New Delhi, July 22: The UPA and its allies may have weaned away more cross-voters from the Opposition than the MPs they lost to Mayavati and the BJP, winning a side-battle crucial in the war called the trust vote.

Initial estimates suggest at least 14 MPs from parties officially opposed to the Prime Minister’s trust motion voted for the government, taking it past the number required for survival.

In all, 275 MPs voted for the motion out of a possible effective strength of 541. The number of ‘ayes’ for the motion appears still more significant, considering 10 members who abstained from or skipped voting, reducing the effective voting strength to 531 and the minimum votes required to 266.

But remove the 14 MPs who cross-voted from the government’s tally, and its score comes shooting down to 261, five below the number it required.

The BJP, the chief Opposition party in the Lok Sabha, appears to have been the biggest target. At least seven MPs from the party voted for the motion.

MPs from the BJP’s NDA allies — the Janata Dal (United) (2), the Biju Janata Dal (1) and the Akali Dal (1) — cross-voted.

One MP from former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) also voted for the government.

Gowda, with three MPs, had announced his opposition to the government two days ago after keeping both the government and the Opposition on tenterhooks since the announcement of the trust vote.

Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu may have joined hands with the Left and the BSP to topple the government, but at least two of his five MPs didn’t agree with him, and voted for the motion. Unconfirmed reports put the number at three, including a liquor baron.

But the government wasn’t the only beneficiary of cross-voting. Amid allegations from the Samajwadi Party that the BSP was attempting to steal its flock, the motion’s opponents did manage to ensure that at least 10 MPs expected to vote for the government did not.

The combined strength of parties and MPs who had publicly declared their support to the motion at the start of the day stood at 271. The corresponding figure for those opposed to the motion stood at 265, with five MPs either undecided or, in the case of Mamata Banerjee indicating plans to be absent.

But if the government bagged 275 votes with the help of 14 cross-voters, it would have managed only 261 without those who broke with their party line.

Given that the government was expected to get at least 271 votes at the start of the day, this means 10 MPs had deserted Manmohan Singh’s ranks, reducing the support for the motion without the cross-voters to 261.

The numbers against the motion, on deducting the cross-voters from the expected figure at the start of the day (265-14) come to 251, five below the number the Opposition eventually managed.

So, at least five of the 10 MPs expected to vote for the motion by their parties at the start of day voted against the government.

PTI quoted BJP leaders as saying Sombhai Patel, Babubhai Katara, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, Chandrabhan Singh, Haribhau Rathod, Manjunath and Sangliana voted for the motion. The MP from Udupi, Manorama Madhwaraj, absented herself during voting after being present earlier in the day.

The Biju Janata Dal has decided to expel Harihar Swain from the party, accusing him of voting for the motion. Swain said he voted according to his “inner voice”, borrowing a phrase popularised by Sonia Gandhi in 2004.

The Akali Dal has served a notice on Sukhdev Singh Libra who “disappeared” from the Lok Sabha in the afternoon.