7 Gujarat BJP MLAs vote for Pratibha Patil

Ahmedabad, July 21 (UNI) As many as seven BJP MLAs from Gujarat had either not voted for Bhairon Singh Shekhawat or cast invalid votes in the Presidential election.

In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, there are 130 BJP members, 48 Congress members, 2 JD (U) members and 2 independents. However, Mr Shekhawat has secured 123 votes, while Pratibha Patil has got 57.

Two votes were held invalid.

Two independents had declared support to Mrs Patil and 3 BJP MLAs too had made their intentions clear about voting for the UPA nominee.

Before the Presidential election, the BJP dissidents had claimed that at least 15 BJP members would vote for Mrs Patil. On the other side, BJP too had hoped that a few Congress MLAs might vote for Mr Shekhawat.

UNI