“Voting is secret,” Banerjee said when asked if Trinamool was voting for the NDA. The BSP, which has 19 MPs, had declared support to Ansari.

The UNPA candidate, Rashid Masood, finished third with 75 votes.

The 70-year-old Ansari is a seasoned diplomat and academician. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1961 and during his career spanning nearly five decades Ansari has served as Indian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

He was also the Indian High Commissioner to Australia and New Delhi’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. Awarded Padma Shri in 1984, Ansari, who has written extensively on international affairs, was the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University before he was appointed chairman of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), the post that he currently holds.

Of the 783 electors-comprising MPs, including the nominated ones -762 cast their votes. Ten votes were found invalid, and winner needed 377 votes out of the 752 valid votes.

The NDA’s efforts to put its house in order after the disastrous presidential elections have not achieved much. Two BJP MPs Yogi Adityanath and Laksham Singh skipped the voting without informing the party leadership. Three others abstained with permission.