Shinde-Fadnavis coalition’s claim for 200 votes in the prez poll falls flat

Mumbai: The claim made by the ruling Shinde-Fadnavis coalition to get 200 votes for Droupadi Murmu in the presidential election fell flat as they could gather 181 votes, according to the figures declared by the Election Commission of India on Thursday

Mumbai: The claim made by the ruling Shinde-Fadnavis coalition to get 200 votes for Droupadi Murmu in the presidential election fell flat as they could gather 181 votes, according to the figures declared by the Election Commission of India on Thursday. The 181 votes also include 15 votes that Murmu secured from Shiv Sena, as declared by Uddhav Thackeray.

New Delhi: Droupadi Murmu, who is set to be the first tribal woman President of India, in New Delhi, Thursday, July 21, 2022. (PTI Photo/Atul Yadav)(PTI07_21_2022_000404A) (PTI)

Chief minister Eknath Shinde said if mission 200 is not completed, Murmu bagged more votes from Maharashtra.

Droupadi Murmu was declared the 15th President of India by securing 64% votes in the polls held on Monday. She fought the presidential election as the candidate of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

In Maharashtra, of 287 MLAs, 283 cast their votes and Murmu received 181 votes in the presidential election in the state. It is against the claim made by chief minister Eknath Shinde and the BJP that 200 of the 287 legislators from Maharashtra will vote for her triggering speculations about a split in the votes of the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha got 98 votes, while four votes were declared invalid. The government has the support of 165 legislators, which they got during a trust vote held on July 4, when opposition parties could muster only 99 votes. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction that has 15 votes also declared their support for Murmu and they have also got the support of an independent MLA Shankarrao Gadakh, who is likely to have voted for Murmu. The tally goes to 181.

A day before the polls, the chief minister claimed that Murmu would get the support of 200 MLAs from Maharashtra. “We will manage to get the votes of 200 MLAs for Droupadi Murmu ji. We want a very comfortable win for her,” he said. Before that, while addressing a gathering of MPs and MLAs during Murmu’s Mumbai visit, Shinde on July 14 claimed to get a record number of votes for her.

On poll day, BJP’s Maharashtra chief Chandrakant Patil said, Murmu will get more than 200 votes. “Since Uddhav ji has declared support to Murmu ji, the total number of votes has gone up to 182. The history of Rajya Sabha and council elections is going to repeat again and Murmu will get more than 200 votes. It is a secret ballot system; thus many legislators will come forward in her support,” Patil said.

The cross-voting by MVA legislators, especially those from the Congress, whose seven legislators are said to have broken ranks during the legislative council polls held last month, and the abstention of 12 Congress MLAs during the Shinde government’s floor test, had added grist to the speculations.

NCP on Friday said not a single MLA from their party and Congress indulged in cross-voting. “During the presidential poll, BJP leaders have claimed that NCP and Congress MLAs will cross vote and cast their votes in favour of the NDA candidate but going by the figures not a single MLA from both the opposition parties was found indulged in cross-voting,” said Mahesh Tapase, chief spokesperson, NCP.

In response, the chief minister said that Droupadi Murmu got double the votes than Yashwant Sinha as she secured 5.55 lakh votes and Sinha could got 2.62 lakh votes. “Mission 200 has not been completed but is it not enough to get more votes from Maharashtra?,” Shinde told reporters late Thursday evening.

Shinde further added, “As the CM of Maharashtra, I congratulate her. Now the tribal community will progress. I thank prime minister Narendra Modi for nominating Droupadi Murmu who comes from a tribal area.”