Upset Congress to probe cross-voting in President poll

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 22

Massive cross voting in favour of Droupadi Murmu in the 16th presidential election rattled the Opposition on Friday, with the Gujarat Congress ordering a probe to determine which legislators defied the party line to vote for Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha.

From the BJP-ruled Gujarat, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Goa to Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh and TMC-ruled West Bengal, the likelihood of opposition lawmakers backing Murmu exposed gaps in Opposition’s strategy, planning and campaign.

Murmu recorded an emphatic win yesterday, bagging 64 per cent value of the total 4,701 valid votes polled, while Sinha was trailing far behind. Of the 10,56,980 value (4,701 valid votes polled), Murmu got 6,76,803 and Sinha 3,80,177.

India's first tribal president-elect managed votes from all states and UTs, including Kerala where she polled one vote even though the BJP has no MLA in the state.

In AAP-ruled Punjab too, Murmu bagged eight votes even though the BJP has two MLAs, supporting parties SAD three (one abstained) and BSP one. The balance of three votes in Punjab also could be from any party.

Apart from 100 per cent score in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Nagaland, Murmu stunned her own campaign managers by pulling cross votes in Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, MP, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. In Gujarat, Murmu won 121 votes whereas the BJP strength is only 111 MLAs. She could have managed one NCP vote and one Bharatiya Tribal Party vote but the rest came from Congress.

The BJP today claimed 125 MLAs cross voted for Murmu.

In Assam, where the NDA has 79 MLAs, Murmu got 104 votes. In Madhya Pradesh, she managed 20 extra votes.

EC issues certificate to Murmu

The EC on Friday issued a certificate of election as President of India to Droupadi Murmu. The certificate will then be sent to the Union Home Secretary, who will read it out at the oath-taking ceremony of the 15th President on July 25. The term of incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind ends on July 24.

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