After several rounds of consultations on its presidential pick, the BJP Parliamentary Board, the highest decision-making body of the party, met on Tuesday to finalise its nominee for the top constitutional post. Draupadi Murmu, the former Jharkhand Governor, was picked as the NDA candidate.
The parliamentary board met soon after the opposition had reached a consensus on former union minister Yashwant Sinha as the joint opposition candidate for the presidential election.
The parliamentary Board members deliberated on the NDA choice for the Presidential candidate. The long-drawn meeting discussing the NDA candidate was attended, among others, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nadda, Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Party’s headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg. Heavy police deployment was made on all routes leading to the party office.
A number of candidates, including the names of present and former state governors, were mulled over by the party over the last one month with final approval being left to the Prime Minister, sources said.
During the day Union ministers, Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh and BJP president J P Nadda met Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu ahead of a crucial party meeting on the presidential elections, creating a buzz about Naidu being considered by the ruling combine for the top constitutional post. Party sources, however, said that the top leadership had yet not zeroed in on any single candidate. A formal announcement is likely to be made a day later.
The ruling combine has over 48 per cent vote share in the electoral college to pick the new president, and its candidate has a clear advantage over the opposition.The voting to elect the new president in place of Ram Nath Kovind whose term will come to an end on July 24 will take place on July 18. The last date for filing nominations is June 29 and the votes will be counted on July 21. As per article 62 of the Constitution , an election to fill the vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office is required to be completed before the term ends.
On Sunday, BJP president had held a key meet to brainstorm on the upcoming election, where members of the management team were present. The meeting was attended by senior leaders like Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ashwini Vaishnaw, G Kishan Reddy, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Vinod Tawde, CT Ravi, Sambit Patra and others.
Nadda and Rajnath Singh were entrusted with the responsibility of holding talks with all political parties , including opposition, over the candidate for presidential polls.
With the announcement of Sinha as the opposition consensus candidate, a contest for the presidential post has become all evident.
The president is elected by the members of the electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament and elected members of the legislative assemblies of all states including national capital territory of Delhi and Union territory of Puducherry.
“The NDA candidate has a clear edge over the opposition nominee and the announced candidate by Parliamentary Board would be new occupant of the’ Rashtrapati Bhawan’”, said a senior BJP leader involved in deliberations.