The lone MLA of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), O. Rajagopal, voted for Sreeramakrishnan (File photo)
CPI-M candidate P Sreeramakrishnan was elected the speaker of the 14th Kerala assembly on Friday, an entirely expected outcome except that he got not only a BJP vote but also a vote of the main opposition UDF.
Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala acknowledged the "leak" of one vote.
"We don't think that this was a deliberate attempt, but nevertheless we will look into it," said Mr Chennithala.
Sreeramakrishnan got 92 votes as against 46 received by the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate V.P. Sajeendran.
In 140-member house, 139 votes were cast, but one vote was declared invalid -- independent member PC George was clearly seen by all to be putting a blank ballot into the box.
Pro-tem speaker S Sarma, who belongs to Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by CPI-M, did not vote.
The lone MLA of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), O. Rajagopal, said he voted for Sreeramakrishnan.
So Sreeramakrishnan would have got 90 LDF votes, one BJP vote, and one more.
This one more vote is clearly accounted for if one considers that V.P. Sajeendran got only 46 votes even though UDF's strength in the assembly is 47.
That is despite the Congress-led UDF issuing a whip to all its 47 legislators to vote for Sajeendran.
Far from being embarrassed, Chennithala was busy suggesting a clandestine "agreement" between the CPI-M and the BJP in Kerala.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)