Kolkata: West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Friday claimed that many MPs and MLAs of Trinamool Congress voted for Draupadi Murmu in Presidential Election, PTI reported.
Adhikari tweeted, "As promised by me all 70 @BJP4Bengal (BJP) MLAs voted in favour of Smt. Draupadi Murmu ji. While 1 @AITCofficial (TMC) MLA cross voted in favour of the President Elect, 4 TMC MLAs ensured that their votes were regarded invalid. 71 votes were polled in favour of Smt. Murmu ji in WB Assembly (sic)."
"Out of the 34 @AITCofficial MPs (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha combined) who cast their votes at the WB Assembly, at least 4 cross voted in favour of Smt. Draupadi Murmu ji. 2 got counted in her favour, and other 2 were regarded invalid. Saffron greetings to those 4 TMC MPs," he added.
From West Bengal, 216 out of 219 had for Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, 71 voted for Murmu, while four went invalid.
Former BJP state president Rahul Sinha also made similar claims, saying there was ample proof that several TMC MLAs and MPs voted in favour of Ms Murmu. "Many TMC MLAs and MPs are not happy with the functioning of the party's top leadership. This cross-voting is the manifestation of their disgruntlement," he said.
Hitting back at the BJP, TMC claimed there was no possibility of any cross-voting by its lawmakers.
But TMC has rejected the claims. "No such cross-voting took place by TMC lawmakers. There are no 'Mirzafars' (traitors) in our party anymore. TMC is a disciplined party, there is not a single possibility of anyone of our party supporting the candidate propped up by a communal party like BJP," Bengal minister Firhad Hakim said.
In the 294-member House, 291 votes were cast in the presidential election. TMC MLA Rafikul Islam Mondal did not vote as he was travelling for Haj, ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui abstained from voting, and one seat is vacant due to the death of TMC MLA Sadhan Pandey.
PTI reports that BJP kept its MLAs at a luxury hotel in New Town near Kolkata before the election on July 18 in order to prevent cross-voting.