Cong cross-votes for Kovind, emergency meet called

It’s not known how many, but minimum three to four Congress MLAs cross-voted in favour of Kovind.

The Congress is upset with this. They have convened an emergency CLP meeting on Friday to discuss the issue.

But the BJP as well as the coalition partners like Goa Forward are happy with this political development.

Goa has recorded 25 votes in favour of Kovind while only 11 votes for Congress candidate Meira Kumar. Two  votes got rejected on technical grounds.

BJP sources confirm that one rejected vote is on the side of the ruling.

PRESIDENT POLL VOTING

Ram Nath Kovind                             25

Meira Kumar                                     11

Rejected                                              2

The position of Goa Assembly is like this. There are total 38 members since Vishwajeet Rane and Sidharth Kunkolkar have resigned.

Out of these 38, 21 are clearly on the ruling side. These include 12 from the BJP, 3 from the MGP, 3 more from Goa Forward and 3 Independents.

On the opposition side, if NCP MLA Churchill Alemao is considered opposition, 1 from the NCP and 16 from the Congress.

Total MLAs                         38

RULING                                21

OPPOSITION                      17

And this is how the voting took place. The ruling side has 21, but they got 25. And the opposition, including Churchill, has 17, but it got only 11.

Presume that both the rejected votes are from the Congress and Churchill also voted for Kovind. Even then, it becomes 22. The three more are from the Congress.

And when one rejected is from the ruling, it becomes four Congressmen who cross-voted.

CROSS-VOTING POSSIBILITIES

PARTY                       STRENGTH              VOTES                  

RULING                                21                           25                          

CONG                                   17                           11                          

And this is what the opposition and ruling camps are saying.