Pratibha maintaining comfi lead over Shekhawat

New Delhi, July 21: UPA-Left candidate Pratibha Patil secured an overwhelming majority of votes from legislators of Andhra Pradesh, Asom, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Goa and Haryana as counting of votes cast in the 13th Presidential election progressed at the Parliament House today.

However, her rival NDA-backed Independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat got a majority of votes from the NDA-ruled Bihar Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.

Mrs Patil has currently got 701 votes from nine state legislatures, having a total value of 83,929 while Mr Shekhawat has 382, having the value of 54,535 .

In Bihar, where 236 of the 243 MLAs had voted, Mr Shekhawat picked up 145 while Ms Patil got 89. Two votes were invalid. The Independent candidate was ahead in Chhattisgarh too, getting 51 as against Mrs Patil's 37, while one vote was declared invalid. Gujarat also went his way, with 123 votes against her 57 with two invalid ballots.

However, there was cross-voting for the UPA candidate here. At least three BJP MLAs had publicly announced their intention of voting for Ms Patil on the day of the poll.

In Goa, Mrs Patil picked up 25 votes with the rest 14 going her rivals's way, and in Haryana got 70 against Mr Shekhawat's seven.

Mrs Patil had already picked up 223 votes of the 229 cast in the 294-strong Andhra Pradesh assembly, her rival two, while the remaining four were declared invalid. While the opposition Telugu Desam Party, a part of the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), had decided to abstain, some party MLAs had cast their votes.

In Asom, Ms Patil got 92 votes, 20 came Mr Shekhawat's way while four were declared invalid. Here also UNPA constituent, Asom Gana Parishad, had decided to abstain but the party faced a virtual revolt after news of AIADMK legislators participating in the poll reached Guwahati. Most of the party MLAs went out to vote, defying party president Brindabon Goswami. The value of each vote is 116.

In Arunachal Pradesh, 59 of the 60 MLAs had voted. Ms Patil picked up 58 of these, indicating cross-voting among the BJP MLAs, who number eight. Mr Shekhawat just got one.The value of each vote is eight.

Ms Patil picked up 50 votes from the 70-member Delhi assembly, while Mr Shekhawat got 19.

UNI