NDA's Droupadi Murmu is up against opposition's Yashwant Sinha.
The Opposition unity once again took a hit today during the voting for presidential election in the Assam. The two main opposition parties -- the Congress and the AIUDF -- accused each other of cross-voting. An MLA of the AIDUF has brought cross-voting allegations against no less than 20 Congress MLAs. The leader of the Opposition, Congress's Debabrata Saikia, hit back, claiming he was "not certain if all opposition parties in the state assembly" supported the opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
"I am confident about the Congress MLAs, the CPM MLA and Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi -- that all these votes have gone in favour of opposition candidate," said Mt Saikia.
"But I cannot comment about AIUDF MLAs and their votes, since their party chief is saying something and another MLA is saying something else. So it is difficult to say about AIUDF," he added, hinting at possible "cross-voting" by AIUDF.
Yesterday, AIUDF chief and Lok Sabha MP Badaruddin Ajmal said: "We have 15 MLAs, of whom two are absent since they have gone for Haj. The rest, all 13, have voted".
"The mood that we saw inside the assembly suggests that at least 20 Congress MLAs might actually cross vote and if state wise results are tallied our claim might turn out to be true," alleged Karimuddin Barbhuiya, the AIUDF MLA from Sonia constituency.
Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi also came down heavily on the AIUDF, accusing Mr Ajmal of being the "biggest liar on this earth".
After casting his vote, the the Raijor Dal president said the AIUDF's "communal politics" was one of the reasons why the BJP came to power in the state. "As long as AIUDF practises communal politics, the BJP will continue to have its way," he added.
The Congress and the AIUDF had entered into an electoral alliance before the 2021 assembly polls. But after facing a humiliating defeat in the election, the Congress withdrew from the alliance and the two parties had often engaged in a spat over various issues.
On Sunday, several BJP MLAs had visited the house of Badruddin Ajmal, requesting that the party to change its decision and vote in favour of the NDA nominee.