THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The leakage of votes in the presidential election in Kerala has surprised both fronts. Since it was a secret ballot, it is impossible to trace the MLA who cross-voted in favour of Draupadi Murmu. One vote was leaked out of 140 members.

A member of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly had voted in Kerala as he was undergoing treatment in Palakkad. Since his vote value is different, his vote was in a separate ballot box. Each state has a separate vote value. The vote value of each member in Kerala is 152. So the number recorded in the ballot box in Kerala is also 152.

The vote was leaked in Kerala where opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha had hoped to get 100 percent votes. It is believed that this did not happen by mistake. Even if an MLA had voted for Murmu by mistake, he could have annulled in. The fronts are suspecting that the MLA deliberately cross-voted as he did not annul it.

The Janata Dal-S had decided to vote for Murmu at the all-India level. Although Janata Dal-S has two MLAs in Kerala, they are part of the Left Front. So the MLAs informed the national leadership that they will vote only for the opposition candidate. They decided to vote for Sinha with the permission of the national leadership.