Presidential poll: Parties educate their legislators on voting process

A day before the presidential elections, political parties educated their legislators about the voting process by holding meetings

Mumbai A day before the presidential elections, political parties educated their legislators about the voting process by holding meetings.

Gurukul Art students greeting through painting to both presidential candidates Yeshwant Sinha and Droupadi Murmu, at Lalbuag, in Mumbai, India, on Sunday (BHushan Koyande)

Congress started the inquiry over the absence of 12 of its MLAs during the floor test of the Eknath Shinde faction and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government held on July 4.

Legislators from the Shinde-led faction and BJP jointly met at Hotel Trident and discussed preparations for polling for the presidential election scheduled on Monday. Congress legislators met at the party office situated at the Vidhan Bhavan building on Sunday evening.

The joint meeting of the Shinde faction and BJP was addressed by chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. They asked their legislators to vote for Droupadi Murmu, National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) presidential candidate. The legislators were also informed about the election process in detail. The MLAs will stay at the five-star hotel and reach Vidhan Bhavan for voting on Monday morning.

Congress legislators were addressed by senior leaders such as Mohan Prakash and Balasaheb Thorat. Prakash also started the inquiry as 12 Congress MLAs didn’t appear for voting during the crucial trust vote of the new coalition government of the Shinde faction and BJP. From Saturday, he has started meeting a group of legislators in person, which will continue till Monday.

During the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker elections, the ruling Shinde faction and BJP coalition got 164 votes against 104 votes secured by the opposition as 16 members abstained from voting. Of them, seven NCP MLAs and two Congress MLAs were absent. Similarly, during the floor test, the opposition votes were reduced to 99 as 20 members abstained from voting. Of them, 12 Congress MLAs, and four NCP MLAs were absent.

NCP has asked its legislators to reach Vidhan Bhavan at 10 am on Monday morning where they will be asked how and whom to vote.

The opposition parties have declared Yashwant Sinha as their candidate for the presidential poll.