NEW DELHI, July 15: Indian politicians cast ballots on Monday to elect the country’s new president, almost certain to be the architect of the country’s missile arsenal, Abdul Kalam.

All major political parties, except for communist groups, have agreed to vote for Kalam, who began his career selling newspapers and went on to spend 43 years in India’s defence and space industries.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani were among the first to cast their votes in the seven hours of polling.

Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi also cast her ballot.

The ballots will be counted by Thursday, according to parliamentary officials.

India has a special electoral college to pick the largely ceremonial post of president, which includes members of state legislative assemblies and the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament).

“A total of 4,896 electors cast their ballot all over India,” said R.C. Tripathi, secretary general of the lower house, who is also the chief returning officer for the poll.

“These include 748 MPs in New Delhi. The counting of votes would be taken up on Thursday and results declared the same day.”

Kalam is opposed by the 87-year-old communist-nominated candidate Lakshmi Sahgal, who raised a women’s battalion for the Indian National Army in Singapore which fought against British soldiers during the 1940s.

“It is nice that there is a contest,” a confident Kalam said while talking to reporters at parliament.

Kalam was nominated last month by the ruling coalition after intensive talks between the government and the opposition failed to find a consensus candidate.

The incumbent president, Kocheril Raman Narayanan, is due to complete his five-year term on July 24.

The communists opposed Kalam in part because they accused him of not speaking out loudly enough against the riots in Gujarat, which have left more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead.—AFP