Govt should focus on more important numbers: TMC's O'Brien on 'cross-voting' in VP poll

The remarks come after C P Radhakrishnan's scored a bigger than expected margin in the vice presidential poll, with BJP leaders claiming he drew support even from the rival camp.

New Delhi: Amid reports of cross-voting in the vice presidential poll, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Thursday said that instead of focusing on "15 votes here and there", the government should count the 15 days since the US imposed 50 per cent tariff on India and 862 days since violence started in Manipur.

His remarks come after C P Radhakrishnan's scored a bigger than expected margin in the vice presidential poll, with BJP leaders claiming he drew support even from the rival camp. The extent of his victory margin came as a setback to the Opposition, which had claimed all its 315 MPs remained united in the election and voted for Sudershan Reddy, their joint candidate.

"It has been 15 days since the US imposed a 50% tariff on India, 862 days since violence started in Manipur, 967 days of JP Nadda overstaying as BJP president, 1,282 days of MGNREGA funds being stopped for West Bengal, 2,278 days of not having a Deputy Speaker in Lok Sabha, and 4,117 since the prime minister answered a question in Lok Sabha," O'Brien told reporters here.

"These are the important numbers for which the Modi government needs to be held accountable. Fifteen votes here or there is not a figure which needs to be top of mind," the TMC Rajya Sabha Leader said.

Radhakrishnan was elected the 15th Vice President of India on Tuesday, bagging 452 votes against Opposition nominee and former Supreme Court judge Reddy's 300 votes, amid indications of cross-voting in his favour.

The BJP-led NDA had on paper 427 MPs in its alliance, with the YSR Congress also extending the support of its 11 MPs to its candidate. Some MPs representing smaller parties also backed Radhakrishnan.

While Radhakrishnan received 60 per cent of the total valid votes polled, his predecessor Jagdeep Dhankhar had won by a huge margin in the 2022 election by securing 74.36 per cent of total valid votes polled. Dhankhar had bagged 528 votes out of total 710 valid votes polled.

BJP leaders were quick to claim after the results were announced that at least 15 opposition MPs voted in favour of Radhakrishnan. There were hints from the ruling alliance that some opposition MPs deliberately cast invalid votes.

BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal later claimed that "nearly 40 opposition MPs" listened to the voice of their conscience and voted in "some manner" in support of the NDA candidate, showing wider acceptance for him. His assertion of support from 40 opposition MPs appeared to include several invalid votes. Some opposition leaders had appealed to MPs' conscience in the polls to support Reddy, and the senior BJP leader's comments were seen as a retort to them.