At least 72 per cent turnout in Presidential poll

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At least 72 per cent of MPs and MLAs across the country on Thursday voted to elect a new President in a race in which UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee is set to win with a huge margin over P A Sangma who is backed by some opposition parties.

As many as 4,120 MLAs and 776 MPs with a total vote value of 10.98 lakh votes were eligible to cast their ballot in the election. As per information received from 22 states, 2937 MLAs and 40 MPs had cast their votes.

As per information received from 22 states excluding Delhi, the turnout in the election is 72 per cent. Information was yet to be received from Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Odisha and Tripura, Rajya Sabha Secretary General and Returning Officer for the poll V.K. Agnihotri told reporters here.

In Parliament, where 699 MPs and eight MLAs were eligible to exercise their franchise, the turnout was 96.60 per cent with key leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, BJP veteran L.K. Advani, Mukherjee and Rahul Gandhi voting before noon.

Of the 707 eligible to cast their vote in Parliament, 683 electors - 675 MPs and 8 MLAs - cast their ballots when the polling ended at 5:00 p.m.

The counting of votes will be taken up on Sunday at 11:00 a.m.