President-elect Droupadi Murmu's tally boosted by cross-voting

At least 95 MLAs from the Opposition camp voted for Droupadi Murmu with the largest chunk coming from Assam where over two dozen Opposition lawmakers chose the ruling NDA candidate over their own nominee Yashwant Sinha while around 15 each such MLAs from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh too taking the same route.

The surprise, however, came from Kerala from where no vote was expected for Murmu, as all the MLAs belonged to either the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front or the Congress-led United Democratic Front. One Kerala MLA voted for Murmu. For Sinha, he could find solace in a single incident of cross voting from Manipur.

BJP sources claimed 17 MPs and 126 MLAs from the Opposition voted in favour of Murmu. Vote share won by Murmu – 64.03 per cent – was the lowest since VV Giri’s in 1969 when he polled just 48.01 per cent.

At least 26 MLAs from the Opposition voted for Murmu in Assam as the NDA candidate was expected to get only 78 but bagged 104.

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In Maharashtra, the number was around 15, if one takes the vote of confidence of Eknath Shinde. Murmu got 181 votes, 15 more than what Shinde got in the confidence vote, while Sinha got 98, one less than what the Opposition polled there. Around two dozen Opposition MLAs were absent and Congress had then sent an observer to probe the absence of lawmakers.

In Madhya Pradesh where the NDA was promised 131 votes, it got 146 MLAs’ support. During the campaign trail, there were allegations that the BJP was wooing tribal MLAs of Congress with money even as a party MLA claimed that 10 lawmakers were approached by BJP managers.

Bihar also saw half-a-dozen MLAs voting for Murmu who got support of 133 while the NDA count in the Assembly is 127.

Gujarat also saw cross voting in favour of Murmu – at least 10 Opposition MLAs voted in favour of the NDA candidate. She got 121 MLAs to support her while the BJP had only 111 MLAs in the Assembly.

While Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot managed to keep Congress and supporting parties to vote for Murmu, his colleague in Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel saw at least one MLA from the Opposition ranks joining the opponent.

In Haryana, where the Rajya Sabha election saw Congress candidate Ajay Maken losing in a nail-biting election, 30 Congress MLAs voted for Sinha but Kuldeep Bishnoi, who is heading to the BJP, voted for Murmu.

In Uttar Pradesh, at least six MLAs from the Opposition cross voted – the BJP had 275 MLAs besides support of six MLAs of SBSP.