Presidential Election: In Punjab, ruling AAP members await word from Delhi top brass

While SAD, BJP and BSP in the state have decided to vote for NDA-supported candidate Droupadi Murmu, Congress would be supporting former union minister Yashwant Sinha.

AAP, which has 92 MLAs and seven Rajya Sabha MPs and has a vote value of 15,572 of 27,572 in the state, could sway the voting by a large margin. However, the party is yet to take a call and the leaders are awaiting confirmation on the same.

The election will be held on July 18 and Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that arrangements were being made for the same.

An AAP legislator told The Indian Express, “We do not know anything, the decision will be taken at Delhi level. Our CM Bhagwant Mann will convey the party’s choice of candidate to us. There are still two days to do so may be we will hear from him on Sunday.” He added that it appears difficult for AAP to support any of the candidates. “Let us see how they reason it. May be they will ask us to abstain from voting,” the MLA said.

Another party leader on condition anonymity said that it is very difficult to do the guesswork. “AAP had skipped the joint meeting of opposition parties last month on the issue of extending support to Sinha. But the leaders will keep their cards close. The MLAs will be asked to be around on Monday, so that if we decide to vote, everyone can participate,” the party leader said.

Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha MPs, seven Rajya Sabha members and 117 MLAs. The value of every MP’s vote is 700 and that of every MLA in Punjab is 116. Total number of votes in Punjab would be 27,572. Of this, AAP has maximum vote value in Punjab as it has 92 MLAs and seven Rajya Sabha members. BJP has two MLAs and two MPs, so BJP’s total vote value in the state is 1,832. The vote value of SAD and BSP, who have decided to support Murmu, is 1,948 and 116 respectively. Congress has eight MPs and 18 MLAs with a vote value of 7,688.