Presidential poll: Out of 126 Assam MLAs, 123 cast votes

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Amidst allegations and counter allegations between the Opposition members, out of 126 members of the Assam Legislative Assembly (ALA), 123 members, including Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, cast their votes in the Assembly Secretariat today to elect the next President of India.

Congress MLA Bharat Chandra Narah had sought permission to exercise his vote in the Parliament while two AIUDF MLAs – Suzamuddin Laskar and Nizam Uddin Choudhury – could not cast their votes as they have not returned from their Haj pilgrimage.

All 123 votes were cast in the presence of observer Leena Johri who returned to New Delhi after the casting of votes to deposit the ballot box in the Secretariat of the Rajya Sabha.

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has 82 MLAs (BJP-63, AGP-9, UPPL- 7 and BPF-3). In the Opposition, the Congress has 27 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 MLAs, CPI (M) has one MLA and there is one Independent member, all of whom have announced their support for Opposition presidential nominee Yashwant Sinha. The ruling NDA, on the other hand, is confident that NDA presidential nominee Draupadi Murmu will win with a huge margin.

Meanwhile, both Congress and AIUDF accused each other of cross-voting. While AIUDF MLA Karimuddin Bhuyan alleged that 20 MLAs of the Congress had voted for Murmu, the Congress accused the AIUDF of 'betraying' the Opposition.

The value of each vote in the Presidential election is determined by the population of each state. The value of each MLA's vote varies from state to state. It is calculated by dividing the total population of the state by the total number of MLAs in the state and then divided by 1,000. The value of the vote of an MLA from Assam is 247. On the other hand, the value of the vote of an MP is 708.

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