Presidential election: 100% polling in 10 states; cross-voting | Key takeaways

Members of Parliament and members of the Legislative assembly across the country voted on Monday to elect India’s 15th president, choosing between Opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu, who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

With the BJP’s dominance and support from regional parties such as the BJD, BSP, Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and now JMM, Murmu's vote share is likely to reach nearly two-thirds and she is set to become the first tribal leader and the second woman to occupy the top constitutional post.

Here are the top takeaways from presidential election voting:

1. The Election Commission said over 99 per cent of the total 4,796 electors cast their votes in the presidential poll, while 10 states and the Union territory of Puducherry recorded a turnout of 100 per cent.

2. In Delhi, voting ended with 98.90 per cent of the electors permitted to vote in Parliament House exercising their franchise, said returning officer PC Mody.

3. A 100 per cent voting by MLAs was reported from Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

4. Forty-four MPs were permitted to vote at state headquarters, nine MLAs at Parliament House and two MLAs in other states' headquarters.

5. Mody said 736 electors - 727 MPs and nine MLAs - had been permitted by the Election Commission to vote at Parliament House. Eight MPs, including BJP’s Sunny Deol, did not cast their vote.

6. Among those who voted in Parliament were Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

7. In Assam, AIUDF MLA Karimuddin Barbhuiyan claimed that around 20 Congress MLAs from the state cross-voted.

8. In Uttar Pradesh, Shivpal Singh Yadav of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia claimed he would never support Sinha as he had once accused his brother, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, of being an "ISI agent".

9. Haryana Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, who had cross-voted in last month's Rajya Sabha polls, also indicated that he had Murmu.

10. A visibly frail former prime minister Manmohan Singh, 89, came to vote in a wheelchair. As did 82-year-old Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav who faltered while casting his vote and was given another chance. Manmohan Singh was also assisted by polling officers in exercising his franchise.

(With inputs from agencies)