Polling begins for Presidential elections in Punjab, Haryana

Chandigarh, July 19 (UNI) Members of Legislative Assembly have begun thronging the assemblies of Punjab and Haryana here since morning as the polling process begins to chose the 13th President of the country.

The contest for the highest post of the country is directly between the United Progressive Alliance candidate Pratibha Patil and independent contester, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, supported by National Democratic Alliance.

The voting, which began at 1000 hrs in the morning will conclude at 1700 hrs in the evening, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Secretary Madan Mohan said here.

In Punjab, 116 of the 117 Members of Legislative Assembly were expected to cast their vote amid tight security. MLA Joginderpal Jain, detained under COFEPOSA, has been granted parole for two days and had got permission to exercise his vote in Parliament at New Delhi, he said.

In addition, Member of Parliament from Rajya Sabha Ambika Soni will also exercise her franchise in the Punjab assembly, he said.

In Haryana 90 MLAs and MP Kuldip Bishnoi were to cast their votes in the committee room of the assembly, Haryana assembly Secretary and electoral officer Sumit Kumar said.

In the Electoral College for presidential polls, Punjab with 117 MLAs has vote value of 114 per legislator while in 90-member Haryana assembly, it is 112 per member.

In Haryana, the Congress has 67 MLAs, Indian National Lok Dal has 9, Bharatiya Janata Party has 2, Bahujan Samaj Party and Nationalist Congress Party have one each while 10 MLAS were independent.

Of the 10 MPs from Haryana, 9 belonged to Congress while one was from BJP. In the Rajya Sabha, INLD has 2 while Congress has 3 MPs.

In Punjab assembly, of the 117 MLAs, 49 belonged to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and 19 to its alliance partener BJP, Congress has 44 MLAs and 5 are independents.

Of the 13 Lok Sabha MPs from Punjab, SAD has 8, BJP had 3 and Congress has 2. In the Rajya Sabha, SAD has 3 while Congress has 4 MPs.

After the counting draws to an end in the evening, the ballot boxes will be kept under strict vigil here and will be taken to the Parliament tomorrow amid stringent security cover. The counting of votes was scheduled for July 21.

Mobile and cordless phones and wireless sets were barred from the election venue.

UNI