The Hindu : Whose vote was it anyway?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 19, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Whose vote was it anyway?

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM APRIL.18. Who was the Opposition MLA who voted for the UDF in the just-concluded Rajya Sabha election?

There are two basic possibilities. The first is the possibility of the LDF having deliberately chosen to pass on one vote to the dissident Congress nominee, Kodoth Govindan Nair. The second is that of an LDF legislator having really broken ranks and voted against the Opposition alliance's decision to cast all the first preference votes in favour of the CPI(M) candidate, K. Chandran Pillai.

Suspicion that one vote was deliberately cast by the LDF for Mr. Nair arose when the CPI(M) deputy legislature party leader, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, said immediately after the counting of votes that the ballot in which the first preference was marked in favour of Mr. Nair and the second in favour of Mr. Chandran Pillai had been deliberately cast that way. But, he soon retracted from that position, possibly because of the realisation that such an argument would expose the LDF leadership to criticism from both within the CPI(M) and LDF ranks.

Speculation has been rife since then about both the source and destination of the LDF's missing vote. The Opposition MLAs were made to vote twice on dummy ballots on April 13 evening and April 14 morning. In the normal course, no vote could have gone out of the LDF basket unless there was a secret decision at the very top to transfer one vote to the Congress dissident candidate.

The possibility cannot be ruled out because if Mr. Nair could secure 31 or 32 votes, the second preference votes also would have come into play. Since the LDF had cast all its second votes in Mr. Nair's favour, this would have taken the contest to a near toss-up.

The Congress (S), the KC(J) and the NCP are the suspects when the case of the missing vote is seen from the latter possibility of an individual MLA having diverted his vote on his own. The Congress(S) MLA, V. C. Kabeer, has denied the charge and the LDF leaders are inclined to believe him. This is despite the general impression that he is planning to move over to the UDF at a time of his choice.

There are also those who think the vote that got eroded was that of the NCP leader, A. C. Shanmughadas. But whether a senior leader like Mr. Shanmughadas would attempt anything of the kind is a question that begs an answer. In fact, Mr. Shanmughadas and Mr. Kabeer could have voted as they pleased as they are not technically part of the LDF now. Their respective parties had decided to vote with the LDF in keeping with their desire to remain part of the Opposition alliance.

The third suspect, KC(J), has two MLAs, K. C. Joseph and P. C. George. Dr. Joseph is under a cloud of suspicion because of the KC(J)'s moves for a merger with the KC(M). However, if he had indeed done so, he could have voted only for one of the official Congress nominees as the KC(M) is firmly entrenched in the ruling Front. What raises suspicions about his having transferred his votes is the Chief Minister, A. K. Antony's repeated statement that the official Congress nominees would get some votes from the LDF as well. But then, that would apply to Mr. Kabeer and even Mr. Shanmughadas.

Mr. George, on the other hand, is being spoken about in the context of the missing vote because of the surprise visit he paid to the rebellious Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, on the eve of the Rajya Sabha election. Mr. George's detractors allege that it could have been he who had cast the ballot in which the first preference was marked in favour of Mr. Nair and the second marked in favour of Mr. Chandran Pillai. However, Mr. George is said to have cast a near-open vote holding up his ballot and asking how the numbers should be marked.

How the LDF leadership would separate all these strands (and possibly others not envisaged here) would be interesting to watch. Since the election was held by secret ballot, the Front leadership would have to go by guesses rather than conclusive evidence.

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Whose vote was it anyway?