NEW DELHI, July 14: Legislators across the country today cast their vote for the next President of the country in the first ever whipless elections in the country.

Vice-President K R Narayanan, supported by almost all the major national and regional parties across the political spectrum, appears a sure-shot winner compared to his sole opponent, former chief election commissioner T N Seshan, who managed to garner the support of only the Shiv Sena and a few Maharshtra MLAs.

Unlike the general elections, there was none of the usual activity that characterises a poll. The exercise reflected the dignity of the highest office of the country, the scene at Room 63 in Parliament House where Presidential elections are traditionally held, was businesslike.

It appeared the 647 MPs who cast their vote in the capital had decided to take the exercise seriously -- by noon over 500 of them had casted their votes. By the end of the day, the poll turnout was a high 95 percent.

Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral accompanied by Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan was among those who voted in the morning. Other early birds were Phoolan Devi, Congress President Sitaram Kesri, BSP leader, Kanshi Ram, Sharad Pawar, Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma and his predecessor, Shivraj Patil.

Polling was so brisk in the morning that at times, a queue of MPs would be waiting to put their ballot paper into the single ballot box provided. When Home Minister Indrajit Gupta and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi reached the box at the same time, they went through the pahle aap, pahle aap routine.

For the first time, political parties did not issue a whip following the debate generated by Election Commissioner G V G Krishnamurty that a whip would be tantamount to ``undue influence''.

Since both Narayanan and Seshan are not members of either House, they did not visit the venue of the polls. While Narayanan's authorised representative, Supreme Court lawyer P H Parekh was present through the day, Seshan had not appointed a polling agent.

A number of MPs had opted to vote in their state capitals, especially the MPs from Tamil Nadu. Union Ministers P Chidambaram, Murasoli Maran, Jayanti Natarajan and M Arunachalam and TMC leader G K Moopanar all cast their vote in Chennai.

By noon, Room 63 wore a deserted look. A few stragglers came in and voted. But around 5 pm, there was a last minute flurry. BJP member Sumitra Mahajan dashed in to cast her vote, followed by Dilip Singh Judev, also from the same party.

Later, Lok Sabha Secretary General S Gopalan, the returning officer for the poll in Delhi, told a press briefing that 647 of the 685 MPs and MLAs scheduled to vote from Delhi, had exercised their franchise, registering a 95 percent turnout.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.