Prez election: Goa, Gujarat and TN sees brisk polling

New Delhi, Jul 19: The Presidential election to chose the 13th President of India is currently underway in various parts of the country. The UPA nominee for President

is pitted against Opposition nominee

in the fight for Raisina Hill. Reports have emerged from various states on the voting that is being carried out briskly.

Panaji (Goa):
The voting for the presidential election began in Goa with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar among the first few to cast his vote. Parrikar said, BJP-backed presidential candidate PA Sangma would get around 30 votes, out of the total 40. The voting, which began at 10 AM, saw majority of BJP legislators polling their votes while only a few Congress legislators arrived to vote.

Chennai (TN):
AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was one of the early voters at the polling booth for the Presidential polls which was underway at the Secretariat here. Polling began on a brisk note at the Committee Room, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, with the legislators queueing upto cast their votes.

The Election Commission said 15 MPs will be voting in Chennai. Tamil Nadu has a total of 39 Lok Sabha MPs and 18 Rajya Sabha MPs. The 234-member state Assembly is dominated by the ruling AIADMK with 150 MLAs. The party has nine Lok Sabha and five Rajya Sabha MPs.

AIADMK is backing former Lok Sabha Speaker and NDA's Presidential candidate PA Sangma who wound up his campaign on Wednesday after calling on Jayalalithaa. M Karunanidhi-led DMK, a key constituent of the Congress-led UPA at the Centre, has announced its support for UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee. DMK has 18 Lok Sabha and seven Rajya Sabha MPs besides 23 MLAs in the state Assembly.

Main opposition party DMDK, founded by actor-politician Vijayakant, has announced boycotting the elections. The party has a strength of 29 MLAs. According to the EC, the value of vote of each MLA in Tamil Nadu was 176 and therefore the total value of votes for the state was 41,184.

Gandhinagar (Gujarat):
Voting for the presidential election began with Guajrat Chief Minister Narendra Modi being among the first few to cast his vote. Modi arrived at the polling booth located in the Gujarat Assembly premises just before the official time of voting at 10:00 hrs and casted his vote.

Polling was brisk in the morning as one day assembly session of Gujarat legislative assembly is also scheduled today. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Arjun Modhwadia and leader of opposition Shaktisinh Gohil were also amongst the few MLAs who casted their vote. In the first hour around 70 MLAs and MPs also casted their votes, official sources said.

PTI