Presidential poll News

Madhusudan Mistry slams Shashi Tharoor over allegations of 'irregularities' in the Congress presidential poll Shashi Tharoor’s team wrote to the Mistry flagging "extremely serious irregularities" in the conduct of the election

CM Yogi Adityanath on Monday prayed for strength to Indian democracy as he voted for the presidential polls at the Vidhan Bhavan's Tilak Hall in Lucknow Mayawati claimed that his party rose above politics to support Draupadi Murmu and urged legislators belonging to weaker sections to vote on the basis of their conscience UP Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak and BSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar arrived together to cast their votes

The Monsoon Session of Parliament begins today with the election for the 15th President of India The Centre is likely to announce 24 Bills, including the Press Registration Periodicals Bill, 2022, during this session NDA prez candidate Draupadi Murmu and opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha are the two candidates for election to the office of the President

Chirag Paswan on Sunday attended a meeting of the BJP-led NDA on the presidential poll preparation He had kept away from the ruling alliance's gatherings after walking out of the NDA during the 2020 Bihar assembly polls Paswan told PTI that attending the meeting did not mean he was again a part of the National Democratic Alliance

As many as 11 candidates filed papers on the first day of nominations for the presidential poll The opposition meeting called by Mamata Banerjee witnessed the absence of some key regional parties This has cheered the BJP as it believes that their absence has only highlighted the faultlines and one-upmanship among its rivals

The Trinamool Congress supremo met the NCP chief trying to convince him to be the joint opposition nominee for the upcoming presidential election.

The electoral colleges comprises 776 MPs of both the Houses and 4,120 MLAs of all the states and Union Territories. The electoral college has 1,098,903 votes, and a majority is 549,452 votes. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of votes, approximately 83,824 followed by Maharashtra and West Bengal.

"The voting was close to 99 per cent. I think this would perhaps be the highest ever percentage," returning officer for the election Anoop Mishra said.

At a meeting, Modi recalled that the former Bihar governor had worked as a 'sahyogi' (aide) of Morarji Desai when he was the prime minister.

She also described the electoral contest as the opposition's fight against a "narrow-minded, divisive and communal vision".

The meeting, attended by opposition candidates for presidential and vice-presidential elections - Meira Kumar and Gopalkrishna Gandhi, took place on the eve of presidential election. 

"A mockdrill is being conducted to cater to any emergency-like situation and evacuate people during the crictical hour. Apart from this, the mockdrill will also enable us to plug possible loopholes in the security apparatus (if any)," SSP, ATS, Umesh Kumar Srivastava told PTI.

Across the electoral college, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 31 per cent MPs and MLAs with criminal cases, Congress has 26 per cent, Trinamool Congress has 29 per cent, Communist Party of India (Marxist) has 49 per cent, Communist Party of India (CPI) has 58 per cent such MPs and MLAs.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday announced its support for opposition candidate Meira Kumar in the July 17 presidential election.

DMK working president M K Stalin, his party legislators, Left parties MPs TK Rangarajan (CPI-M) and D Raja (CPI), Congress party MLAs, and leaders participated in the meeting.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance`s (NDA) candidate for the President`s post Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday arrived here and sought the political parties` support in the July 17 presidential polls.

From the Chandigarh International Airport, Kovind drove to Panchkula town in Haryana where he will meet legislators from the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) said that they will welcome Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal United (JDU) Nitish Kumar into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).