All 67 legislators of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, including Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal and Speaker Brij Bihari Lal Butail exercised their franchise in the presidential polls on Monday.
The State has a 68-member Assembly but one seat is vacant following the death of Congress MLA Karan Singh.
Independent members
Secretary of State Vidhan Sabha Sunder Lal Verma said that 35 Congress MLAs, 28 Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs and four Independent MLAs voted in the polls.
Both the BJP and the Congress have claimed support of two Independent members each.
Unicameral House
In the Unicameral House of the State, each MLA vote has a value of 51 votes and the State has four seats in the Lok Sabha — all occupied by the BJP.
It also has three Rajya Sabha seats, one occupied by the BJP and the other two by the Congress.
The Congress has a minor edge in the polls if no cross voting takes place.
BJP meets Governor
Right after casting their votes, a delegation of the BJP met Governor Acharya Devvrat.
Memo submitted
They submitted a memo urging him to dismiss the Virbhadra Singh-led government due to the “worsening law and order situation” in the State. Independent MLAs Balbir Verma and Manohar Dhiman, who recently joined the BJP, were part of the delegation.
