CP Radhakrishnan will be the country's next Vice-President. After the resignation of the former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, BJP's CP Radhakrishnan defeated the opposition candidate B. Sudarshan Reddy by 152 votes in the election held on September 9. In the Vice-President election, CP Radhakrishnan received 452 first preference votes, while opposition candidate B. Sudarshan Reddy secured 300 votes.
The numbers were already seen in favor of the ruling NDA at the center, but cross-voting and invalid votes further widened the gap. Congress led the opposition in the Vice-President election, but all preparations fell flat. The probability of the opposition candidate winning was nearly zero, yet the election exposed the claims of unity in the INDIA bloc.
Training for MPs from both sides occurred before the election to avoid invalid votes, but the fear came true. Despite mock voting, 15 votes were declared invalid in the Vice-President election, and BJP claims that 14 MPs participated in cross-voting.
Of course, elections are not contested just to win. They are fought to challenge and stand firm in the field. Congress is claiming a moral victory in the Vice-President election and alleged vote theft - is it really so?
How is This a Moral Victory?
Reacting to the Vice-President election results, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh voiced his opinion on social site X, emphasizing that the opposition stood united in the Vice-President election... The opposition's performance was undoubtedly respectable... The joint candidate, Justice (Retd) B. Sudarshan Reddy, secured 40 percent of votes... In 2022, the opposition received only 26 percent votes... BJP's arithmetic victory is indeed a moral and political defeat... The ideological battle continues unceasingly.
Similarly, Congress MP Imran Masood has presented this in his own manner. Imran Masood points out that there is a 14 percent increase in the opposition's vote share. He recalls that the opposition's vote share was 26 percent earlier, which has now increased to 40 percent. The Congress MP claims that the opposition is not losing anything... but is gaining. Given the current atmosphere in the country, change is inevitable.
While Congress is patting itself on the back for 40 percent of the opposition's votes, BJP's candidate received 60 percent of the votes, even when NDA has only 293 MPs in Lok Sabha. Previously, this number was 353. If the opposition's vote share has increased by 14 percent, it is clear that the ruling party's share has decreased by the same amount. In the last Vice-President election, BJP received 74.37 percent votes.
An increase in vote share is enough to raise morale, but how will Congress view cross-voting? And there must be special considerations regarding the votes that were declared invalid in the election.
Did the 'Inner Voice' Lead INDIA Bloc Members to Cross-Vote?
The opposition candidate B. Sudarshan Reddy received 300 votes, while Congress claimed that all 315 votes went to their account. So where did the 15 votes go? It is clear these votes through cross-voting ended up in the NDA candidate's account. The opposition had urged lawmakers to listen to their 'inner voice' during voting.
BJD, Akali Dal, and BRS did not participate in the election. These are political parties that are not aligned with the ruling side. Congress could have tried to gain their support by playing their card. Since the last election, YSR Congress has been upset with the ruling side, but Jagmohan Reddy's party also supported the NDA candidate.
According to a media report, some leaders of the NDA stated that some opposition MPs from states like Jharkhand and Maharashtra have cross-voted. It is mentioned that because of CP Radhakrishnan being governors in these states, local MPs might have voted for him. Similar things are said about the Aam Aadmi Party and Shiv Sena (UBT), although both parties have denied such allegations.
Another media report cited sources and indicated that approximately 7 MPs from Maharashtra might have crossed voted, including 3 from Shiv Sena-UBT and 4 from Congress. CP Radhakrishnan might have influenced some MPs from Tamil Nadu as well.
