Manish Tewari has lost moral authority to continue as an MP, must resign: Sanjay Tandon
Says mandate was secured on Congress-AAP alliance platform, which no longer exists
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday took a ‘conscience’ swipe at the Opposition, thanking “some friendly MPs’ of the INDIA bloc, who, according to him, cross-voted in favour of NDA’s CP Radhakrishnan in the recently concluded Vice-Presidential election 2025.
Senior BJP leader BL Santhosh echoed Rijiju and claimed that the INDIA bloc candidate B Sudershan Reddy received 15 votes less than the total number of Opposition votes.
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“Voting happened through ballot papers & INDI Alliance got 15 votes less than their number. The INDI alliance leaders had campaigned for a conscience vote. They got it in return,” Santhosh posted on X.
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On Tuesday, NDA’s Radhakrishnan was elected 15th Vice President of India. He defeated Opposition-backed Justice (retired) B Sudershan Reddy.
A total of 767 electors cast their vote in the Vice-Presidential election held between 10 am and 5 pm on Tuesday.
NDA’s Radhakrishnan received 452 first preference votes against Reddy’s 300. Of the total votes, 15 were declared invalid and only 752 valid votes were counted.
After the voting, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had claimed that the Opposition remained united in the election as all of its 315 MPs turned up for voting.
“This is an unprecedented 100% turnout,” he had said.
However, 15 votes were also declared invalid, so it is not certain that the INDIA bloc MPs cross-voted, but there could be more than what meets the eye.
Meanwhile, reacting to the speculation of cross-voting, Congress MP Manish Tewari called for a serious investigation by each INDIA alliance constituent.
“If there was cross-voting, then it should be seriously investigated by each of the constituents of the INDIA Alliance,” he said.
He said that cross-voting is an extremely serious matter and if there is an iota of truth in what is appearing in the public space, a “systematic and clinical” investigation should be done.
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