Prez poll: All 90 MLAs cast vote
CHANDIGARH: All 90 legislators of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha cast their vote in the presidential election held at the state assembly on Monday. After casting his vote, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar expressed hope that National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee Ram Nath Kovind will be elected as next President.
A government spokesperson said the polling began at 10am. Interacting with mediapersons, the CM said appropriate arrangements were made as per the Election Commission guidelines.
Replying to a question, he said he did not think that was any possibility of cross-voting in Haryana. The MLAs supporting the NDA have voted for Kovind, he claimed.
AICC OBSERVER DENIED ENTRY, CONG LODGES COMPLAINT WITH EC
The Haryana Congress on Monday accused the state government of not letting the state party president and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer enter inside the Vidhan Sabha during the presidential election and lodged a complaint with the Election Commission (EC). The Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Ashok Tanwar, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Kiran Chaudhary and AICC observer Charan Das Mahant sent a letter to the EC, saying that it happened for the first time that the PCC president and the AICC observer were not allowed to enter the assembly premises. “In the past, they used to allow us to sit in the conference room to meet the MLAs,” the Congress leaders said, alleging that in there were unauthorised people in the assembly gallery to intimidate the MLAs. The party leaders said in all other states, state election commissions allowed the PCC presidents and the IACC observers to be present in the assembly.
‘THOROUGHLY CHECKED PEN BEFORE VOTING’
Leader of Opposition and INLD leader Abhay Chautala said he “thoroughly checked” the pen before casting his vote. He was referring to a controversy that had erupted earlier during Rajya Sabha poll last year after the votes of Congress MLAs were declared invalid for marking their vote with a ‘wrong pen’.