BJP president Amit Shah on Monday set the political exercise in motion for the selection of NDA’s Presidential candidate by constituting a three-member committee, which will consult political parties — including the Opposition, to zero in on a consensus nominee before the July 17 Presidential election. President Pranab Mukherjee will retire July 24.
The BJP is confident of having its nominee elected to the post of the President with a favourable electoral college on its side, but it would still explore the possibility of a consensus candidate in consultations with the Congress and other Opposition parties, according to party sources.
The constitution of the committee is the first formal structured step by the ruling party to select a nominee for the top Constitutional post. The committee, comprising senior Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu, will hold deliberations with BJP allies and Opposition parties for the presidential election.
“The committee’s mandate is to consult leaders of all political parties for the Presidential poll and try to evolve a consensus,” a BJP statement said.
The last date for filing nominations for the poll is June 28.
The Opposition parties led by the Congress have held initial round of discussions and are understood to have considered a few names, including former Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former Speaker Meira Kumar, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav.
With the BJP’s committee in place for consultation, the process of evolving a consensus may gain a momentum in next few weeks. The names from the NDA’s side doing round include Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu, a tribal.
Though attempts are being made from both the sides to have a common nominee for the top Constitutional post, the BJP-led-NDA on account of its clear edge on electoral college would have the last word on the choice of the nominee.
The NDA is confident that in the event of a contest the Opposition candidate “is sure to lose poll by a margin of 1,15720 votes”.
In the last Presidential contest, former lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma was fielded by the NDA against the UPA nominee Mukherjee as then a consensus eluded on the issue. Pranab Mukherjee was declared elected as President on July 22,2012, polling 69.3 per cent votes with a value of 7,13,763 and defeating Sangma.
Total number of votes in electoral college stand 10.98 lakh and the majority mark would be around 5.49 lakh votes. (The total value of MlA votes is 5,49,474 and the total MP votes is 5,49,408.)
The electoral college to elect a President comprises of all elected MPs and MlAs. Each vote also has a value depending on the size of the population he or she represents. MPs have the highest value -- 708 --for each vote while the value of an MlA’s vote varies depending on the population of the state.
There are 776 MPs (lok Sabha 543, Rajya Sabha 233) and 4,120 MlAs across the country.
The nominated members of either the Rajya Sabha and the lok Sabha or legislative Assemblies of the States are not entitled to participate in the election. Similarly, members of the legislative Councils are also not electors for the Presidential election.