Polling was held today in Parliament House and state capitals for electing a new President for the country. M K Alagiri of DMK, Opposition BJD MP B Mahtab and Pratap Singh Bajwa of Congress were among early voters.

Prominent among those who exercised their franchise at Parliament House, include Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, Defence Minister A K Antony, Congress General secretary Rahul Gandhi,Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BJP leader Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi, BSP Supremo Mayawati ,NCP President Sharad Pawar among other dignitaries.

Heavy polling has also been reported from states. The polling began at 10:00 AM and continued 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 Presidential election.

Members of the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies make up the electoral college for the Presidential election.There are around 32,000 votes with smaller parties who have no presence in Parliament but have legislators in the states. The counting of votes will take place on Sunday.