NEW DELHI: MPs and MLAs set to vote to elect the next President on Monday will not be able to carry their personal pens inside the voting chamber and will have to mark their ballot with a specially-designed marker.
Following the ink controversy in the Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana last year, the Election Commission has decided to use special pens for the electors to mark their votes in the presidential polls.
Specially serial-numbered pens with violet ink have been supplied by the Election Commission to ensure that only the writing instrument issued by it is used by voters to mark their votes.
A poll panel spokesperson explained that before entering the voting chamber, a polling staffer will collect personal pens from the voters and hand over the special pen to mark the vote on the ballot paper.
“When the member comes out of the voting chamber, the special pen will be taken back and the polling staff will return the personal pen,” the spokesperson added.
While MPs will mark their vote on green-coloured ballot papers, pink-coloured ballot papers will be used by MLAs.
The value of an MLA’s vote depends on the population of the state he or she represents. But the value of the vote of an MP does not vary — it is 708. The total value of the electoral college is 10,98,903.
The electoral college, which elects the President through the system of proportional representation, comprises elected MPs and members of state legislative assemblies — a total of 4,896 voters, including 4,120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs.