Presidential Election 2017: Amarinder Singh, Manohar Khattar, Parkash Badal vote in Punjab, Haryana Assembly

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar and senior Akali leader Parkash Singh Badal were among those who cast their votes for the presidential poll in Chandigarh on Monday. The Old Committee Room in the Assembly was the designated polling station in Haryana, while in Punjab, the polling was being held in the Assembly complex. The voting began at 10 am and will conclude at 5 pm. Former Haryana chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhary excercised their votes in the designated polling station for Haryana. [caption id=“attachment_3775915” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. AFP[/caption] Amarinder Singh, former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, AAP’s senior leaders Sukhpal Khaira and Aman Arora and Lok Insaaf Party’s two legislators Balwinder Bains and Simmerjit Singh Bains cast their votes in the Punjab Assembly complex, an election office spokesman said. Ruling NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind is pitted against opposition candidate Meira Kumar in the race to the country’s top constitutional post. Special pens have been supplied by the EC for the lawmakers to cast their votes on ballot papers both in Haryana and Punjab assembly complexes. A poster carrying detailed instructions with regards to the polling, including asking the MPs and MLAs to mark their votes only with the designated pen for the purpose, has been put up near the entry gate of the Haryana Assembly. The AAP has announced its support to former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar. However, citing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, senior AAP leader HS Phoolka, who is a legislator from Punjab, did not participate in the polling on Monday. AAP’s ally the Lok Insaaf Party had earlier announced its support to Kovind. The Congress, which stormed to power in Punjab in March after a gap of 10 years, has 77 MLAs in the 117-member state Assembly, while the AAP has 20 and the Lok Insaaf Party two. The SAD-BJP coalition has 18 MLAs (Shiromani Akali Dal 15, BJP three) in the Punjab Assembly. Among the Lok Sabha members from Punjab, the Congress has four, the SAD 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, while the BJP has a lone member from the state in the Upper House of Parliament. In the 90-member 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 of the five from the state and 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.