New Delhi
Around 4,800 parliamentarians and legislators from across the country on Monday voted in the Parliament and respective State Legislative Assemblies with much enthusiasm to elect India’s 15th President. Some even came on wheel chairs, and some Covid-affected ones in PPE kits.
Chief Returning Officer PC Mody said, “The Presidential poll was conducted peacefully, cordially everywhere. The total turnout at Parliament was 99.18 pc. Out of 736 electors (727 MPs,9 MLAs) permitted by EC to vote in Parliament in the Presidential poll, 730 (721 MPs,9 MLAs) voted.”
“The ballot boxes will arrive in Parliament from across the country by the end of the day. The boxes will reach Delhi via road and air and assistant returning officers will accompany them,” Mody added.
The Election Commission said, “Out of a total of 771 MPs entitled to vote (05 vacant) and similarly out of total 4025 Members of the Legislative Assemblies entitled to vote (06 vacant and 02 disqualified), over 99 percent cast their votes today. However 100 percent voting by MLAs was reported from Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Puducherry, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu.” The results will be announced on July 21 and the new President will take oath on July 25.
Given the coalition’s numbers in Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies, the scales were already tilted in favour of NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu to become the first tribal President of India. The support extended to Murmu by a number of other non-NDA parties further made it a one-sided affair.
Add to it, the cross voting (there was no whip though) by several Opposition MLAs. It has only queered the pitch for the Opposition, which jointly backed Yashwant Sinha in a bid to forge unity with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
The first instance of cross voting was reported from Gujarat where NCP MLA Kandhal S Jadeja declared he voted for Murmu. Another NCP MLA in Jharkhand Kamlesh Singh too voted for Murmu saying he went by his “conscience call”.
“Droupadi Murmu will get the support of at least 65 legislators in Jharkhand under any circumstance as many Congress legislators are also going to listen to their conscience and vote for her,” BJP MLA Biranchi Narayan claimed. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, which along with Congress and RJD runs the Government in the State, has already announced support to Murmu.
Congress MLA from Odisha, Mohammed Moquim, also went against party diktat to vote for Murmu, saying, ““I am an Odia. I voted in favour of Droupadi Murmu as she is a daughter of Odisha. I went by my conscience. MLAs cannot be prevented from listening to their conscience.” “People of Odisha will support my move. Murmu’s victory will make me proud,” he asserted.
For his part, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party chief Shivpal Yadav made known his intentions as he said hardcore SP leaders who follow SP founder-patron Mulayam Singh Yadav’s principles will never support Sinha who had called Netaji (Mulayam) an ISI agent. We can never support him, he asserted.
Akhilesh hit back saying his uncle was working on the BJP’s “directions” to target Sinha. “Chacha (Shivpal Yadav) should know the language of the BJP during the recent UP polls. The language of the BJP has always been bad towards Netaji and the Samajwadis,” Akhilesh said.
Another of Akhilesh’ ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief OP Rajbhar too had announced support to Murmu and voted for her. The new-found political bonhomie between SBSP and BJP was on full display when Rajbhar was seen accompanying Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak to cast his vote in the Presidential election.
SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, besides BJP’s Nitish Pramanik, were issued fresh ballots after they could not cast their votes properly in the first attempt.
In Punjab, SAD MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali boycotted the poll over various “unresolved” issues related to Punjab. Ayali went against his own party, which supported Murmu. In neighbouring Haryana, Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, who had cross voted in last month’s Rajya Sabha polls, said he voted in the Presidential election too according to his “conscience”.
Sinha said the presidential poll would decide the direction of the country as to whether democracy will remain or not, as he appealed to electors to listen to their “inner voice” and support him.
The day also saw Gujarat Minister Jitu Vaghani stopping opposition leader Sukhram Rathva of Congress to say, “Murmuji hails from a tribal community. Thus, I appeal to you and other Congress MLAs to listen to your conscience and vote for her.” Rathva replied with a smile and walked away.
As many as eight MPs didn’t cast their vote. They include two MPs each from the BJP (including Sunny Deol) and Shiv Sena, and one each from the Congress, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and AIMIM.
In Mumbai, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil was confident some Congress legislators, who were absent during the Eknath Shinde government’s trust vote, will vote in favour of Murmu. The BJP is hopeful many Congress MLAs in Assam will also go against their party lines to vote for Murmu.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to cast his vote. Mulayam and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came on a wheelchair and were assisted in voting. Congress president Sonia Gandhi,senior leader Rahul Gandhi and Ministers in the Modi Government too exercised their franchise. The voting started at 10 am and ended at 5 pm.
