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81 legislators, suspended MP vote in Haryana

Special Correspondent

CHANDIGARH: Voting for the Presidential poll passed off peacefully in Haryana on Thursday with 81 legislators and suspended Congress MP Kuldip Bishnoi exercising their franchise here. The Haryana State Assembly has a strength of 90 and the ruling Congress has 67 MLAs. The nine Indian National Lok Dal legislators including former Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala abstained from voting in keeping with the decision of the newly-created Third Front.

Speaking to media persons after casting his vote, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda lambasted the Third Front’s decision to stay away from the Presidential poll. He said these parties had ditched those who had elected them. “These parties should have voted or fielded their own nominee,” he added. Mr. Hooda said that the 81 legislators and one Member of Parliament from Haryana exercised their franchise within an hour and seven minutes of the start of polling in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha building. He asserted that no official machinery had been misused for the polling.

Commenting on the candidature of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for the Presidential election, he said he should have quit office after he decided to contest the poll. Ms. Patil, he added, had resigned as Governor of Rajasthan.

“It was of utmost importance to uphold the dignity of such a high office,” he added.

Mr. Hooda said the Opposition should support Ms. Patil as the election was for a Constitutional office. He described the ongoing controversy over the Presidential election as unfortunate.

Interestingly, Mr. Hooda described the outgoing President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam as a gentleman. He said he knew him even when he was not the President. He had accompanied Dr. Kalam to Pokhran for the trial of the Arjuna tank, he added.

Shiv Shanker Bhardwaj, MLA from Bhiwani, was the first to cast his vote in the Presidential election here on Thursday. He was followed by Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan, who is the elder son of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal. All the 67 Congress legislators, one Bahujan Samaj Party MLA, one Nationalist Congress Party MLA, 10 Independents and two MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party cast their votes.

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81 legislators, suspended MP vote in Haryana

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