Ranchi: Polling on Monday concluded inside the Jharkhand Vidhansabha to elect the next President of the nation in which a total of 80 MLAs cast their votes.
Chief Electoral Officer of the state K Ravi Kumar said that the elections had concluded peacefully at 5 PM in which out of 81 MLAs 80 legislators had cast their votes. He further said that the ballot box has been sealed and it will be taken to New Delhi on Tuesday and deposited in the Rajya Sabha.
The counting of votes will be held on July 21. Earlier amid elaborate security arrangements voting started inside the assembly premises for the Presidential polls. BJP MLA Anant Ojha cast his vote as the first voter in the polls. After him, two more BJP MLAs Naveen Jaiswal and Bhanu Pratap Sahi exercised their votes.
The MLAs of the NDA had earlier reached the Vidhansabha premises together on a bus. Later in the day, the MLAs of Congress turned up to cast their votes. Chief Minister Hemant Soren also reached the Vidhansabha premises in the afternoon and cast his votes and so did the other MLAs of the JMM.
The Chief Minister later said that as per the decision of the party the MLAs have voted for Draupadi Murmu. NDA nominee Draupadi Murmu had received the support of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in these polls. While MLAs of the Congress, RJD, and CPI-ML voted for UPA-backed candidate Yashwant Sinha.
Out of 81 MLAs of Jharkhand, only 80 cast their votes in the polls as BJP MLA from Sindri Inderjeet Mahto is ill for the last few months and is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Hyderabad.