NEW DELHI: While presidential elections on Monday went largely on expected lines, three Lok Sabha MPs abstained and there were reports of cross-voting in a few states, adding a bit of spice in an otherwise predictable poll. There are five vacancies in the Rajya Sabha, so they were as many fewer votes.
The identity of the three abstaining Lower House MPs could not be ascertained since the election was by secret ballot. There were reports of cross-voting in at least six states.
In Maharashtra, three MLAs one from the Congress and two from Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) claimed on record that they voted for NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu.
In Gujarat, the sole NCP legislator, Kandhal Jadeja went on record to say he voted for Murmu.
Gujarat NCP president Jayant Patel ‘Bosky’ promptly sought an explanation from Jadeja. The party had not issued a whip, although its legislators were instructed orally to vote for the joint Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
Another NCP MLA, Kamlesh Singh from Jharkhand, cast his ballot in favour of Murmu. Haryana Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, who cross-voted in last month’s Rajya Sabha polls, said he voted according to his conscience.
Indicating that he cast his ballot in favour of Murmu, Bishnoi said, “Like in Rajya Sabha, I have cast my vote in this election too as per my conscience.”
Hitting out at the Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha for allegedly once calling SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav an “ISI agent”, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party chief Shivpal Yadav said, “Hardcore SP leaders, those who follow Netaji’s principles, will never support a candidate who leveled such allegations.”
However, the SP was committed to supporting Sinha. In Assam, an AIUDF legislator Karimuddin Barbhuiya alleged that at least 20 Congress MLAs voted for Murmu.
But Congress Legislature Party leader in Assam Debabrata Saikia called the claim absurd. Shiromani Akali Dal MLA and leader of the party in the Punjab Assembly, Manpreet Singh Ayali, abstained saying his conscience did not allow him to cast his ballot in favour of Murmu because of the Centre’s stand on his state’s claim on Chandigarh, sharing of river waters and centralisation of Panjab University.
A Congress MLA from Odisha, Mohammad Moquim, voted for Murmu, as the NDA presidential nominee is a ‘daughter’ of his state and so he went by his conscience call.
Both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in Himachal Pradesh on Monday claimed there was cross-voting in favour of their candidates in the Presidential election.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur told media persons that the possibility of cross-voting could not be ruled out.
Voting is through a secret ballot in the presidential election.
Thakur said if the Congress MLAs have cast their votes according to their conscience, some of them would have supported NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu, who comes from a very humble background.
Senior Congress leader Ram Lal Thakur said since joint opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha is a former BJP leader, there is every possibility of cross-voting in his favour.
Some BJP MLAs may have cast votes in Sinha's favour, he added.
State Congress chief and Mandi MP Pratibha Singh said she welcomed a tribal woman as a presidential candidate but Congress MLAs voted in support of Yashwant Singh.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA Ram Lal Thakur said ballot papers should be used in assembly and parliamentary elections as well.
The legislator from Naina Deviji told media persons in the assembly that if ballot papers can be used for the presidential elections, they can be used in state and Lok Sabha elections as well instead of EVMs.
Amid a flutter in the political circle owing to a Congress member indulging in cross-voting, a total of 145 of the 147 MLAs of the Odisha Assembly on Monday exercised their franchise to elect the country's 15th president.
The two absentees are Leader of the Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik of the BJP and ruling BJD's expelled lawmaker Prashant Jagdev.
While Naik, who is undergoing treatment for post-COVID-19 complications in Delhi, cast his ballot at Parliament, Jagdev did not turn up to vote as he is lodged in jail after being arrested in a criminal case.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S K Lohani, 141 members cast their votes by 1 PM while the remaining four MLAs did so later.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was among the early members to cast their votes.
Patnaik in a Twitter post said: "It is an honour to cast my vote for the #PresidentialElection.
It is indeed a matter of pride for our state that the daughter of #Odisha, Smt.
#DroupadiMurmu is a candidate for the highest office of our country.
Wish her all the very best.
" While the voting had been conducted smoothly, the political circle was agog after Congress MLA from Barabati-Cuttack Mohammad Moquim announced that he voted for NDA nominee Murmu, defying the party line.
I cast my vote in favour of Odisha's Daughter Murmu as per my conscience and there was no pressure for that.
Many eminent persons and Odia friends staying abroad had also suggested that I support her.
" The Congress has announced that it will support joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the Presidential poll.
State Congress president Sarat Pattnayak and legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra expressed displeasure over Moquim's action and said that the matter will be intimated to the party's high command.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan thanked the Barabati-Cuttack MLA for his decision.
Taking to Twitter, Pradhan said: "I welcome Congress MLA Mohammad Moquim's decision to support Odisha Daughter Droupadi Murmu in the Presidential elections.
As the system of secret ballots is followed in the presidential election, parties do not issue whips to their MLAs for voting.
Patnaik, who is also the BJD president, earlier appealed to all the members of the Odisha Assembly to cast their vote in support of Murmu, who hails from Mayurbhanj district in the state.
There was a lot of enthusiasm among the lawmakers to vote as this is for the first time someone from the state is contesting for the country's topmost Constitutional post.
It is also probably for the first time in the history of the Presidential election in the state that both the ruling party (BJD) and the main opposition (BJP) are supporting the same candidate.
Murmu is likely to get the votes of 112 MLAs of the Biju Janata Dal, the BJP's 21 members, one Independent MLA and an expelled BJD lawmaker.
Similarly, opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha may get the support of eight Congress MLAs and the lone CPI(M) member.
All the 31 MPs from Odisha - 21 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha members - have cast their vote in Parliament.
The value of the vote for each MLA and MP in Odisha is 149 and 700 respectively.
Two MLAs, one each from Samajwadi Party and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, did not cast their votes in the presidential poll at Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Bhavan's Tilak Hall here on Monday, officials said.
Of 403 MLAs, 396 cast their votes in the election at the Tilak Hall, they said.
"396 of the total 403 MLAs in the state cast their votes.
Two MLAs -- SP's Nahid Hasan and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) MLA Abbas Ansari did not cast their votes," Brij Bhushan Dubey, returning officer for the presidential poll in UP, told PTI.
Five MLAs were to cast their vote outside the state due to personal reasons.
The five MLAs are BJP's Mukesh Choudhary, Neel Ratan Patel and Brijbhushan Rajput; Samajwadi Party's Zia Ur Rahman; and Rashtriya Lok Dal's Pradeep Kumar Singh.
Mukesh Choudhary, Zia Ur Rahman, Pradeep Kumar Singh and Brijbhushan Rajput were to cast their vote in Delhi and Neel Ratan Patel in Kerala.
SBSP MLA Abbas Ansari, son of mafia-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari, did not turn up to cast his vote, as a court had issued a non-bailable warrant against him, party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar said, adding that rest of the five MLAs of SBSP voted for NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu.
Nahid Hasan, SP MLA from Kairana who did not turn up for voting, is in a Muzaffarnagar jail, the officials said.
Amidst reports of cross-voting by Shazil Islam Ansari, the SP MLA from Bhojipura in Bareilly told PTI, "Why should I cross-vote? I have voted as per the party line.
" Shazil was seen with Shivpal Singh Yadav, giving air to the speculation.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was among the early voters, prayed for more power to Indian democracy as he voted for the presidential election.
"Voted in Lucknow today to ensure participation in the 2022 presidential election.
May the democracy of India be more empowered," Adityanath tweeted in Hindi.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati claimed that his party rose above politics to support NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu and urged legislators belonging to weaker sections to vote on the basis of their conscience.
UP Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak and SBSP chief Rajbhar arrived together to cast their votes.
Rajbhar is an ally of the state's main opposition SP, which is supporting former Union minister Yashwant Sinha in the election.
However, Rajbhar's SBSP has broken ranks while declaring support to Murmu.
Meanwhile, BSP chief Mayawati in a tweet said, "Rising above the party politics and as per the thought process of the party and movement, the BSP was the first to announce its support to a woman hailing from tribal society."
"Appeal to other people of the weaker sections to vote on the basis of their conscience today," she tweeted in Hindi.
Two ballot boxes, which came from Delhi, were sent back to the national capital after voting completed at 5 pm, Dubey said, adding that the counting of votes will take place in Delhi on July 21.
With the highest vote value of 208 for each of its 403 MLAs, UP will be an important state to watch out for in the presidential election.
NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu is pitted against joint Opposition pick Yashwant Sinha in the poll to elect the 15th President of India.
The electoral college which elects the President through the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote comprises MPs and MLAs.
Nominated MPs and MLAs, and members of legislative councils are not entitled to vote in the presidential poll.
The MPs and MLAs got ballot papers of different colours for voting.
While the MPs got green papers, the MLAs were given ballot papers printed in pink.
Major political parties have already announced their support for the candidates.
(With PTI Inputs)
Numbers that matter
4,796 electors in all in electoral college
31 polling stations in all - at 30 state legislative assembly secretariats and one in Parliament House
44 MPs permitted to vote at state headquarters, 9 MLAs at Parliament House and 2 MLAs in other state HQ
99%+ electors cast their ballot
100% voting in TN, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, MP, Manipur,
Mizoram, Puducherry, Sikkim