Lone Droupadi Murmu backer in Kerala Assembly still elusive
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Unless and until the MLA who ignored the decision of his/her party and voted for NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu in the presidential election decides to come out in the open, the identity of the loner who cross-voted in the poll will remain anonymous. The procedure of poll was such that neither the polling agents nor the returning officer could identify the votes by checking ballots. The serial number in the ballot paper would be covered with a black strip and the counterfoil could be verified only by the Election Commission of India.
The BJP state leadership had expected at least two votes from Kerala as they thought tribal MLAs here would also follow the national trend of tribal communities uniting in support of the first president from their community. “There is no point in suspecting any member from the tribal community as we know the MLAs and their commitment to their respective political ideologies,” said a senior legislator.
An MP from Kerala hinted that the only possibility seemed to be the crossing over by a single-member party in the UDF. “If the MLA is not in good terms with the UDF and he can’t switch over to LDF as well. Why can’t this be a secret olive branch extended to NDA?” he asked. “If the cross voting is a game in which BJP too is involved, the real story will come out soon,” he said.
Janata Dal (S), a constituent of LDF, had announced support to Droupadi Murmu. But, the MLAs of the party — Minister K Krishnankutty and Mathew T Thomas — had pledged support to Opposition candidate Yaswant Sinha in line with the decision of LDF leadership. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told reporters that none of the MLAs from CPM would have voted for Murmu.