The Presidential polling has begun on Monday. Draupadi Murmu is the NDA candidate, who is contesting against Yashwant Sinha, who is the opposition's choice. The President is elected by members of the Electoral College consisting of elected Members of Parliament and of all the state Assemblies, including the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry. Nominated Members of Parliament, state Assemblies, and Members of Legislative Council are not eligible to vote. A total of 776 Members of Parliament and 4,033 MLAs will vote in the Presidential elections.
Meanwhile, MLAs arrived at the Telangana Assembly in Hyderabad to cast their votes. Also, Maharashtra chief Minister Eknath Shinde has expressed his determination that NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu will get 200 MLA votes in the presidential elections, and since Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has done wonders in the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council elections, there is great curiosity about whether the votes of the opposition will split in tomorrow's elections.
Even when Rahul Narvekar was elected as the Assembly Speaker and the Shinde government won the confidence vote, 164 votes were polled. Laxman Jagtap and Mukta Tilak, two BJP MLAs, could not come to vote. Narvekar will now have the right to vote. This means that the BJP-Shinde group now has 167 members. There is no possibility of Jagtap, Tilak coming to the polls. This means that 165 will be the numerical strength. To reach the figure of 200, 35 votes will be required. This number will go up to 180 as Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray faction announced its support to Murmu. Another 20 MLAs will need votes to reach the magic number of 200.