Aam Aadmi Party’s HS Phoolka was the only MlA in the 117-member Punjab Assembly not to cast his vote for the presidential election on Monday while in Haryana all the 90 legislators exercised their franchise.
The votes of two Punjab MlAs— Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) Parminder Singh Dhindsa and lok Insaaf Party’s (lIP) Simarjeet Singh Bains— were, however, declared cancelled.
While Dhindsa’s vote was cancelled after he claimed that the pen fell of his ballot paper leaving some marks on the same and later denied another ballot paper, Simarjeet’s vote was declared cancelled after Health and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra pointed that he showed his unfolded ballot paper to polling officers.
Their vote cancellation was recommended by the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO). Dhindsa’s vote was cancelled after he claimed his pen fell on the ballot paper of the candidate Meira Kumar leaving a spot on it, after which he demanded a new ballot paper. The ARO, however, denied saying that there was no provision of a second ballot paper to be given to any voter.
Mohindra, who was a polling agent, charged Simarjeet with “breaching the secrecy of vote” by showing his “unfolded” ballot, and demanded that his vote be cancelled.
Phoolka, MlA from Dakha in Punjab, abstained from voting as he had already declared that he would not vote for Congress-led opposition presidential candidate Meira Kumar since he was fighting cases of 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The AAP, which has 20 MlAs in Punjab, has already announced its support to Kumar, a former Speaker of the lok Sabha, who is pitted against ruling NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind for the country’s top constitutional post.
Out of the total 117 members in the Punjab Assembly, 116 cast their votes, election officials said.
The Congress, which stormed to power in Punjab in March after a gap of 10 years, has 77 MlAs in the Assembly, while the SAD-BJP coalition has 18 MlAs (15 of Shiromani Akali Dal and three of BJP). AAP’s ally, the lok Insaaf Party (lIP), has two MlAs.
Among the lok Sabha members from Punjab, the Congress has four and the SAD has three. The BJP had two but recently, its Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna passed away. The AAP has four lok Sabha members from Punjab, of whom two have been suspended by the party.
In the Rajya Sabha, the Congress and the SAD have three members each from Punjab, while the BJP has a lone member from the State in the Upper House of Parliament.
In Haryana, all the 90 MlAs cast their votes, the election officials said.
In the Haryana Assembly, the ruling BJP enjoys a majority with 47 MlAs and the support of five Independents, while the Congress has 17 MlAs. INlD, the principal opposition, has 19 members, while the SAD and the BSP have one MlA each.
Among the lok Sabha MPs from Haryana, the BJP has seven, the INlD two and the Congress one.
In the Rajya Sabha, the BJP has one member out of the five from the State. Media baron Subhash Chandra, an Independent member, was elected to the Upper House last year with the saffron party’s support. The Congress has two Rajya Sabha members from Haryana, while the INlD has one.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar and senior Akali leader Parkash Singh Badal were among those who cast their votes.
Former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, former Haryana Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhary, senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, INlD’s senior leader and MlA Abhay Chautala also exercised their franchise.
Besides, AAP’s senior leaders Sukhpal Khaira and Aman Arora and lok Insaaf Party’s two legislators Balwinder Bains and Simarjit Singh Bains also cast their votes in the Punjab Assembly.
Special pens were provided by the Election Commission for the lawmakers to cast their votes on ballot papers both in Haryana and Punjab Assembly complexes.
AAP’s ally the lok Insaaf Party had earlier announced its support to Kovind while INlD also came out in support of NDA nominee. AICC-appointed observer, former Union Minister RPN Singh, was also present.
Talking to reporters after casting his vote, Khattar said he was certain that the NDA nominee would be victorious. Parkash Singh Badal said his party is supporting the NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said when people give votes as per their conscience, then they will vote for Meira Kumar.
AAP MlA Sukhpal Khaira said that the party had decided to support Meira Kumar in the Presidential polls. “Therefore they voted for Meira Kumar,” said Khaira.
Meanwhile, security arrangements at Haryana Vidhan Sabha during the presidential polls on Monday left senior Congress leaders red-faced after they were not allowed to enter the premises.
Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar and AICC observer Charan Das Mahant were stopped by the security officials when they tried to enter the Vidhan Sabha premises during voting.
While BJP led Haryana Government claimed that permission was not sought by the Congress leaders from Election Commission to visit the polling premises, the Congress leaders shot off a letter to EC registering a complaint on the issue.
In a letter written to the EC, Congress State president Ashok Tanwar stated, “It is unfortunate and has happened for the first time that PCC president and AICC observer were not allowed to enter in Assembly premises.
In the past, they used to allow to sit in the conference room to meet the MlAs. While in the gallery of Assembly, unauthorised people were there to intimate the MlAs
However, Haryana Assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal told reporters here that both were disallowed as they had not sought permission, which they should have.
“Therefore they (PCC chief and AICC observer) were not allowed entry inside by the officials on duty,” the Speaker said.