"Yes, I have voted for Pranab Mukherjee," Kanu Kalsaria, MLA from Mahuva in Bhavnagar district, said after casting his ballot in the State Assembly premises here.
"I am very disturbed with the anti-farmers policies of the state government and that is the reason I have voted for the UPA candidate," he said, citing reason for cross-voting.
"Though I am not supporting Mukherjee, I voted for him as a protest against the state government."
Ahead of the polling, Election Commission had made it clear that political parties cannot issue any direction or whip to their members over voting for the top post.
Kalsaria had led an agitation against Nirma's proposed cement plant in his constituency, where the Modi government had allocated fertile land for the facility.
The MLA had scored big victory when the Supreme Court restrained the company from going ahead with the cement plant after the Union Environment and Forests Ministry withdrew the clearance given to Nirma.
Meanwhile, 181 out of 182 MLAs in the state exercised their franchise. Former Home Minister of State Amit Shah, an accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, has been barred by the Supreme Court from entering Gujarat and hence he did not cast his vote.
Four Rajya Sabha MPs, including Independent member from Jharkhand Parimal Nathwani, also voted from here.
Modi was among the first to vote when the polling started as 10 am. In the first hour, around 70 MLAs and MPs cast their ballot, official sources said.
