Parrikar takes dig at Congress over cross-voting

Panaji, July 20 (IANS) As many as four elected representatives of the Congress party may have cross-voted in favour of NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, who eventually won the election with a handsome margin.

Kovind polled 500 votes as compared to 220 polled by Meira Kumar in Goa, with the former garnering 69.4 per cent of the votes. One vote each from both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was invalidated due to technical issues.

The Congress has conceded that four votes from its kitty had gone in Kovind's favour.

"It appears that there was cross-voting. This should not have happened. It is wrong. We will take precautions in the future (upcoming Rajya Sabha election) that such a thing does not happen," Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar congratulated Kovind on being elected the 14th President of India, while also taking a dig at the Congress for not being able to shepherd its flock.

"I am very happy that NDA's presidential candidate has been elected with huge margin, much more than even media expected. I take this opportunity to congratulate him for his success and I am very sure that under his guidance, India will progress extremely well," the former Defence Minister told reporters at the state secretariat.

"Presidential election is about voting from the heart. This time we had given such a call. The Congress had also done the same thing, so they too must have voted from the heart," Parrikar said, adding that one vote from the NDA camp had been invalidated due to "some technical reason".