BJP has no MLA in the 140-member Kerala Assembly, yet Murmu received one vote from Kerala. The CPI (M)-led ruling LDF and the Congress-headed UDF opposition front had announced their support to join opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
Now, questions are being raised by political observers whether the vote polled to the NDA candidate was by a mistake or a deliberate one. However, the state BJP has expressed happiness over the surprise vote to the NDA candidate.
“The single vote which Droupadi Murmu got from Kerala has more value than the rest of 139 votes polled,” BJP state president K Surendran said. He also termed the vote received by Murmu as a “positive vote” against the negative stand being taken up by the Left and right fronts in the state. Murmu scripted history on Thursday by becoming the country’s first tribal President, defeating Opposition candidate Sinha in a one-sided contest.
(Inputs from PTI)