The voting for India's next president coincided with the commencement of the Parliament's Monsoon Session on Monday, 18 July.
While the Monsoon Session is expected to go on till 12 August, the presidential polling took place in the Parliament and state legislative Assemblies till 5 pm on Monday. The counting of votes will be held on 21 July.
Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs cast their votes to elect the 15th president of India, with National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu having a clear edge over Opposition's Yashwant Sinha, as over 60 percent of the votes are expected to be cast in her favour.
Between the voting for India's 15th president and the first day of the Monsoon Session, here are the top 10 developments that transpired in the Parliament today:
Rajya Sabha proceedings had to be adjourned following sloganeering and disruption by Congress MPs over issues like price rise and GST.
Before that, Rajya Sabha observed silence as a mark of respect to the memory of the departed, including former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, ex-UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and legendary Hindustani classical musician Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.
Cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh, BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla, P Chidambaram, and Kapil Sibal took oath along with nearly 23 other leaders as Rajya Sabha members.
Lok Sabha proceedings too were adjourned amid Opposition's uproar over price rise.
BJP MP from Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh) Dinesh Lal 'Nirahua' Yadav, TMC MP from Asansol (West Bengal) Shatrughan Sinha, and BJP MP from Rampur (Uttar Pradesh) Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi took oath as members of the Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and others cast their votes at the Parliament House in Delhi.
Around 736 electors, including 727 MPs and nine legislative Assembly members, were permitted by the Election Commission to vote, out of which 730 cast their votes.
Earlier on Monday, Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha appealed to the voters to vote for him to "save democracy" as the voting began. The election will witness a tough contest between NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu and Sinha.
Interestingly, Haryana Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, MLA Mohammed Moquim, Jharkhand MLA from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Kamlesh Singh, senior Samajwadi Party MLA Shivpal Yadav cast their votes in favour of rival candidate Murmu.
All India United Democratic Forum (AIDUF) MLA Karimuddin Barbhuiya claimed that 20 Congress legislators had cross-voted in favour of Murmu saying he had evidence to prove it.
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