Along with their counterparts from the rest of the country, MPs and MLAs from Meghalaya will vote on Monday to elect the 15th President of India.
Two candidates are in the fray for the Presidential election. Droupadi Murmu, a Santhali tribal, is the nominee of the BJP-led NDA while Yashwant Sinha is the joint candidate of the opposition parties.
In Meghalaya, the polling will take place in the temporary Assembly building at Rilbong here.
The ruling BJP-backed Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) has decided to support Murmu in the Presidential election. The Trinamool Congress MLAs will however support Sinha.
However, a few MDA MLAs are likely to stay away from voting.
The counting of votes will take place at Parliament House in New Delhi on July 21 and the next President will be sworn in on July 25.
While MPs will get a green-coloured ballot paper, the MLAs will get a pink ballot paper to cast their vote.
With separate colours in the ballot paper, the returning officer will find it easier to ascertain the value of vote of each MLA and MP.
The Election Commission has issued a specially designed pen with violet ink to enable MPs and MLAs to mark their ballot papers in the presidential poll.
The Electoral College for the Presidential election comprises the members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and those of the legislative assemblies of states and union territories including Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.
The vote value of the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly is 1020. Further, the vote value of the MLA of Meghalaya is 17.
The vote value of an MLA is calculated on the basis of the total population of the State, based on the 1971 census.
However, the value of the vote of an MP has gone down to 700 from 708 in this Presidential poll due to the absence of a Legislative Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.
Murmu is likely to win the election and will be the first tribal to live in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Meghalaya has twice produced tribal candidates for the post of President.
Former Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, George Gilbert Swell was the first tribal of India to contest for the Presidential election in 1992 as an opposition candidate. He lost to Shankar Dayal Sharma of Congress.
Ten years later, Purno A. Sangma was the second tribal candidate to contest for the Presidential elections in 2012. He was supported by the BJP and its allies but lost the contest to Pranab Mukherjee of Congress.
