In Gujarat also, seven Congress MLAs did cross voting, the party said – action will be taken
NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu has been elected as the 15th President of the country. Seven Congress MLAs from Gujarat, defying the party line, voted for the NDA candidate in the presidential election. The defiance on the part of the MLAs comes at a time when the state assembly elections are due later this year. The Congress has started an internal probe to identify the MLAs who cross-voted in the July 18 election.
The Congress has 63 MLAs in the Gujarat Assembly and enjoys the support of the lone independent MLA. When the results of the presidential election were announced, it was found that only 57 MLAs voted for Yashwant Sinha, the Congress-backed candidate. That is, only seven MLAs voted outside the party line. In contrast, the NDA’s presidential candidate got 121 votes. Whereas the BJP has only 111 MLAs in the Gujarat Assembly.
Cross voting shocking
Apart from seven Congress MLAs who voted for Murmu, two BTP MLAs and one NCP MLA also voted for him, giving him the vote share of 10 non-BJP MLAs. GPCC president Jagdish Thakor said the cross-voting by the seven party MLAs was quite ‘shocking’.
Thakor said, “I am shocked by the breach of trust by my own MLAs. BJP is working unfairly to win over our MLAs, but it is shocking. We will definitely investigate the matter and identify them and take strict action against them. He will be removed from the party. BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas said, “Once again Congress MLAs have worked in the interest of the country.”
Understand the sentiments of your legislators
Vyas said, “Many Congress MLAs were in support of a tribal woman being nominated as the presidential candidate and they voted for Draupadi Murmu. Congress needs to understand the sentiments of its MLAs. Out of the total 182 seats in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, two seats have fallen vacant due to the death of Asha Patel and Anil Joshiara. At the same time, one seat has fallen vacant due to the recent resignation of a Congress MLA Ashwin Kotwal. The High Court quashed the vote of Dwarka MLA Pabhubha Manek.
