Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi: The BJP today stepped up its efforts to get maximum support for its presidential candidate with the three-member party panel speaking to a number of allies as well as opposition parties, amid indication that its nominee will file nomination next week.
Party sources have said that the NDA candidate for the top constitutional post is likely to file his nomination before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for the US on June 25.
They ruled out filing of nomination by its candidate this week as the consultation process will take more time with Union ministers Rajnath Singh and M Venkaiah Naidu, two members of the BJP panel, scheduled to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday as they work to evolve a consensus.
They are likely to meet Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) following the meeting with Gandhi.
BJP chief Amit Shah is scheduled to be in Gujarat on June 20-21. However, his three-day tour of Odisha starting from June 22 has been postponed, a party leader said.
There is a distinct possibility, he said, that the NDA candidate will file his or her nomination any day between June 21 and June 24, he said.
The nomination process, which started today, will end on June 28.
Naidu today spoke to Anbumani Ramadoss of the PMK, N Rangaswamy of the All India NR Congress, Satish Mishra of the BSP and Praful Patel of the NCP, sources said. He will also speak to most of the regional outfits from south India.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is also a member of the panel, will be speaking to leaders such as Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, while Singh may confer with West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.
The home minister is also likely to speak to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
Amid consultation among political parties, the BJP has given little indication of its choice for the top post.
Opposition parties have made it clear that they will put up their own candidate if the saffron party chooses somebody with strong Hindutva leanings.
The arithmetic in the electoral college favours the NDA, which has 48.6 per cent votes of its own. It is also expected to get support of the TRS, which rules Telangana, the YSRCP of Andhra Pradesh and the AIADMK, which is in power in Tamil Nadu.
The BJP’s electoral victory in the recent assembly polls is set to help its nominee get elected as the next president of India.
The BJP has initiated moves to reach out to the Opposition parties on selecting a consensus candidate for the upcoming presidential poll.
But the party’s victories in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have ensured that its share in the electoral college, which would elect the next president, goes up significantly.
The term of President Pranab Mukherjee is coming to an end on July 24 and the nomination process for the July 17 poll began today.
The electoral college which elects the president through the system of proportional representation comprises elected MPs and members of state legislative assemblies — a total of 4,896 voters including 4,120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs.
While 233 are elected members of the Rajya Sabha, 543 are from the Lok Sabha.
While the Lok Sabha Speaker, an elected member, can vote, two nominated members from the Anglo-Indian community in the Lok Sabha and 12 nominated MPs in the Rajya Sabha cannot.
The value of an MLA’s vote depends on the size of the state he or she represents. But the value of the vote of an MP is the same and does not vary.
The total value of the electoral college is 10,98,882.
Before the assembly polls, the NDA was short of 75,076 votes in terms of value. But after BJP’s astounding performance in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur, the gap will narrow down to 20,000 votes, an official in the Election Commission explained.
If it is able to get the support of parties like AIADMK with 134 MLAs and BJD with 117 MLAs, it can see the person of its choice in the Rashtrapati Bhawan easily.
In the 243-member Rajya Sabha, the BJP as of now has 56 members, while the Congress with 59 is the single largest party.
With wins in assembly polls, the BJP is set to emerge as the single largest party in the Rajya Sabha too next year and the NDA’s tally would be close to 100. It would, however, still be short of a majority in the upper house.
Mayawati’s BSP, which finished a poor third in Uttar Pradesh with a tally of just 19 seats, will not be in a position to send her to the Rajya Sabha again when her current term ends next year.
