Ahead of Presidential elections, BJP MLAs moved to Bengaluru hotel

Ahead of the July 18 Presidential elections, the Karnataka BJP MLAs have been shifted to a private hotel here on Saturday evening. Following the directives of the party high command, BJP chief whip M Satish Reddy asked MLAs to remain in the hotel until Monday morning before leaving for Vidhana Soudha to vote.

"High command wants to send out a message of how serious our party is about Droupadi Murmu's candidature," a BJP MLA said.

State BJP unit has organised a mock voting drill for the MLAs on Sunday. Three persons, who were trained at a party session in Delhi on how voters should go about their exercise, will conduct the drill on Sunday here, sources said.

In June, the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the Election of the 16th President of India. The polls will be held on July 18. The counting will be taken up on July 21. The term of office of President Ram Nath Kovind will end on July 24.

The President is elected by an electoral college comprising elected members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. It also includes the Legislative Assemblies of Delhi and Puducherry.

Voting for the Vice Presidential election will be held on August 6. The BJP-led NDA has named tribal leader Droupadi Murmu as its presidential candidate. Also in the running is joint Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.

Earlier in the day, the BJP named West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, a Jat leader from Rajasthan with socialist background, as the NDA's vice presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, BJP president JP Nadda held a dinner meeting with party MPs and asked them to ensure 100 per cent voting in the upcoming presidential election, sources said. Nadda also instructed the MPs to take care that no mistake is made while casting votes in the presidential and vice presidential polls, they said.

The BJP president asked the MPs to come prepared for the monsoon session of Parliament starting July 18 and avoid taking leave during the session.

Also, the Aam Aadmi Party said that they will extend their support to the opposition's presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha in the upcoming Presidential elections which will take place in the country. "AAP will support Opposition's Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha. We respect Droupadi Murmu, but we will vote for Yashwant Sinha," AAP MP Sanjay Singh said.