68 MLAs cast vote, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says hopeful of a ‘prudent’ President

NEW DELHI: Out of the 70 Delhi MLAs, 68 cast their vote at the assembly on Monday to elect the 16th President of India. After casting his vote, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said he was optimistic that the country would get a strong and prudent President.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel, leader of opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, all cabinet ministers, and AAP and BJP legislators also cast their vote on the assembly premises. NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu is pitted against opposition pick Yashwant Sinha in the poll.
Kejriwal said he hoped for a brighter future of the country under the next President. “MPs and MLAs have cast their votes. I have also exercised my electoral power... I am optimistic that the country will get a strong and prudent President,” the CM said.
The 68 MLAs cast their vote in the designated ballot box provided by the Election Commission of India, which was sent to the Rajya Sabha in the evening. Before entering the designated area for voting, the members were thermally scanned, ECI stated. Minister Satyendar Jain and AAP MLA Haji Yunus did not vote. While Jain is in judicial custody in an alleged money laundering case, Yunus is in Saudi Arabia for Haj.
Shashi Ranjan Kumar (IAS), the additional secretary of the ministry of textiles and financial adviser, was the observer of the election held at the Delhi assembly. The ballot box was brought to the committee room of the assembly from a protected room, where it was kept in a previously sanitised and properly sealed strong box under strict videography monitoring. The commission said the polling exercise was conducted smoothly, ECI stated.
The polling saw over 99% of the total of 4,796 electors in the electoral college for the election cast their votes across India. In fact, 100% voting was reported from 11 states and the Union territory of Puducherry, ECI stated.