Cross-voting in the July 17 presidential poll in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa has exposed the chinks in the Opposition armour. In a major jolt to the Congress ahead of the Assembly polls in Gujarat, as many as 11 party legislators have reportedly voted for the NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind. Mr. Kovind received 132 votes against the BJP’s strength of 121 MLAs in the House.
“Our candidate Ram Nath Kovind ji received 11 non-BJP votes in the presidential polls,” Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said after the results were announced.
The cross-voting has brought out sharp divisions in the State unit of the Congress, which is likely to see a section of legislators joining the saffron party ahead of Assembly polls slated later this year.
Moreover, cross-voting will have a strong bearing on the Rajya Sabha polls for three seats in which the Congress has one seat represented by party stalwart Ahmed Patel, who is likely to be fielded again.
“It’s too much. Never expected the legislators to vote against UPA candidate Meira Kumar,” said a senior party leader.
In the 182-member House, the BJP has 121 MLAs, Congress 57, NCP two, JD(U) and the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) one each. The lone JD (U) MLA, Chotu Vasava, had boycotted the July 17 vote.
In Maharashtra where Mr. Kovind secured 208 votes, cross-voting by eight to 10 members of the Opposition was reported.
Ms. Meira Kumar was assured of the support of 88 MLAs from Congress (42), Nationalist Congress Party (41), Peasants and Workers Party (3) Communist Party of India-Marxist (1) and Samajwadi Party (1). Mr. Kovind was assured of support from BJP and Shiv Sena with 122 and 63 seats respectively.
Prior to the election seven Independents and one MLA from Rashtriya Samaj Party too had declared support to him, taking the total tally to 193. The remaining seven MLAs had not declared their stand. Out of 288 Maharashtra MLAs, 287 voted and two votes were disqualified. As per the final tally, the Opposition lost 11 of its votes with Ms. Kumar winning only 77 out of 285 and Mr. Kovind winning 208.
Four legislators of the Congress in Goa may have cross-voted in favour of Mr. Kovind. Mr. Kovind polled 500 votes as against 220 secured by Ms. Kumar, with the former getting 69.4 per cent of the votes.
One vote each from both the Congress and the BJP was invalidated on technical grounds. The Congress conceded that four votes from its kitty had gone to Mr. Kovind.
(With inputs from Alok Deshpande and Prakash Kamat)
