Six invalid votes from Maharashtra in Prez poll

Mumbai, July 21 (UNI) As many as six votes cast for UPA Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil from the ruling Congress-NCP coalition in Maharashtra were invalid.

State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Patil said ''Six MLAs either marked '11', put a tick mark or just dots against the name of Ms Patil resulting in the declaration of their votes as invalid.'' The voters had to mark '1' against the candidate's name, he informed and said there were no second preference votes.

In the 288-member House, the Congress-NCP coalition's strength is 174, while 56 MLAs of Shiv Sena also cast their votes in her favour, he said.

Asserting that there was no cross-voting from the ruling coalition or that from the Sena, Mr Patil said the BJP had 53 votes and Shetkhari Sanghatana voted for Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Three MLAs from other smaller parties must have voted for BJP-backed candidate, he added.

UNI