Voting in presidential poll ends in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry

Chennai/Puducherry, July 19 (IANS) Voting in the presidential election ended in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Thursday with two political parties abstaining in Tamil Nadu.

In Tamil Nadu, of the 234 legislators, 197 voted while the DMDK with 29 members and the Communist Party of India with eight members decided to abstain.

On the other hand, all the 30 legislators in Puducherry voted and their ballots were in well before noon.

Polling in both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry began around 10 a.m.

In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa cast the first ballot at the state secretariat, followed by other legislators.

AIADMK's Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members had been allowed to vote at the state legislature.

DMK president M. Karunanidhi and other members of his party also cast their ballot to elect India's 13th president.

The main contest is between United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) Pranab Mukherjee and Bharatiya Janata Party-backed P.A. Sangma, who was also being supported by the AIADMK and Biju Janata Dal among others.