Ballot box containing the votes cast by elected members of Karnataka Legislative Assembly, one Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members each in the Presidential election were sent to the Parliament in Delhi in a flight on Monday night.
While the BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) members had declared their votes to the NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu, the Congress backed Opposition presidential candidate Yashwanth Sinha.
While all the 224 elected members of the Legislative Assembly exercised their franchise here at Vidhana Soudha, two Parliamentarians were given permission to cast their vote in Bengaluru instead of Parliament in Delhi by the Election Commission.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with B.S. Yediyurappa and BJP MLA’s at the Vidhana Soudha. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR
Rajya Sabha member and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and former Union Minister and BJP member representing Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha constituency V. Srinivas Prasad cast their votes here. Mr. Gowda arrived in a wheelchair to cast his vote.
First to vote
Earlier in the day, Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol was the first to cast his vote. The BJP legislators, who were housed in a luxury hotel here ahead of the elections were brought in a bus to Vidhana Soudha. By about 3 p.m., almost all votes from Karnataka had been cast barring a few and before the election process was completed all the eligible votes from Karnataka had been cast, sources said.
Counting of votes will be done on July 21 and the new President will be sworn in on July 25.
