100 per cent voting for Presidential election in Manipur

Imphal, July 19 (UNI) All the 60 MLAs of Manipur voted for the Presidential election today at the Committee room of the Manipur Legislative Assembly.

Voting started at 1000 hrs, under tight security, and Chief Minister O Ibobi and his wife O Landhoni were among those, who voted early.

By noon, about 50 MLAs had voted, and by 1500hrs all the MLAs had voted, Assembly officials said.

All the papers were sealed and the ballot box will be sent to New Delhi tomorrow by air, officials added.

Extraordinary security measures were taken up and no mobile phones were allowed near the premises of the Assembly secretariat.

In the 60-member House, the ruling Secular Progressive Front (SPF) has 31 Congress MLAs, four CPI and three of the RJD, totalling 38 all of them are backing Ms Patil.

Even though the NCP with four MLA and NPP with three MLAs were on the Opposition bench, they were also expected to support the UPA candidate. Of the ten MLAs, some Independents were also expected to support Ms Patil.

The Manipur People's Party (MPP) with five MLAs was against Ms Patil.

UNI