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Did Opposition cross vote during VP polls? Doubts linger after NDA pick wins; Congress MP calls for probe
After votes were counted following the VP elections, CP Radhakrishnan's tally stood at 452, despite the NDA's strength in Parliament being only 427.
Opposition leaders are reportedly examining if there was any cross-voting during the Vice-President polls. With CP Radhakrishnan set to take oath as the Vice President on Friday, doubts on cross voting or invalid voting linger on.
A day after the voting for India's new VP took place, Congress MP Manish Tewari has called for a systematic investigation by all Opposition constituents.
Cross voting doubts cloud VP elections
After votes were counted on September 9 following the VP elections, Radhakrishnan's tally stood at 452, despite the NDA's strength in Parliament being only 427. It is true that the NDA was banking on support from the YSR Congress Party, but even with that, its tally would have only reached 438.
This discrepancy gave way to cross-voting speculation, and the opposition leaders have reportedly concluded that that at least ten votes were lost to it. “There is one doubtful vote in the Congress. Three votes each from Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena have gone wasted. 4 MPs of AAP have either cross-voted or given invalid votes,” a senior non-Congress leader said.
Similarly, it is also suspected that two votes of NCP(SP) and two votes of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) did not go the Opposition's candidate - Sudershan Reddy.
It is to be noted that these conclusions stem from informal discussions, since secret ballots make it impossible to determine how any individual MP voted.
It was earlier reported that the NDA was also suspecting cross-voting in Radhakrishnan's favour, from parties in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, where the NDA nominee previously served as the governor.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal had told a news channel that the NDA candidate got 25 more votes. He was counting the 11 votes of the YSR Congress and the 14 additional votes.
Congress MP calls for probe
Congress MP Manish Tewari also addressed speculation around cross-voting in the VP polls, calling for a systematic investigation by all Opposition constituents.
"Cross-voting is an extremely serious matter. If at all, what you are saying is correct or what is appearing in the public space or is being speculated has an iota of truth in it, it deserves a systematic and clinical investigation," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Tewari's remarks came after Union Minister Kiren Rijiju thanked some INDIA bloc MPs, without naming anyone, for voting in favour of NDA candidate Radhakrishnan. “NDA and All our friendly MPs remain united,” a part of Rijiju's congratulatory message for Radhakrishnan read.
Notably, 15 invalid votes were also recorded back in 2022 when Jagdeep Dhankhar won the Vice President polls. Before that, 46 invalid votes, highest ever, were recorded in 1997.
