Presidential poll update

Poll over in Punjab & Haryana, 117 and 89 members of the respective assemblies have exercised their franchise

The voting for Presidential poll is over in Punjab and Haryana as 117 and 89 members of the respective assemblies exercised their franchise.

Barring Haryana Janhit Congress MLA Renuka Bishnoi, the rest of the 89 Haryana MLAs in the 90-member House cast their vote.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, leader of opposition Om Parkash Chautala and state BJP chief Krishanpal Gujjar were among the first to cast their vote.

Officials said that Renuka had taken permission for casting her vote in New Delhi.

In Punjab, all the members in the 117-member House exercised their franchise.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal, state BJP chief Ashwani Sharma, leader of opposition Sunil Kumar Jahkar were among the first few to cast their votes.

In the Punjab assembly, SAD had 56 MLAs with its ally BJP having 12, Congress has 46 and there are three independents.

The strength of Congress in Haryana's 90 member House is Congress 46, INLD 30, BSP one, SAD one, BJP four, HJC one and seven independents.

In Srinagar, Jugal Kishore of BJP was the first MLA to cast his vote.

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has 87 elected MLAs with a total value of 6264 in the Presidential poll.

Ruling coalition partners -- National Conference and Congress -- and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are supporting Mukherjee for the post.

NC has 28, Congress has 17 while PDP has 21 MLAs. Five independent MLAs are also supporting the former finance minister.

Opposition BJP, which has 11 MLAs including seven who are suspended for cross voting during the Legislative Council polls last year, is supporting Sangma.Three Panthers Party legislators, one CPI(M)MLA and one independent are also supporting Sangma.

In Lucknow, polling for the 14th presidential election was going on at a brisk pace in the vidhan bhawan.

Vidhan Sabha Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey, leader of opposition Swami Prasad Maurya and BJP leader Uma Bharti were among the early voters.

Till noon, 200 MLAs had cast their votes, vidhan sabha sources said.

In the 403 member House, Samajwadi Party has 224 members followed by BSP with 80, BJP - 47, Congress-28, Rashtriya Lok Dal-8, Peace Party-4, Quami Ekta Dal-2, Nationalist Congress party, Trinamool Congress, Apna Dal, Ittehad-e-millat council-one each and six independents.

SP and BSP have announced support to Mukherjee, who is also expected to get the votes of smaller parties and independents.