RAIPUR: The number of votes President-elect Ram Nath Kovind got from Chhattisgarh indicated there was cross voting in the State.
In Chhattisgarh, the ruling BJP has 49 seats and with the support of one independent, the NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind was expected to get the support of 50 MLAs, but instead got 52 votes.
On the other hand, UPA candidate Meira Kumar was supposed to get the votes of 40 members, which includes the Congress with 39 seats (one suspended legislator) and one BSP candidate. Instead Meira Kumar secured only 35 votes.
Votes of three MLAs were declared as invalid.
According to sources, two Congress legislators who were often seen showing their allegiance to former CM Ajit Jogi’s new floated regional outfit might have voted in favour of the NDA candidate.
Amit, son of Ajit Jogi and an MLA from Marwahi, had declared to vote for Kumar citing his support for woman candidate rather than the choice of the UPA.