Cementing the fact that its state unit is a divided camp, at least half of the Congress legislators in Jharkhand went against the party diktat and voted for NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu in the presidential polls, data showed.
As per available information, Murmu received 70 votes from the Jharkhand assembly, while joint Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha received only nine in the 81-member House.
In the Jharkhand assembly, 80 of the 81 members, barring unwell BJP legislator Indrajit Mahto, exercised their franchise in the presidential poll. Of the votes polled, one vote was declared invalid.
Of the 79 valid votes, the NDA received 70 against its declared 60 votes, including 25 from the BJP, 30 from the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, two from AJSU Party, two independents and one vote of the Nationalist Congress Party. On the other hand, the house had 20 declared votes for UPA candidate Sinha including 18 from Congress, and one each from the Rashtriya Janata Dal and CPI (ML).
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However, Sinha received only nine of the 79 valid votes, while the NDA had a handsome gain of 10 votes, riaising suspicions of cross voting by at least half of the Congress MLAs.
“It seems that several Congress legislators took the advice of Yashwant Sinha seriously and voted by their conscience. We were sure about this from the beginning,” Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said as a swipe against the Opposition.
Reacting to the development, Jharkhand Congress spokesperson Rakesh Sinha said, “Since there is no provision of whip in President polls, it is difficult to say who voted for whom. MPs and MLAs vote as per their conscience. If our legislators have cross voted, the party will look into the reasons.”
Jharkhand Congress, however, is abuzz with rumours of whether the incident is a one-off case or something major is cooking up, given the political scenario in the state where chief minister Hemant Soren, his family members and associates are facing legal trouble.
“Of the 18 Congress legislators, seven are tribal people, while five are woman. So that might have swayed some of our legislators to go in favour of Droupadi Murmu. Even if we count the sole RJD MLA, who himself is a tribal, to have cross voted for Murmu, the rest nine extra votes which went to Murmu are from Congress,” said a Congress leader.
Another party leader, however, said even if the cross voting is a one-off incident, it does not look healthy for the party that is already struggling to stay afloat across the country.
“Those who have cross voted have defied the party diktat. It should be taken seriously, given the fact that the BJP keeps looking for an opening to unleash ‘Operation Lotus’,” a Congress leader said.