Punjab, Haryana remain uncertain before vote count

Chandigarh, May 15: With no indicative wave in favour of any party, counting of votes for 24 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh would be held Friday.

"Counting of votes in Haryana will commence at 8 a.m. May 16," Haryana's Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad said.

He said postal ballots will be counted till 8.30 a.m. followed by votes from Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Votes will be counted at 90 counting centres.

All 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana went to polls April 10 with 230 candidates in the fray.

The main players were the ruling Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the Bharatiya Janata Party-Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) alliance and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

In neighbouring Punjab, counting for all 13 seats begins Friday morning to decide the fate of 253 candidates.

All eyes in Punjab are on the bitter political battle between senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley and former Punjab chief minister and Congress leader Amarinder Singh at Amritsar.

While the main contest in between the ruling Akali Dal-BJP combine and the Congress, the AAP has thrown up a good challenge in nearly half a dozen seats.

Punjab recorded its highest polling - 71 percent - this time.

In Chandigarh, Bollywood actresses Kirron Kher (BJP) and Gul Panag (AAP) are challenging four-time MP Pawan Kumar Bansal of the Congress.

IANS