69 out of 77 authorised voters to vote for Prez poll in U'khand

Dehra Dun, July 18 (UNI) Altogether 68 MLAs and one MP out of the 70 elected State Assembly members and eight Members of Parliament are likely to vote for the Presidential election tomorrow, Returning Officer (RO) and Vidhan Sabha Secretary Mahesh Chandra said today The election would be held between 1000 to 1700 hrs, Mr Chandra said, adding that tight security arrangements had been made in the Vidhan Sabha premises.

Out of 71 MLAs in the state Assembly one is a nominated member.

With the resignation of Congress MLA Lt Gen (Retd) TPS Rawat, who recently joined the BJP, only 69 MLAs are left with voting rights in the House.

Except for MP and Chief Minister Maj Gen (Retd) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, all other seven MPs along with Congress MLA Amrita Rawat would cast their votes in Delhi.

The eight MPs include five from the Lok Sabha which includes two members each from the BJP and the Congress while the other three, all belonging to the Congress, are from the Rajya Sabha.

The remaining 69 members in the State Assembly include 35 from the BJP, 20 from the Congress, eight from the BSP, three from Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) while the rest three are Independents.

While the UKD MLAs and the independents would support NDA backed Independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the BSP members are likely to support UPA-Left candidate Pratibha Patil.

Ms Patil was here in Dehradun a few days back to interact with the Congress and the BSP MLAs.

UNI