Opposition fears cross voting in presidential poll

Mumbai: Political parties in the state are gearing up for the presidential poll scheduled on July 17 but the opposition fears cross voting. BJP with its own 122 MLAs and Shiv Sena’s 63 is trying to deliver maximum votes to BJP candidate Ram Nath Kovind. While sources in the BJP said there would be cross voting for BJP from disgruntled Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs, the Congress said that their votes are intact.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is keeping busy securing maximum votes for Mr Kovind, cancelled a few scheduled meetings for Thursday. Mr Fadnavis was supposed to meet NCP chief Sharad Pawar over farmers issues. But sources said Mr Fadnavis is busy with the president’s poll and the meeting was cancelled.

The BJP has 122 MLAs with a vote value of 21,350. One MLA’s vote value is 175. The Sena has declared its support to the BJP candidate and has a vote value of 11,025. “Our votes are surely going for our candidate but there will be surprises for the opposition after polls,” said a BJP leader, hinting at cross voting during the presidential poll.

The Congress, NCP and other opposition parties are supporting former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar in the presidential election. Ms Kumar was in town a few days ago and appealed to all the parties to vote for her. While Congress has 42 MLAs, NCP has 41, CPI (M) one, Samajwadi Party one, PWP three and MIM two. The total vote value for the opposition in Maharashtra is 15,750. A Congress leader said that though the voting is secret, chances of cross voting are low.

However, sources said that some Congress-NCP leaders are already in touch with BJP. It is rumoured that some of them, disgruntled in Congress and miffed with its leadership, might officially join BJP after the presidential poll. Cross voting, if it happens, will be embarrassing for Congress and NCP.

The MLAs will cast their vote on July 17 at the state legislature from 10 am to 5 pm.