As the polling begins to choose 15th President of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to cast his vote on Monday.
Besides PM, former Prime Minister Manmohan SIngh , chief ministers from across the country, and other MPs and MLAs cast their votes on Monday morning.
In all, around 4,800 MPs and MLAs will cast their votes today to choose next President of India.
The voting process that began at 10 am will conclude at 5 pm. Counting of votes will take place on July 21, Thursday while next President will take oath on July 25.
In this presidential election, NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu is pitted against joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
Meanwhile, as the Monsoon session of the Parliament also begins today, ahead of the commencement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today urged all Members of Parliament to make the session fruitful and productive by holding discussions and debate with an open mind.
Modi urged all MPs to contemplate deeply and discuss matters to make the session fruitful.
Meanwhile, the leaders of various opposition parties will raise the issues of price rise, ‘Agnipath’ scheme as well as the alleged misuse of investigative agencies in the Monsoon Session today.
The Prime Minister also briefed about the upcoming Presidential and Vice-Presidential polls.
He said, “This Session is also important because elections for the office of President and Vice President are taking place right now. Voting (for the Presidential election) is taking place today. During this period, the new President and Vice President will begin guiding the nation.”
Highlighting about the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Prime Minister said, “This period is very important. It is the period of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. There is a special significance of August 15 and coming 25 years – when the nation would celebrate 100 years of independence, would be the time to make a resolution to decide our journey and the new heights we scale.”
Various Bills including Family Courts (Amendment) Bill, Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill are likely to be taken up in the session.
(With inputs from ANI)