In all, 140 MLAs from Kerala, one MP from Tamil Nadu, and an MLA from Uttar Pradesh cast their votes at the polling station at the Kerala Legislative Assembly for the Presidential polls held on Monday.
Polling began at 10 a.m. in Room No. 740 on the third floor of the Assembly block where the polling station had been arranged. The exercise went off smoothly, Assembly officials said.
CPI(M) MLA and former Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan was the first to cast his vote.
Over the course of the day, he was followed by the remaining 98 MLAs of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the 41 MLAs of the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan cast their vote shortly before noon, and Assembly Speaker M.B. Rajesh by 3.30 p.m.
Tirunelveli MP S. Gnanathiraviam, who had tested positive for COVID-19, cast his vote after 4 p.m., in the final hour of the polling, wearing a PPE kit. MLA Neel Ratan Singh of Sevapuri, Uttar Pradesh, also cast his vote at the Kerala Assembly.
Since the Kerala Assembly is in session, all the MLAs were present in Thiruvananthapuram. The polling ended at 5 p.m.
In Kerala, both the LDF and UDF had extended their support to the candidate of the Opposition parties, Yashwant Sinha.
Assembly secretary-in-charge Kavitha Unnithan and Additional Secretary Suresh Kumar were the Assistant Returning Officers (ARO) for the polling in Kerala. Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Sanjay Kaul was in-charge of overall supervision.
Assembly officials said the ballot box would be taken to New Delhi on Monday night itself.
