Polling is in progress in Parliament House and state capitals for electing a new President. AIR correspondent reports that brisk polling is on in the Parliament House. Over 350 members of Parliament and state legislators had cast their votes when reports last came in. Prominent among those who exercised their franchise so far include Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, Defence Minister A K Antony, Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and other dignitaries.

The polling began at 10:00 AM and will continue till 5:00 PM. UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee, faces P A Sangma sponsored by some opposition parties in the poll. As many as 4,120 MLAs and 776 MPs with a total vote value of 10.98 lakh votes are eligible to cast their ballot in the 14th Presidential election.Members of the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies make up the electoral college for the Presidential election.Besides the UPA and its four supporting parties -SP, BSP, RJD, JD(S) — NDA members JD(U) and Shiv Sena as also the CPI(M) and Forward Bloc have declared their support forMukherjee.
The CPI, RSP, TDP and TRS, which together have about 36,000 votes, are likely to abstain from voting.
There are around 32,000 votes with smaller parties who have no presence in Parliament but have legislators in the
states.
Sangma, a former Lok Sabha Speaker was initially supported by the BJD and AIADMK. The BJP and Akali Dal decided to back Sangma, who quit the NCP.

Elaborate arrangements have been made at Parliament House and in Assembly buildings in every state capital, including to enable the electors to cast their vote.The Election Commission has granted permission to 77 MPs to cast their votes in different state capitals, while eight MLAs from seven states have got the nod of the poll authority to vote in Parliament House.The counting of votes will take place on Sunday from 11:00 AM onwards.