Pratibha becomes first woman Prez
Paribha Patil, seeking a half-way mark of 4,84,712 votes, bagged as many as 6,38,116 votes.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: When the ballot boxes for the Presidential polls were opened on Saturday, the real news was not the expected election of UPA-Left-BSP nominee Pratibha Patil as the first woman president of India by a massive margin, but the loss of face and political grounds the Opposition and its nominee Bhairon Singh Shekhwat suffered in many critical areas.
What has added to the glitter of Ms Patil’s 3,06,810 victory margin was not just the fact that the entire ruling front and its allies stood firmly behind her against the Opposition assault, but the fact that Mr Shekhawat’s projected specialisation in engineering cross-voting has only boomeranged on him, with Ms Patil poaching many of his projected votes in major BJP-ruled states like Gujarat, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. There are indication that even some of the MPs have crossed over to Ms Patil’s side.
Soon after the results were announced, Mr Shekhawat, understandably announced his decision to resign from the post of the vice-president, something that he refused to do throughout the campaign despite the demands from his rival side.
His decision now, could at least save him the embarrassment of having to preside over the Rajya Sabha, for his remaining one month-term, as the first ever vice president to have lost the Presidential poll.
For the record, of the total valid votes of 9,69,422 votes, Ms Patil, seeking a half-way mark of 4,84,712 votes, bagged as many as 6,38,116 votes against Mr Shekhawat’s tally of 3,31,306 votes. While scoring a victory margin of 3,06,810 votes, Ms Patil cornered the lion’s share of 65.82 per cent of total valid votes, leaving her rival to get only 34.18 per cent.
The invincibility of Ms Patil political project, scripted by the total backing of the UPA-Left-BSP and outside support from Shiv Sena and National Conference, and reinforced by the decision of Trinamul Congress and JD(S) to abstain, was also demonstrated in the fact that even the decision of the UNPA allies like AIADMK-MDMK to back Mr Shekhwat along with some SP and INLD MLAs could not provide him any shock-absorber.
Mr Shekhwat also suffered cross-voting in BJP-ruled states of Gujarat, (where at least seven anti-Narendra Modi BJP MLAs voted for Ms Patil), in Madhya Pradesh (where around 10 BJP rebels loyal to Uma Bharati reportedly invalidated their votes) and in Chattisgarh and Bihar.
While Mr Shekhwat got some extra votes from his home-state Rajasthan, Ms Patil, who is married to that state, too managed some goodwill votes. In her home state of Maharashtra, Ms Patil got all but BJP votes. Most of the TRS rebels also chose to vote for Ms Patil.
The voting pattern has also demonstrated the negligible presence of the NDA in as many as nine states. While Mr Shekhawat failed to open his account in Kerala, West bengal, Tripura and Mizoram, he could get only negligible votes in Andhra Pradesh (2), J&K(6), Manipur(5), Haryana (7) and Meghalaya (6).
What has added to the glitter of Ms Patil’s 3,06,810 victory margin was not just the fact that the entire ruling front and its allies stood firmly behind her against the Opposition assault, but the fact that Mr Shekhawat’s projected specialisation in engineering cross-voting has only boomeranged on him, with Ms Patil poaching many of his projected votes in major BJP-ruled states like Gujarat, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. There are indication that even some of the MPs have crossed over to Ms Patil’s side.
Soon after the results were announced, Mr Shekhawat, understandably announced his decision to resign from the post of the vice-president, something that he refused to do throughout the campaign despite the demands from his rival side.
His decision now, could at least save him the embarrassment of having to preside over the Rajya Sabha, for his remaining one month-term, as the first ever vice president to have lost the Presidential poll.
For the record, of the total valid votes of 9,69,422 votes, Ms Patil, seeking a half-way mark of 4,84,712 votes, bagged as many as 6,38,116 votes against Mr Shekhawat’s tally of 3,31,306 votes. While scoring a victory margin of 3,06,810 votes, Ms Patil cornered the lion’s share of 65.82 per cent of total valid votes, leaving her rival to get only 34.18 per cent.
The invincibility of Ms Patil political project, scripted by the total backing of the UPA-Left-BSP and outside support from Shiv Sena and National Conference, and reinforced by the decision of Trinamul Congress and JD(S) to abstain, was also demonstrated in the fact that even the decision of the UNPA allies like AIADMK-MDMK to back Mr Shekhwat along with some SP and INLD MLAs could not provide him any shock-absorber.
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How the tide was turned against Mr Shekhwat even in Parliament was evident when Ms Patil got the backing of 442 MPs, which according to chief government manger Pranab Mukherjee, is 41 votes more than the projected UPA-Left strength of 401 MPs. Mr Shekhwat could get only the votes of 232 MPs, as a fall-out of parties like BSP and some allies of BJP such as Shiv Sena voting for his rival and some cross-voting. Mr Shekhwat also suffered cross-voting in BJP-ruled states of Gujarat, (where at least seven anti-Narendra Modi BJP MLAs voted for Ms Patil), in Madhya Pradesh (where around 10 BJP rebels loyal to Uma Bharati reportedly invalidated their votes) and in Chattisgarh and Bihar.
While Mr Shekhwat got some extra votes from his home-state Rajasthan, Ms Patil, who is married to that state, too managed some goodwill votes. In her home state of Maharashtra, Ms Patil got all but BJP votes. Most of the TRS rebels also chose to vote for Ms Patil.
The voting pattern has also demonstrated the negligible presence of the NDA in as many as nine states. While Mr Shekhawat failed to open his account in Kerala, West bengal, Tripura and Mizoram, he could get only negligible votes in Andhra Pradesh (2), J&K(6), Manipur(5), Haryana (7) and Meghalaya (6).
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