Dispatch News.
All 90 of Chhattisgarh’s MLAs have voted in the country’s 16th presidential election, which began at 10 AM on Monday. The vote box and other documents will then be flown to Delhi by a team of poll authorities after it was sealed at 5 PM. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat will keep the ballot box in a secure room. The votes will be tallied on July 21.
The ballot box was transferred to the assembly’s committee room 2 early in the morning. From the safe room, the election workers removed the vote box. the following morning, in the presence of Chief Electoral Officer P. Dayanand, and took it to the polling station. Additionally present as representatives for the candidates were MLAs from the ruling party, Mohit Kerketta, and the opposition, Dr Krishna Murthy Bandhi. The ballot box was initially removed from the box to demonstrate to the two MLAs that it was empty. Then the election authorities used tags and flags to seal the ballot box.
Health Minister TS Singhdeo also appeared for the first time after resigning. He also came to vote. MLAs Chhani Sahu and Shailesh Pandey accompanied him. Several MLAs had previously voted, including Speaker Dr Charandas Mahant and Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. Opposition Leader Dharamlal Kaushik predicted that BJP candidate Draupadi Murmu would receive a record number of votes in Chhattisgarh. He claimed that non-NDA parties had also backed Draupadi Murmu.
The BJP has done strong lobbying for Draupadi Murmu, the NDA’s presidential candidate. The BJP has 14 MLAs in Chhattisgarh. They have also taken three MLAs from the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh and two MLAs from the Bahujan Samaj Party with them. In such a situation, the number of his solid votes has gone up to 19.
Here, former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha, nominated by the United Opposition, is confident only of Congress’s votes. The Congress has 71 MLAs in Chhattisgarh. Half of these people come from the tribal community. The entire thrust of the Congress is to keep these votes united in favour of Yashwant Sinha.
On Sunday evening, there was a 15-20-minute break in the Congress Legislature Party meeting. The legislative process for the presidential election was explained. Identity cards and all necessary documents were required to attend the meeting. In a mock drill, it was demonstrated how to write “1” in the blank box next to your candidate’s name, Yashwant Sinha, using an Election Commission pen.
