VP elected, politics continues: BJP takes 'conscience' swipe over cross-voting; opposition claims 'votes were bought'

NEW DELHI: Did some INDIA bloc MPs cross-vote in the vice-presidential elections held on Tuesday? Well, the NDA is certain that they did. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday rubbed salt into opposition's wounds as he extended special thanks to the INDIA bloc MPs who voted with 'conscience'. "Special thanks to some MPs of- INDI Alliance who voted with 'Conscience' for NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan in the VP election. NDA and All our friendly MPs remain united. Congratulations to everyone on electing a humble & efficient man and a true patriot as India's new Vice President," Rijiju posted on X taking a dig at the opposition.In fact, soon after the results for the VP elections were out yesterday, the BJP and the Congress sparred over ‘conscience vote’.

This was triggered by the "more-than-expected" margin of victory of NDA's CP Radhakrishnan.Radhakrishnan was elected country’s 15th Vice-President with 452 votes - which was 14 more than the actual numerical strength of the NDA bloc. On the other hand, the INDIA bloc candidate, retired Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy, got 300 first preference votes. This was 15 less than what opposition leaders had claimed before the results were out.

Adding to the suspense was the fact that 15 votes were declared invalid.Who was impacted more by the invalid votes - NDA or INDIA bloc - will remain a matter of conjecture, since this was a secret ballot. Also, possibly there would never be a confirmation of who cross-voted, and for whom, unless those who did it decide to identify themselves for any possible political gains. But the fact remains that NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan got 14 extra votes.

So, cross-voting did happen.Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary BL Santhosh claimed that the INDIA bloc candidate received 15 fewer votes than their total number. "Voting happened through ballot papers & INDI Alliance got 15 votes less than their number. The INDI alliance leaders had campaigned for conscience vote. They got it in return," Santhosh posted on X.And this reality of cross-voting has already brought to fore the deep division within the opposition ranks. Accusations are flying - interestingly both among the allies and also within the parties - on who is to blame for this? The Trinamool Congress trained its guns at Arvind Kejriwal's AAP.

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee said, "As I said, there are some parties, especially in the Rajya Sabha, where some people may have been elected from their party, but are still clearly aligned with the BJP. I gave you an example of a Rajya Sabha member of Aam Aadmi Party. There may be four or five such members ... You can buy those who have been elected, you can buy those who are in the opposition but you cannot buy the common people.

"Abhishek also alleged that the saffron camp spent Rs 15-Rs 20 crore per MP to "buy votes" and accused it of using money power to undermine democracy. "After speaking to a few people, I can say the BJP spent Rs 15-20 crore on each person to buy votes. People elected as representatives are selling the people's trust and emotions. Representatives can be bought, but not the people," the TMC leader claimed.The BJP hit back sharply to Abhishek Banerjee's claim. West Bengal BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Shamik Bhattacharya dismissed Banerjee's allegations as "baseless" and said the results reflected Opposition disunity."I do not wish to dignify his comments with a response. But this Vice-Presidential election has clearly shown that the NDA is united, while the opposition is in disarray," he said.Meanwhile, there were ripples within parties also. Congress leader Manish Tewari demanded thorough probe into allegations of cross-voting. "If there was cross-voting, then it should be seriously investigated by each of the constituents of the INDIA Alliance.

Cross-voting is an extremely serious matter. If at all, what you are saying is correct or what is appearing in the public space or is being speculated has an iota of truth in it, it deserves a systematic and clinical investigation," Tewari told ANI.Congress MP Pramod Tiwari while refusing to comment on the probability of alleged cross-voting, said that parties in the opposition will have to review the same.Tiwari harped on the increased vote share of joint opposition candidate which was 40 per cent of the vote - 14 per cent more than the votes the opposition received last time."I congratulate CP Radhakrishnan on his victory. As far as the results are concerned, the opposition got 26 per cent of the votes the last time. This time, it rose to 40 per cent. There is danger knocking at PM Modi's door. If cross-voting was made to happen, it is wrong. But I won't comment on it. There are several parties, and all of them will review it. Then I will make an official comment on it," Tiwari said.NCP(SP) leader and Baramati MP Supriya Sule reacted sharply to allegations of cross voting by MPs of Maharashtra and said the ruling coalition should not "malign" the state."If 14 votes got split, did Maharashtra do it? Why are you maligning Maharashtra? Don't defame the Marathi people," said Sule."Voting was secret, right? Then how did you know that cross-voting took place? BJP's Sanjay Jaiswal says there were 40 (extra) votes. Out of 40, some 11 were from YSR Congress, which is not part of the INDIA group. BJP's allies support them only as per their convenience," Sule said.Claims and counterclaims will continue. But the fact remains that the opposition which had hoped to surprise the BJP-led NDA in this conscience vote system - has been itself left surprised by the final outcome.