence from 11 am on Thursday. In addition, the BJP poll managers were expecting an increase in the vote share on account of cross voting.

There were reports of cross voting by sacked TMC legislators in Tripura, a section of the SP in Uttar Pradesh and some disgruntled AAP MLAs in Delhi. An AAP legislator in Punjab, H S Phoolka, who had opposed Meira’s candidature, abstained from voting.

In Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to cast his vote having arrived at the polling booth a good 10 minutes before the polling began at 10 am. Modi's early arrival sent the Election Commission (EC) officials into a tizzy, but Modi told them he would wait till polling commences.

BJP chief Amit Shah, an MLA from Gujarat, also cast his vote in Parliament. The electoral college for the Presidential election comprises elected MPs and MLAs – a total of 4,896 voters. According to the EC, of the 771 MPs entitled to vote (4 vacant and 1 disqualified), 768 cast their votes (99.61%). Similarly, out of the 4109 MLAs entitled to vote (10 vacant and 1 disqualified), 4083 voted (99.37%).

“Almost 99% of the electors cast their vote which is probably the highest ever voting percentage,” Lok Sabha Secretary General Anoop Mishra, also the returning officer, told reporters.

Mishra said 100% polling was reported in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Puducherry.

BJP Lok Sabha member from Sasaram, Chhedi Paswan, was ineligible to vote as the Patna High Court had disqualified him from membership of the House. Three MPs – Tapas Paul of the TMC, Ram Chandra Hansdak of the BJD and Anbumani Ramadoss of the PMK - did not vote. Paul and Hansdak are in custody, Mishra said.