3 Congress MPs cross-voted during VP polls: BRS MLA
What's the story
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy has alleged that three Congress MPs confessed to voting for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate in the recent vice presidential election on the orders of Congress leader Revanth Reddy. "Three Congress MPs personally told me that they voted for the BJP in the vice president elections at the instruction of Revanth Reddy," Reddy said.
Vote controversy
Kaushik Reddy claims 15 Congress MPs 'sold out'
Reddy also claimed that the alleged cross-voting extended beyond a few members, with 15 Congress MPs being "sold out." He stated that all eight Telangana Congress MPs were among them. These allegations surfaced amid a row over NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan securing extra votes in the vice presidential election against opposition nominee Justice (Retd) B Sudershan Reddy.
Claims
'Congress MPs met with union ministers'
Reddy also said that certain Congress MPs met with union ministers and the Lok Sabha speaker and informed them that they had cross-voted. He said that this was done "as part of the teacher-disciple understanding between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Telangana counterpart A Revanth Reddy, who was with the Telugu Desam Party till 2016," per the Hindu newspaper.
Election results
Radhakrishnan secured 452 votes, Reddy got 300
Out of 781 eligible MPs, 767 voted, and 752 votes were valid. Radhakrishnan secured 452 votes, while Reddy got 300. The opposition bloc had expected the support of 315 MPs, so the shortfall of 15 votes indicates possible cross-voting or spoiled ballots among opposition MPs. Congress MP Manish Tewari earlier called reports of cross-voting "extremely serious" and demanded investigations by parties in the INDIA bloc.