Even as the opposition camp is yet to recover from the shock of 126 MLAs and 17 MPs cross-voting in favour of President elect Droupadi Murmu, the respective parties won’t be able to take any action against those defying the party line as in most cases they cannot be identified because voting in the Presidential election is done by secret ballot.
Several leaders from Congress, which has seen maximum number of MLAs from any opposition party cross-voting in favour of Murmu, admitted there is no way to find out who went against the party’s direction.
Congress was worst-hit by cross-voting in Madhya Pradesh as the opposition’s presidential nominee Yashwant Sinha received only 79 votes against Congress’ tally of 96 in the assembly. However, it is difficult to identify the 17 MLAs who went against the party. "It could have been anyone. The culprits may be thinking they will get away clean while tribal MLAs are blamed for the cross-voting," said sources in Congress.
A senior Congress leader from Jharkhand, where seven of its lawmakers are believed to have voted for Murmu, said that unlike in the Rajya Sabha polls, voters in the presidential elections need not intimate their respective party’s poll observers. "So, it is difficult to single out who cross voted. " Jharkhand PCC chief Rajesh Thakur said the party would summon all its MLAs in Ranchi next week and talk to them one-on-one to find out who defied the party line.
Congress’ problems are compounded in states like Gujarat, which go to the polls later this year. Though seven Congress MLAs cross-voted in favour of Murmu, the party is wary of even conducting an exercise to identify them. State Congress chief Jagdish Thakor said this will amount to ‘doubting the loyalty’ of all the MLAs. "No action is being taken as of now. It is clear that the MLAs who cross-voted will shift allegiance to the BJP sooner or later," he said.
In Chhattisgarh, where two Congress MLAs defied the party line by voting for India’s first tribal President, it is impossible to identify the duo. Almost a third of Congress’ 71 legislators in the state belong to tribal communities. Assam reported the highest cross voting from the opposition - 22 - in favour of Murmu. However, there is no clarity on how many of these are from Congress. While Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that "out of these 22 extra votes, 15 to 16 votes were from Congress MLAs whose constituencies have voters from Adivasi and tea garden communities." Leader of the opposition in the assembly Debabrata Saikia and PCC chief Bhupen Bora said this figure was not more than 9.
