15-plus cross-voting in VP polls mars INDIA Bloc's unity project

For the Opposition INDIA bloc leaders, NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan winning the vice presidential election was a forgone conclusion. But what came as a loss of face, more than the defeat, was their candidate B Sudershan Reddy getting only 300 votes amid a minimum of 15 cross-voting, including some in the form of "invalid votes", from the Opposition ranks, hitting at the base of their "unity" project.

Even when the election process was underway, the INDIA bloc floor leaders had expressed confidence about their candidate bagging a minimum of 315 votes with the upper limit stretching up to 324, with addional supporters.

While the exact names of the "deserters" will remain shrouded in secrecy and in realm of speculation, cross-voting has already sowed the seeds of suspicion within the INDIA bloc, with some Opposition leaders now moving the needle of suspicion to "some members" of AAP and to the "Maharashtra front", where Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP(SP) factions remained fragile and one Rajasthan MP. Whether all Opposition votes polled from Tamil Nadu is also being debated.


ET had reported on Monday and Tuesday about certain Opposition quarters being wary of cross-voting and deliberate invalidation of votes given party whips being not applicable in the VP poll.

When voting ended on Tuesday evening, the Opposition's "unity confidence" was demonstrated by Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh who noted on X: "The voting in the Vice Presidential election is over. The Opposition has stood united. ALL of its 315 MPs have turned up for voting. This is an unprecedented 100% turnout." But within two hours, Opposition managers were scrambling to find out how a minimum of 15 Opposition voters crossed-over to the NDA and who were those in the 'trojan horse'.

Opposition campers were also hoping that a "spirited and united" INDIA bloc fight in vice-presidential election would add to their optics for the upcoming Bihar elections, more so given the process of reuniting the Opposition bloc in the last Parliament session and the decision to field a joint VP candidate were made by building anti-NDA planks against the "SIR", "vote chori" and the "RSS roots" of the NDA candidate. How this desertion from within will affect the future play within the INDIA bloc will be closely watched.

Given that the INDIA bloc's combined tally in the two Houses has shot up this time, thanks to its impressive show in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Reddy was bound to get more votes than what his two predecessors - Gopal Gandhi and Margrat Alva - polled as the last two losing Opposition vice-presidential candidates, but the cross-voting marred that consolation also.