New Delhi: An estimated 90 per cent of members of Parliament (MPs) and members of legislative assembly (MLAs) across the country cast votes in the Presidential election with victory of missile man A P J Abdul Kalam a foregone conclusion in a battle in which the arithmetic is heavily stacked against Left parties' nominee and INA veteran Lakshmi Sehgal.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, his Cabinet colleagues and leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi cast their votes in the Parliament House where Kalam, sponsored by NDA and backed by most Opposition parties, made a brief appearance.

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary and Lok Sabha member Vaiko, arrested under POTA, cast his ballot at Tamil Nadu Assembly secretariat in Chennai where he was taken from Vellore Central prison, about 140 km from the state capital, amidst tight security following clearance by Madras High Court on a petition from him.

The six-hour polling began on a brisk note at 10:00 hours and by forenoon nearly 65 per cent of the votes were cast across the country. By the time polling closed, the turnout was 90 per cent, Rajya Sabha secretary general R C Tripathi, who is the returning officer, told reporters.

The electoral college for the Presidential poll consists of 4896 members, 776 MPs and 4120 MLAs. Of them, 735 members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha exercised franchise.

Tripathi said 13 MPs, 10 from Lok Sabha and three from Rajya Sabha, could not cast their votes for various reasons.

With only a handful of MPs and in power only in West Bengal and Tripura, the Left parties are unlikely to fetch substantial votes to prevent Kalam from succeeding K R Narayanan who demits office on July 24.

"Everything went off well at the polling centres, including the three newly carved states of Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh," Tripathi said.

He said the counting of ballots begins at 11: 00 hours on July 18 and the result was likely to be declared by 15: 00 hours the same day. While Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan was the first to cast his vote, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, Singh, Law Minister Jana Krishnamurthi and Health Minister Shatrughan Sinha were among the early voters.

PTI