After high drama, Bengal goes to Presidential poll

After months of politicking and high drama, the Presidential poll that pits former Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee against former Lok Sabha speaker Mr P. A. Sangma, got underway in West Bengal on Thursday.

Polling began at around 10 a.m. at the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and continued till 5 p.m. There were, however, no major surprises during the day.

Having announced her party’s support for UPA presidential candidate, Trinamool Congress chief, Ms Mamata Banerjee, today cast her ballot. The West Bengal Chief Minister displayed the victory sign after exercising her franchise at the State Assembly.

Leader of the Opposition, Mr Surjya Kanta Mishra, too, cast his vote.

According to sources, 282 MLAs of the 294-strong Bengal Assembly, cast their votes thorough secret ballot.

The Trinamool Congress, CPI (M) and Forward Bloc, announced their support for Mr Mukherjee, while two other Left Front constituents — the CPI and RSP — decided to abstain from voting.

Those absent were: 7 RSP, 2 CPI, 1 SUCI and 2 Trinamool MLAs. The Trinamool legislators — Mr Oman Ali and Mr Bhushan — cited health problems as the reason for their absence.

Among the 58 MPs from Bengal (42 in Lok Sabha and 16 in Rajya Sabha), CPI-M and Congress Parliamentarians chose to exercise their voting rights in Delhi.

26 Trinamool MPs — 18 in the Lok Sabha and 8 in the Rajya Sabha — cast their votes at the State Legislative Assembly.

Dissident Trinamool MP, Mr Kabir Suman, however, did not vote claiming health problems. The MP later claimed that he had been warned not to go or he might be heckled.

“Some of my well-wishers informed me over phone in the morning not to go to the Assembly House as I might be heckled by my partymen. I am also not well and so I did not go to vote,” he said.

Mr Suman, it might be recalled, was the first Trinamool MP to have come out openly to support Mr Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature. He had then called Mr Mukherjee as the most fitting candidate candidate for the job. Assistant Returning Officer (1), Mr Jadavalal Chakraborty, however, said he had not received any complaint from any MP or MLA of being threatened.

Praise for Mamata

Meanwhile, Mukherjee’s son, Mr Abhijit, a Congress MLA from West Bengal, was all praise for the Trinamool Congress, for its decision to vote for his father.

“It is also a matter of satisfaction that my father will be getting the maximum votes from his home State,” Mr Abhijit Mukherjee said after casting his ballot in the Assembly.

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