Hyderabad: TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed party MPs and MLAs not to tick the name of UPA candidate Meira Kumar as their second preference while voting in the Presidential election. Mr Rao told them clearly to tick the name of the NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind as their only choice.
All TRS MLAs have been summoned for a mock polling on Sunday at Telangana Bhavan, on the eve of the Presidential election on Monday.
Mr Rao asked every elector to go through the mock polling as a precautionary measure to avoid any mistakes. TRS MLC Palla Rajeswara Reddy told DC that mock polling will be held on Sunday as a majority of the party electors had never participated in a Presidential election earlier. TRS MPs will participate in mock polling on Sunday evening at the New Delhi residence of Mahbubnagar MP A.P. Jitender Reddy. The MPs will exercise their vote on Monday at Parliament House. In a related development, the MIM has decided to vote in favour of Ms Kumar.
Though there is no official version about this yet, a senior legislator of the party said that all the seven MLAs and one MP will vote for Ms Kumar.
The MIM did not vote in Presidential elections in 2002 and 2007 but voted in favour of Pranab Mukherjee in 2012.
“We cannot support or vote in favour of NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind who is nothing but a candidate sponsored by the RSS. We will vote for Meira Kumar,” the senior legislator said.
