YS Jagan casts vote for President's election in AP

AMARAVATI: The polling for the Presidential election began in Andhra Pradesh on Monday with Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy casting the first vote. The exercise began at 10 am and until 12 noon, 142 MLAs cast their votes. Andhra Pradesh state Assembly has a total of 175 legislators.

After YS Jagan, Assembly Speaker Thammineni Sitharam exercised his right of ballot followed by ministers, including Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Karumuri Nageswara Rao, Meruga Nagarjuna, R K Roja, Usha Sri Charan and Taneti Vanitha and Amzad Basha.

Draupadi Murmu and Yashwant Sinha are in the fray for the presidential elections as the candidates of the NDA and the opposition combine respectively. Both the YSRCP and the TDP, the only two parties having presence in the Assembly, have already pledged their support to Draupadi Murmu. As a result, the voting in Andhra Pradesh is a one-sided affair.

Earlier, a mock-polling session was conducted at the YSRCLP office located on the premises of the state Assembly to enlighten the voters on the prescribed voting procedure. From the ruling party, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy and party whip G Srikanth Reddy have been acting as its coordinators for the polling exercise.