New DelhiSeptember 10, 2025 07:55 PM IST First published on: Sep 10, 2025 at 07:55 PM ISTA day after the ruling BJP-led NDA’s nominee C P Radhakrishnan was elected as the Vice-President, defeating the Opposition bloc’s joint candidate B Sudershan Reddy with a margin of 152 votes, the allegations of cross-voting continued to make the rounds in political circles Tuesday. The V-P poll outcome saw Radhakrishnan garnering 452 of the 752 valid votes polled – with 15 declared invalid – against Reddy’s 300, dealing a blow to the Opposition, which was hoping to secure 320-plus votes.In an interview with The Indian Express, AAP general secretary (organisation) and MP Sandeep Pathak spoke about cross-voting in the V-P election, among other related things. Excerpts:AdvertisementWhat is your take on the buzz that there was cross-voting in the Opposition ranks in favour of the NDA’s Radhakrishnan in the V-P poll?All our AAP MPs (AAP has a total of 10 Rajya Sabha MPs) were together and voted for the Opposition candidate except one MP, about whom everyone knows (AAP’s RS MP Swati Maliwal has dissociated herself from the party)… We ensured that all our MPs cast their votes — Harbhajan (Singh) ji flew down from Mumbai despite his mother being unwell, Baba ji Sant Balbir (AAP’s RS MP from Punjab) drove all the way to Delhi to cast his vote. All our MPs voted as per the party line.As far as cross-voting is concerned, our sources tell us something different.What happened according to your sources?We activated our sources last evening after the results and have reasons to believe that 27 Opposition MPs voted for the NDA candidate and as many as 12 BJP MPs voted for the Opposition nominee.AdvertisementWhat was the AAP’s line on the V-P poll voting?It was to support the Opposition candidate, Justice (retired) B Sudershan Reddy. Arvind Kejriwal ji not only met him, but also issued a public appeal to support him since this was not a political battle but an ideological one.How do you view this result in terms of the larger Opposition unity?We are fighting the BJP everywhere – as you can see our MLAs, our leaders are being arrested on frivolous and fake charges. We are doing our part honestly. It is for the Opposition leaders to ponder upon this.