Polling for two RS seats in Haryana underway, several MLAs cast vote

Chandigarh, Jun 10 (PTI) Several Haryana MLAs cast their votes in the first hours of voting for the two Rajya Sabha seats from the state on Friday with Congress MLAs, who were lodged in a resort in Chattisgarh's Raipur due to poaching fears, reaching Chandigarh for the exercise.

The Congress MLAs are at the residence of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and will move together to cast their vote.

BJP-JJP MLAs and some Independents, who were lodged in a luxury hotel on the outskirts of Chandigarh for the past two days, reached the assembly complex here in a bus to cast their vote.

Congress' Kuldeep Bishnoi was among the MLAs who cast vote immediately after polling began at 9 am.

Bishnoi arrived here on Thursday evening from Delhi. He was not part of the Congress MLAs, who were lodged in a resort in Raipur over the past one week.

While leaving the assembly venue after voting, Bishnoi told reporters that he had voted "as per my conscience".

Congress MLA Kuldeep Vats later claimed that Bishnoi had given vote to the Congress candidate.

Among those who had cast their votes included Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Haryana Ministers J P Dalal, Anil Vij, Ranjit Chautala, Congress' Kuldeep Bishnoi and Kiran Choudhary and most of the Independents.

The BJP has fielded former Minister Krishan Lal Panwar, while Ajay Maken, a former Union minister, is the Congress nominee. Media baron Kartikeya Sharma has entered the fray as an Independent.

The Congress had shifted majority of its MLAs to Raipur a week ago fearing poaching of its legislators. They reached Chandigarh from Delhi around 11 am when the polling was on.

Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda, who was also accompanying the Congress MLAs from Delhi, claimed that Maken will win comfortably.

"Our candidate will get more votes than the total strength of our MLAs," said Deepender Hooda.

The Congress has 31 MLAs in the 90-member House.

Senior Congress leader and MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian said the Congress has the required numbers for victory of its candidate.

"Our candidate will get all the 31 votes of the Congress. Besides, he will also get two-three votes in addition," claimed Kadian without specifying.

The BJP, JJP leaders and some Independents claimed that BJP candidate Panwar and Independent Kartikeya Sharma will win.

  Haryana Ministers including J P Dalal and Anil Vij claimed that the BJP and Independent candidates will emerge victorious while Jannayak Janta Party leader Digvijay Chautala said Panwar and Kartikeya will win.

Earlier in the morning, Congress leader Kiran Choudhary, who was not part of the MLAs lodged in the Raipur resort, met Hooda at his residence here before other party legislators reached and later went to cast her vote.

Choudhary also claimed her party's candidate will win comfortably.

The polling for the two seats, which started at 9 am, will continue till 4 pm and counting of votes will be taken up soon after, officials said.

While the BJP with 40 MLAs in the 90-member Haryana Assembly has nine more than the 31 first preference votes required for a straight win, the contest has become keen for the second seat with the entry of Kartikeya Sharma.

Kartikeya Sharma has the backing of the BJP-JJP combine, most of the Independents, and Gopal Kanda, lone MLA of the Haryana Lokhit Party.

The Congress has 31 members in the state Assembly, just enough to help its candidate win a seat. Its prospects could be in jeopardy in case of cross-voting.  In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 40 MLAs while the Congress has 31.

The JJP, which is an ally of the BJP, has 10 legislators while the Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party have one each and seven are independents.

Two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana will fall vacant in August with the terms of media baron Subhash Chandra and BJP leader Dushyant Gautam expiring.   On Thursday, lone Indian National Lok Dal MLA Abhay Singh Chautala declared his support to Kartikeya Sharma.

Kartikeya Sharma is son of former Union Minister Venod Sharma, who was a minister in the erstwhile Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government.Venod Sharma had later floated his own outfit Jan Chetna Party.

The media baron's father-in-law Kuldeep Sharma is a senior Congress leader and a former speaker of the state Assembly.

Haryana Assembly Secretary and Returning Officer for the polls R K Nandal had said the votes will be marked by a special pen provided by the Election Commission.

Each MLA after casting his vote will hand over the pen to the officer deputed by the poll body, Nandal had told reporters.

He said Haryana's Chief Electoral Officer and one central observer, who is Manipur's Chief Electoral Officer, will be present to oversee the poll process. PTI SUN VSD DV DV