Presidential election: NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind has clear edge over Meira Kumar

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, July 17, 2017: Election for the next President of India will be held on Monday in which National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind and Opposition nominee Meira Kumar are pitched against each other.

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu expresses confidence on NDA-pick Ram Nath Kovind to comfortably win the Race to Raisina Hill.

PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah to cast their votes at 10 am in the Parliament.

Janata Dal-United ​and Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which are not allied with BJP, have vouched their support for Kovind. Besides, the two parties, TRS in Telangana, different factions of AIADMK, YSR Congress have also announced their backing for the NDA candidate.

In what can bring in huge embarrassment for the Congress-led Opposition, Samjawadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav is expected to vote for the NDA nominee. Even party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has heaped praise on Kovind, but is yet to officially announce his support for him.

Interestingly, SP president Akhilesh Yadav has decided to vote for Meira Kumar, thus giving a clear signal that the Yadav family still remains a divided house.

MPs and MLAs cannot use their pens and will have to mark their preferences in the Presidential poll with a specially-designed writing instrument.

The stage is all set for the election of the 14th President of India today a contest in which Ram Nath Kovind has a clear edge.

Urging the partie sto vote for Opposition nominee Meira Kuan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday called for "conscience vote" while attacking the Narendra Modi government for trying to impose "narrow-minded.

A total of 4896 voters --- 4120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs -- are eligible to cast their ballot. MLCs of states with legislative council are not part of the electoral college.

Kovind, who belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has the backing of all the party’s allies besides several regional parties, while Kumar has been fielded by the Congress and some major opposition parties in what they call an "ideological battle" against the ruling party.

Counting of votes in the election will be taken up on July 20 and the result will be known the same evening -- four days before the end of the term of President Pranab Mukherjee. The new President is set to take over on July 25.

While the Lok Sabha Speaker, an elected member, can vote, the two nominated members in the Lower House from the Anglo-Indian community cannot.
Twelve nominated members in Rajya Sabha are also ineligible.

Since the election is through a secret ballot, the parties cannot issue a whip to their members to vote for a particular candidate.

The NDA, led by the BJP, has 5,37,683 votes includes the Shiv Sena, and the shortage is around 12,000 votes.

But the promised support from the BJD, the TRS and the YSR Congress and likely backing from the AIADMK factions could offset the shorfall of the presidential votes by a substantial margin.

 

Courtesy: Zeenews