Lone, ‘not accidental’ Kerala vote for President-elect Droupadi Murmu sparks debate, speculation
The lone vote in Kerala sparked a debate as Sinha was expected to corner all the votes in the state en bloc.
BJP has no MLAs or MPs in Kerala but has possibly managed to surprise political analysts everywhere by winning a surprise vote from the state. The party’s state unit is overjoyed. BJP Kerala chief K Surendran has even termed the vote “not accidental”.
Sudarshan said that the party expected another vote for the NDA presidential candidate from the state which is dominated by blocs led by the CPI(M) and the Congress. The lone vote is of “more value than the rest of 139 votes polled”, he said.
As former Odisha MLA and Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu created history with a landslide Presidential poll victory, incidents from cross voting from several states by Opposition legislators have created a stir. Murmu is set to become the first tribal President of the country after she defeated joint Opposition’s candidate Yashwant Sinha.
The lone vote in Kerala sparked a debate as Sinha was expected to corner all the votes in the state en bloc. Incidentally, one BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, Neel Ratan Singh Patel was allowed to vote from Kerala for the presidential polls because he was undergoing an Ayurvedic treatment at a hospital in Palakkad district.
Political observers have been wondering if the vote for Murmu was by accident or a deliberate cross vote. On Twitter, several users have been speculating about who could be the lone MLA to break ranks.
On the ground, ruling CPI(M) and opposition Congress have refrained from blaming anyone without adequate knowledge of facts.
When asked if the party would probe the incident and if the party doubted anyone, CPI(M) state secretary Balakrishnan said it was not right to blame anyone without any proof. “Normally you people (reporters) guess and write about such matters. But in this case, I couldn’t find any such articles. CPI (M) MLAs will not do this,” he said.
On the other hand, BJP’s Sudarshan claimed that the several legislators and parliamentarians from Kerala had secretly admitted they would like to vote in favour of Murmu.
“They told us in person that they could not violate the party line and vote for the NDA candidate but their conscience is with her. We had strong expectations about two votes but we did not get one of them at the last moment. We don’t know whether it was so because of any pressure from the respective party leadership,” Surendran said.
This story has not been edited by News Mania staff and is published from a syndicated feed
Photo: Internet
