Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday decided not to vote in the Lok Sabha elections in order to maintain his "political neutrality,"in a departure from the recent past, reports Times of India.
Since, Mukherjee was slated to cast his vote on May 12, the decision came as a surprise as he is a registered voter in south Kolkata and had ordered for a postal ballot and would have been the first head of the state to use it.
The tradition for a President to vote is fairly recent with KR Narayanan breaking the convention of "political neutrality" to become the first to vote in the 1998 parliamentary polls.
Mukherjee's immediate predecessors APJ Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil had voted in the 2004 and 2009 general elections respectively. Both were registered voters in Delhi.
Mukherjee is a registered voter in 160 Rashbehari, part of the South Kolkata parliamentary seat. “All formalities for Mukherjee's voting through postal ballot had been completed, said sources. However, he decided not to exercise his franchise, bringing back the convention followed by many past Presidents.
President's press secretary, Venu Rajamony, said the President in order to express his neutrality in the political fray has decided not to cast his ballot. The decision was taken for maintaining the tradition as most of his predecessors had done the same.
South Kolkata will see a multi-cornered contest with Congress fielding Mala Roy and BJP nominating state president Tathagata Roy. Trinamool Congress has fielded sitting MP Subrata Bakshi whereas CPM's candidate is Nandini Mukherjee, a professor.