Madam's latest lesson to MPs: How to vote

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has took it upon herself to ensure that the victory of United Progressive Alliance's (UPA's) vice-presidential candidate Hamid Ansari is a smooth affair. To ensure this, she spent the day taking action to prevent bruises where it hurts the most "" invalid ballots.

Gandhi held unpublicised special classes for party MPs to coach them on a simple but most important act in any election "" how to vote.

UPA's nearest opponent in the election, the NDA, also held similar classes for its MPs. In the presidential poll last month, the UPA lost six and the NDA two votes because of invalid ballot papers. With a much smaller electoral college this time, the two are not taking chances.

MPs were called to meet the party chief statewise. They were a bit taken aback when Gandhi hefted a dummy ballot box and proceeded to demonstrate how the ballot paper had to be marked. All they needed to do, she said, was draw a straight line against Hamid Ansari's name, nothing more.

According to Adhir Chowdhury, an MP from West Bengal, "Watching Madam take a personal interest in this definitely made us happy." Chowdhury even asked Gandhi if she wanted them to draw the line as straight as a Haryana-made laathi. Sonia smiled and replied, "Yes". The module for each state lasted 5-6 minutes.

Gandhi also threw a dinner party tonight for Ansari at a five-star hotel, where she formally introduced the UPA candidate to all her supporters. The MPs of Left and other UPA allies were also invited.

While it was Sonia in UPA camp, the NDA also appointed a "lady-teacher" for the voting lessons. Sushma Swaraj, the party's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha said, "We taught our MPs to vote correctly because we don't want to lose a single vote."