By IANS
Kolkata : Trinamool Congress Wednesday decided to abstain from voting in Thursday's presidential election since their preferred candidate A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was not given nomination to contest the poll.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee told reporters after a meeting of her party leaders and legislators here that her party would not vote either in favour of Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) nominated candidate Pratibha Patil or Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
"We are abstaining from voting in protest against not allowing incumbent President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to continue in office for another term," Banerjee said at her south Kolkata residence.
Trinamool Congress is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP.
The party has 30 MLAs in the West Bengal assembly while Mamata Banerjee is its lone Lok Sabha member. Trinamool's Dinesh Dwivedi is a Rajya Sabha member.