New Delhi: With the presidential elections approaching, the BJP-led NDA seems to be surging ahead of the Opposition both in the number of votes and in percentage.
After Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress confirmed its support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and with the TRS and the AIADMK giving clear signals that they would support the ruling coalition’s candidate, the NDA could possibly cross the minimum number of votes needed to breast the tape. If both the TRS and AIADMK support the NDA candidate, the Opposition’s effort to contest the presidential election will merely become a symbolic battle.
Saffron strategists say that with the “expected support” of these two parties the NDA would easily be able to get the 5,49,441 votes needed to get its candidate elected.
With the NDA having nearly 410 MPs and over 1,600 MLAs, the estimated votes the coalition could muster added up to nearly over 5,32,000. Going by saffron calculations, the added backing of the AIADMK and YSR Congress could get the NDA over 65,000 more votes. This would enable the NDA to cross the 6,00,000 figure, which is well above the required number. The data available with the BJP indicate the YSR Congress has over 16,000 votes, while the AIADMK has nearly 60,000 in its kitty.
The Opposition, meanwhile, continued to struggle to get all the anti-BJP parties on board. According to a socio-economic and political blog, the UPA has 810 MLAs and the total number of votes is nearly 93,000. Its attempts to woo the TRS and AIADMK seem to have collapsed. So far the Congress, Trinamul Congress, JD(U), RJD and the Left parties have shown signs of coming together. The BJD, which has remained neutral so far, has over 36,000 votes. The calculation so far indicates that the total votes of the anti-BJP bloc could add up to 4,00,000 at this juncture.
A victory in the presidential election will also give the BJP a major boost ahead of the 2019 general election. For the Opposition too, the presidential election will be a forum where it can test its strength with two years to go before the Lok Sabha polls.
