Presidential Election 2017: Most legislators in Telugu states vote by afternoon

Hyderabad/Amaravati: Almost all legislators in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Assemblies had cast their votes by Monday afternoon to elect the country’s 14th president. [caption id=“attachment_1634211” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] Over 100 out of the 119 legislators in Telangana and 169 out of the 175 in Andhra Pradesh had exercised their franchise by 1 pm, officials said. Both the states witnessed brisk polling since the process began at 10 am. Legislators from Telangana cast their votes at the state legislative Assembly in Hyderabad while their counterparts from Andhra Pradesh exercised their franchise at the state Assembly in Amaravati. Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, state Assembly speaker Madhusudhana Chary and Leader of Opposition K Jana Reddy were among the first to cast their votes in Hyderabad. Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has already announced its support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind. The TRS has 90 members in the 119-member Assembly. Kovind was also assured support of five legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and three of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) The vote value of each legislator in Telangana is 132. All TRS legislators, including ministers, reached Assembly premises in three buses from party headquarters Telangana Bhavan, where mock polling was held for the second time since Sunday to ensure that all lawmakers cast their vote properly. Main opposition Congress, which has 13 members, will back the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate Meira Kumar. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which has seven MLAs and the lone member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist has also announced their support to Meira Kumar. However, AIMIM leader in assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi could not participate in the voting process as he is in London for medical treatment. TRS member Dasari Manohar Reddy is also not likely to cast vote as he was undergoing treatment in a hospital. In Andhra Pradesh, almost all legislators had exercised their franchise by afternoon. The NDA candidate is expected to get the support of all legislators as both ruling TDP-BJP alliance and lone Opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) have said that they will vote for Kovind. Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and Assembly speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao were among the first to cast their votes. Leader of Opposition and YSRCP president YS Jaganmohan Reddy and other members of his party also cast their ballots. This is the first time polling for presidential election is being held in Amaravati. In the 175-member state Assembly, the TDP has 124 members, including 21 who defected from YSRCP. The BJP has four legislators. The Opposition YSRCP has 46 legislators. Every legislator in Andhra Pradesh has a vote value of 159. The voting process will continue till 5 pm. All the ballots will then be sent to Delhi, where counting will take place on 20 July. Members of Parliament from both the Telugu-speaking states were casting their votes in Parliament House in New Delhi.