Polling for India's 13th Presidential election ended in Parliament House and state assemblies on Thursday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his Cabinet colleagues and Sonia Gandhi, president of ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), cast their votes during the day-long polling in Parliament House.
The front-runner in the election is former Rajasthan Governor Pratibha Patil, who is the UPA candidate supported by the Left Front, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and other secular parties such as Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
Joining the presidential election against Patil is current Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who is backed by the UPA rival opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The ballot box in Parliament House was sealed at 05:00 p.m. local time at the end of the voting.
A total of 776 members of Parliament and 4,120 members of local assemblies comprise the electoral college for the Presidential poll.
With support from the majority of political parties, Patil may finally become the first woman president of India, as local media predicted.
Counting of votes will take place on Saturday and the new president will be sworn in on July 25.
Source: Xinhua
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