Two days ago, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi had reported to Congress president Sonia Gandhi that the UPA-Left candidate Hamid Ansari would get 463 votes, 42 more than its strength. Today, 5 UPA MPs did not turn up to vote, three votes became invalid, and Ansari scored 455. “The magic figure,” Sonia told Dasmunsi who called her seconds after returning officer Yogendra Narain declared Ansari as the winner in the 13th election to the office of the Vice-President of India.

Ansari will take oath as Vice-President on Saturday and will assume charge as chairman, Rajya Sabha on Monday. “I look forward to the job with anticipation and with trepidation,” Ansari said. Opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) faced a serious setback as its candidate Najma Heptullah scored 30 votes less than its strength, and 10 less than its score in the presidential election on July 21.

The NDA presidential candidate, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, had 232 votes, while NDA partners Shiv Sena voted against him and Trinamul abstained from voting.

This time the Sena has returned to the NDA fold and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress did come to vote, but Heptullah’s tally came down to 222.

As the voting was in progress BJP leader Sushma Swaraj had put the NDA strength at 252. Sena has 16 MPs and Trinamool has four.

The extra votes that Ansari picked up have come from the Samajwadi Party, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Independents and even some BJP members, according to a senior Congress source.

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