Should Venkaiah worry? 16 NDA MPs cast invalid votes in dummy poll

NDA vice-presidential candidate M. Venkaiah Naidu.

New Delhi: Sixteen MPs of the ruling NDA on Friday ended up casting invalid votes in a dummy poll exercise to rule out the chances of their ballots going waste in the vice-presidential poll on Saturday, BJP sources said.

An upset BJP chief Amit Shah asked them to follow the correct voting procedure as described by senior leaders like Bhupender Yadav so they do not repeat the mistake.

There is no rocket science in it, Yadav told members as he demonstrated the correct way of voting.

During the presidential poll, 77 votes in total were declared invalid and 21 of them were of MPs from various parties.

Both Modi and Shah had on earlier occasions asked BJP members to vote correctly so their ballots do not go waste.

Unlike the presidential election where the electoral college also includes MLAs, only members of the two Houses of Parliament can vote in the vice-presidential poll.

Read more: Latest national news | Vice prez polls