Opposition’s so-called ‘Chanakya’ Sharad Pawar could not stop cross voting, NCP MLA voted for Draupadi Murmu
In Gujarat’s 182-member assembly, only 178 MLAs have voting rights. Of these, 111 are from the BJP, 63 from the Congress, two from the Bharatiya Tribal Party, one from the NCP and one as an independent.
The process of voting for the 15th President of the country was underway yesterday. Meanwhile, cross voting has been witnessed in Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). In fact, the NCP had announced its support to the joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the presidential election. But, party MLA from Gujarat Kandhal S Jadeja said that he has voted for NDA’s presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu.
Opposition parties in Maharashtra were already apprehensive of cross voting. The two main opposition parties in the state are Congress and NCP. Both the parties met to ensure that there is no cross voting in favor of NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu. Yesterday, not in Maharashtra, but in Gujarat, NCP MLAs have definitely done cross voting.
The BJP leader had claimed cross-voting in
Gujarat. Only 178 MLAs have the right to vote in the 182-member Gujarat assembly. Of these, 111 members are from BJP, 63 from Congress, two from Tribal Party of India, one from Nationalist Congress Party and one Independent. BJP MLA and Gujarat Education Minister Jitu Vaghani had claimed that Murmu would get over 111 votes as members of some opposition parties would also vote in his favour.
Cross voting also took place in Rajya Sabha and Maharashtra Legislative Council elections.
It is noteworthy that cross voting took place in Rajya Sabha elections and Maharashtra Legislative Council elections. The senior Congress leader had said that there was concern in NCP and Congress to protect their votes. The Congress had already faced embarrassment in the Legislative Council elections when one of its candidates lost to the BJP. They didn’t wanted this to happen again.
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