Polling for Russian presidential elections in India ends, 1701 cast votes

New Delhi [India], March 18 (ANI): Voting for Russian presidential elections concluded in the country with a total of 1701 votes cast, the Russian Embassy in India informed.

In a post on X, the Russian Embassy in India stated, "Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov’s statement on the outcomes of the Presidential Election held in "The Russian Presidential Election in India has come to a successful conclusion. The total votes cast are 1701"In the first six hours of voting on Sunday, more than 400 Russian citizens exercised their franchise at the polling station at the Russian Embassy in New Delhi.

"Over 400 Russian citizens voted at polling station No. 8099 at the Russian Embassy in New Delhi, India during first 6 hours of voting," the Russian Embassy in India posted on X.

Meanwhile, voter turnout in Russia for the presidential election stood at 65.05 per cent as of 12:50 pm (local time) on Sunday, according to a live update from the Russian Central Election Commission, state news agency TASS reported.

Data on the information board of the election authority read, "[Voter turnout] as the election is going on: 65.05 per cent." The data, however, did not include the number of online voters.

Voting for the Russian presidential election also concluded in Russia’s Far East. The public observers and local election commission members did not record any irregularities during the three-day voting, TASS reported.

Voting for the Russian Presidential elections was conducted over three days--from March 15 to 17, with online voting available in about one-third of the nation’s regions.

President Vladimir Putin, who is running for the country’s top office again as an independent candidate, cast his electronic vote in the presidential elections on March 15.

Footage released by the Kremlin showed Putin walking towards a computer in his office, casting his vote and then smiling and waving at the camera. A notification on the computer monitor then read that a vote had been successfully cast.

It was not the first time that Putin cast his vote online. In the last few years, the Russian President cast his vote online during the autumn single election day. The ongoing polling to elect the President marked the first time that online voting was made available, according to TASS.

The candidates, who pitted themselves against Putin for the top post in the country were Vladislav Davankov, Leonid Slutsky and Nikolay Kharitonov. The New People Party picked Vladislav Davankov to run for the highest office while Putin was a self-designated candidate. Leonid Slutsky of the LDPR party and Nikolay Kharitonov also entered the fray, representing the Communist Party of Russia, according to TASS.

This was also the first time that the presidential polls in Russia were conducted over three days. According to Russian Central Election Commission Chair Ella Pamfilova, the people liked this format as it gave them more opportunity to cast votes in the presidential polls. (ANI)