‘Serious matter’: Congress’ Manish Tewari seeks probe into ‘cross-voting’ in VP election

Congress leader Manish Tewari on Thursday demanded an investigation into the alleged cross-voting in the vice-presidential election held on September 9, asserting that it is a serious matter.

Asked to comment on the issue, Tewari said various political parties should also introspect as cross-voting indicates a “failure of the leadership” too.

“Cross-voting has three dimensions. The first dimension is that there is greed. Secondly, it is a breach of trust and thirdly, it is a failure of the leadership. So if at all, there has been cross-voting, then it is a serious matter. The leadership of every party needs to then investigate it and introspect,” Tewari said.

He, however, said he would not like to comment in detail. “But, I would not like to comment on across the board allegations which have been made, because that is neither here nor there,” he said.

Several BJP leaders have claimed that at least 15 opposition members voted for the NDA nominee in the vice-presidential election. They have also claimed that over 35 MPs of opposition and non-aligned smaller parties voted for the NDA.

NDA’s CP Radhakrishnan won the election by getting 452 votes out of a total of 752 valid votes polled, with Opposition’s B Sudershan Reddy getting 300 votes.

A total of 781 MPs of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were eligible to vote in the vice-presidential contest, in which no party whip is applicable.