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Presidential election: Cross-voting triggers disquiet in Opposition camp
To be sure, with the votes being held in a “secret ballot” and no whip applicable, there is little possibility to identify which legislator cross voted against their party’s stated stand.
A day after it emerged that the NDA’s presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu received 117 extra votes from legislators from across the country, angry squabbles broke out in opposition parties across states as they took stock, with the BJP celebrating the additional votes it was able to muster.
To be sure, with the votes being held in a “secret ballot” and no whip applicable, there is little possibility to identify which legislator cross voted against their party’s stated stand.
In Bihar, BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal claimed that eight RJD MLAs had voted for Murmu. In the state assembly, the ruling coalition has 127 MLAs; the BJP has 77, JD(U) 45, HAM 4 and 1 independent. Of the two votes that were declared invalid in Bihar, one is said to be from the BJP, bringing the NDA tally to 125, while it got 133. Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha got just 106.
“Cross voting has also been reported from other states, as the NDA nominee got support from across the country,” Jaiswal added.
However, Lalit Yadav, chief whip of the RJD in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, said they were not aware of cross voting from their end. “Leaders from some other parties may have done cross voting. No such instance in the RJD has come to light,” he said. Bihar Congress president Madan Mohan Jha said, “All the members together went to vote and voted for the opposition nominee.”
In Goa, Murmu received 28 of the 40 votes from the Goa Legislative Assembly, three more than expected. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant thanked all those who voted for the NDA candidate for “imbibing the vision of the Prime Minister”, but said he had expected an even higher number.
The Congress however denied that its legislators cross voted. “We have 11 members and the opposition candidate got 12 votes. So as far as we are concerned there was no cross voting from our side,” deputy leader of the opposition Sankalp Amonkar said.
In Assam, where the ruling alliance led by the BJP has 79 MLAs but got 124 votes, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed the alliance had got 22 extra votes. At least two AIUDF MLAs were absent because they were abroad for a Haj pilgrimage. “As per my knowledge, our candidate got 22 extra votes. At least 15-16 of them have come from Congress MLAs as legislators who represent constituencies that have tribal and tea community voters supported Murmu. A few of the 22 votes came from AIUDF and other opposition members,” CM Sarma said on Friday.
The Congress admitted that it was clear that a section of the party had gone against the stated position of voting for Yashwant Sinha. “It is now certain that Congress MLAs in Assam cross voted. Even if we blame every legislator from other opposition parties, it would show that at least 4 of the Congress MLAs cross voted. I won’t like to comment on what other parties did, but if all our MLAs had voted for Sinha, he would have got 24 votes,” Congress state president Bhupen Kumar Borah said.
AIUDF MLA Mohammad Aminul Islam said, “We were very clear that our party would support Sinha in this election, but there were rumours that many Congress MLAs could vote for Murmu and put the blame on our party. As no whip is issued for this poll, we won’t know who voted for whom. Though I feel that all our 13 present MLAs voted for Sinha, there might be some who cast their ballot for Murmu. I can’t say for sure,” he said.
In Jharkhand, of the 79 valid votes, the NDA got 70, against its tally of 60, which included 25 of the BJP, two from AJSU Party, two independents and one vote of the NCP, and 30 from the JMM that had declared it would vote for Murmu.
In Bengal, despite claims from the TMC in the run-up to the election that several BJP MLAs would vote for Yashwant Sinha, the BJP was successful in keeping its flock together. “As promised by me all 70 BJP4 Bengal MLAs voted in favour of Smt. Draupadi Murmu. While 1 TMC MLA cross voted in favour of the President Elect, 4 TMC MLAs ensured that their votes were regarded invalid. 71 votes were polled in favour of Smt. Murmu ji in WB Assembly,” tweeted Suvendu Adhikari, BJP MLA and leader of the opposition in the West Bengal legislative assembly.
The TMC, however, rubbished the allegations saying that none of its votes went in favour of the NDA candidate, and said that the one MLA that cross voted may have been from a smaller constituent. “This is rubbish. The TMC is like a family and no TMC MLA has voted in their favour,” said Firhad Hakim, state minister.
