THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state's 139 MLAs cast their votes here at room number 604 of the Kerala Legislative Assembly as polling agents S. Sharma (LDF) and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan (UDF) watched, through both sides supported the candidate the Congress party fielded-Meira Kumar. Mr Radhakrishnan (Kottayam) voted first and K. J. Maxi (Kochi) the last. One seat was lying vacant after P.K. Kunhalikutty of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) resigned to contest and won the Malappuram Lok Sabha seat.
Kuttiyadi MLA (Muslim League) Parakkal Abdulla cast his vote at Chennai with the permission of the Election Commission of India. The MLAs wrote their choice in the ballot paper with a special pen with violet ink made by the Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan and cabinet ministers voted in the morning itself. All but BJP's lone legislator O. Rajagopal were supporting Ms Kumar against NDA's Ram Nath Kovind, who is set to win.
All the 20 Lok Sabha and nine Rajya Sabha MPs voted in Delhi. The value of an MLA vote from Kerala is 152, and the total value of 139 MLAs is 21, 128. V. K. Babu Prakash, legislature secretary, along with his section officer, took the ballot box to New Delhi by the Air India flight at 7.15 pm. Counting will be held on Thursday.
