SHILLONG, July 21: One of the Opposition Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly voted for NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu during the Presidential poll held on Monday, while one vote was declared invalid.
A total of 56 MLAs had cast their votes out of which Murmu secured 47 votes. The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance has a strength of 48, including the five suspended Congress legislators.
Two NPP MLAs – James PK Sangma and Sniawbhalang Dhar – were absent during the voting, bringing the number of MLAs who voted down to 46.
Out of the 12 TMC MLAs, Shitlang Pale and Marthon Sangma were absent during the polling on Monday.
However, Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha secured only eight votes in Meghalaya while one vote was invalid.
The unity of Opposition parties proved to be a distant dream as several of their MPs and MLAs from across the states cross voted in favour of Murmu.
The results have exposed fissures within the Opposition as many politicians defied the stated position of their parties in electing the 15th President of India.
The massive victory achieved by Murmu undermined the possibility of a larger political front forming against the Modi government in the future.
The counting of votes suggested that as many as 17 MPs and around 120 MLAs across various state assemblies cross voted in favour of Murmu.
The states where maximum number of MLAs cross voted are Assam (22), Madhya Pradesh (19), Maharashtra (16), Uttar Pradesh (12), Gujarat (10), Jharkhand (10), Bihar and Chhattisgarh (6 each), Rajasthan (5) and Goa (4).
Many non-NDA parties also extended support to Murmu primarily for two reasons — first due to her tribal identity and second the winnability factor associated with her from the beginning. (With agency inputs)
