All 230 MLAs in MP cast vote; BJP claims support of non-NDA parties

Bhopal: All the 230 MLAs in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, on Monday cast their votes to elect the next President.

A state minister said National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) nominee Droupadi Murmu will win with a huge margin as some non-NDA parties have supported her.

In the initial hours of voting, which began at 10 AM at the Assembly complex here, long queues of MLAs were seen.

Chief Minister Chouhan was among the early voters. He spoke with some BJP legislators standing in a queue to cast their votes.

Chouhan's predecessor Kamal Nath of Congress voted around 11.30 AM.

“All 230 members of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly voted for the presidential polls by 3.30 PM," an official said.

Senior Congress MLA and former minister Arif Aqueel, who is not well for quite some time, came to the Assembly complex with the support of two aides to cast his ballot.

The MLAs cutting across the party lines were seen mingling with each other while waiting in queues before exercising their franchise.

BJP MLA Umakant Sharma arrived at the Assembly complex wearing a turban and clad in saffron.

State Home Minister Narottam Mishra told reporters that Murmu will win the presidential poll with a huge margin against Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha.

Some non-NDA parties have also extended support to Murmu, he said, adding that Independent legislators in MP were also supporting the NDA nominee.

In the 230-member MP Assembly, the BJP has 127 members and the Congress 96. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has two members, the Samajwadi Party one, and four independents.