She entered the battlefield knowing fully well that she is not winning but what Margaret Alva could not understand is the way "some Opposition parties" chose to "directly or indirectly" support the BJP in an attempt to derail the idea of a united opposition.
Alva, the joint Opposition candidate for the Vice Presidential candidate, made clear her displeasure on Trinamool Congress abstaining from the election in a series of tweets while congratulating her opponent Jagdeep Dhankar.
She thanked all the leaders of the Opposition and MPs from across parties who voted for her in this election as well as all the volunteers for their "selfless service during our short but intense" campaign.
Alva, who pitched the election as a referendum on the functioning of Parliament, congratulated Dhankar soon after the results were out but minced no words about the chinks in the Opposition camp.
The 81-year-old veteran politician felt that this election was an opportunity for the opposition to work together, to leave the past behind and build trust amongst each other.
"Unfortunately, some opposition parties chose to directly or indirectly support the BJP, in an attempt to derail the idea of a united opposition. It is my belief that by doing so, these parties and their leaders have damaged their own credibility," she said.
"This election is over. The battle for protecting our Constitution, strengthening our democracy and restoring the dignity of Parliament, will continue," she tweeted soon after the election results were out. Dhankar polled 528 votes while Alva got 182 votes. Fifteen votes were invalid.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, Alva "ran a spirited campaign and it was too bad the TMC didn’t support her. India will have to wait for its first woman Vice President. Incidentally, it was my ministerial duty to accompany Aung San Suu Kyi to meet with her friend Margaret Alva in Bengaluru in November 2012".
In her tweets, Alva did not name Trinamool Congress or any other party. The Mamata Banerjee-led party had abstained from voting, accusing Congress and others of not holding proper consultations while naming the candidate. Trinamool’s action brought down Alva’s number much below 200 mark.
Interestingly, two out of 36 Trinamool MPs – Sishir Adhikari and Dibyendu Adhikari who are unofficially aligned with the BJP – came to vote ignoring letters written to them by Trinamool Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandhyopadhyay. However, BJP MP Arjun Singh, who has cosied up to the Trinamool, did not turn up for voting.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi acknowledged Alva's decision to fight in a tweet congratulating Dhankar when he said, "Thank you Margaret Alva-ji for representing the spirit of the joint Opposition with grace and dignity."