Voting underway in Karnataka for Presidential election

Voting is underway at ‘Vidhan Soudha’ here for the Presidential election where the NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu is pitted against joint opposition pick Yashwant Sinha.

There are 28 Lok Sabha members in Karnataka comprising 25 from BJP, one each from Janata Dal and Congress and an independent member. The state has 11 Rajya Sabha members — five each from BJP and Congress, and one from JD(S) (former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda).

The state Assembly has a total strength of 225 MLAs comprising 120 from the BJP including the Speaker, 69 Congress, 32 JD(S), one from the Bahujan Samaj Party, two independents and a nominated member. The JD(S) has extended its support to Murmu. Murmu and Sinha had come to the city a few days ago and sought the support of the MLAs and MPs for their candidature.

According to an Information Department official, the BJP members were the first to queue up to vote. Karnataka Minister for Water Resources Govind Karjol was the first to cast his ballot. The polling started at 10 am and will go on till 5 pm.