DEHRADUN: One state cabinet minister and two Congress MLAs missed the action as 67 members, out of 70, of the state legislative assembly cast their vote in the Presidential Elections on Monday.
Three MLAs who did not vote include state cabinet minister Chandan Ram Das, who had to be admitted to a hospital due to illness, Congress MLA from Kiccha Tilakraj Behar and Congress MLA from Badrinath Rajendra Singh Bhandari.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami after casting his vote said, “Honorable Draupadi Murmu is going to win the polls to become our President. Many MPS, MLAs are voting for her going beyond the party line.”
Arrangements for voting in the Presidential elections in Uttarakhand have been made in the Vidhan Sabha.
As polling started, CM, cabinet ministers Rekha Arya, Premchand Agarwal, Subodh Uniyal, speaker of the assembly Ritu Bhushan Khanduri and leader of opposition Yashpal Arya reached the assembly to cast their votes in the first half only.
The assembly campus bustled with leaders, security personnel and cameras to record every moment of the polls.
Uttarakhand has a total of 70 MLAs whose vote is worth 4480 in the polls while the votes of eight Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) hold the value of 5600 votes.
The value of votes of Uttarakhand MLAs stood at 4288 after three MLAs did not vote. MPs from the state cast their vote in New Delhi.