The Election Commission today rejected Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's vote in the Presidential poll and directed the Returning Officer (RO) not to count it as the secrecy of the ballot had been violated. An Election Commission statement said, the issue of second ballot paper to Mulayam Singh Yadav was not warranted under rule 15 of the Presidential and Vice- Presidential Elections Rules, 1974. Therefore, the second ballot paper issued to Yadav may not be taken up for counting.

Mr. Yadav had on Wednesday first cast his vote in favour of BJP-backed candidate P A Sangma instead of UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee. However, realsing his mistake he had sought a second ballot paper to make a correction.

AIR Correspondent adds that the value of a M P's vote is equavalent to 708. The value of a MP's vote is calculated by dividing the total value of all MLAs' votes by the number of MPs.