Aizawl: Voting to elect the 15th president of the country was held in Mizoram Assembly along with the rest of the country amid tight security, an official said.
Assembly commissioner and secretary H Lalrinawma said that polling began at 10 am as per scheduled under strict COVID-19 protocols.
He said that thermal scanning was done on all electors, while officials dealing with the polls and journalists covering it were tested for coronavirus two days ago.
A medical team has also been deployed in case of emergency, he said.
Lalchhuanthanga of the opposition Zoram People’s Movement was the first legislator to cast his vote. Chief Minister Zoramthanga and Speaker Lalrinliana Sailo were among the early voters.
There was no law and order problem till the filing of the report.
The ballot box will be placed in a strong room after polling ends, he added.
In the 40-member state assembly, the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) has 28 members, Zoram People’s Movement six, Congress five and BJP one.
The state has two MPs – one each in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Both of them are from the MNF and have cast their votes in Parliament, Lalrinawma said.
The vote value of one MLA for Mizoram is eight and the total value of MLA votes is 320. The total value of votes of the two MPs is 1400.
All the 28 MNF legislators and MPs and the lone BJP MLA are supporting NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu, while the opposition 6 ZPM legislators and 5 Congress members are in favour of the opposition parties’ candidate Yashwant Sinha.
Murmu is expected to get 1,632 votes from Mizoram, while Sinha will get 88 votes.
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