Emboldened by the presence of NCP, JD(U), BSP, Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (S), which broke opposition ranks to attend the midnight ceremony to unveil Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the Parliament, the ruling BJP now expects its Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind to secure more than 70 per cent of votes in the electoral college.
There have been cracks within the Trinamul Congress (TMC) as well. Even though its supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remained stridently with the Congress-led Opposition's Presidential nominee Meira Kumar, its legislators in Tripura have decided to vote for Kovind. As there is no provision for party whips in the Presidential election, MPs and MLAs are free to vote as per their preference and it is not possible to find out an individual's choice.
"All the six TMC MLAs held a meeting and decided to vote for Kovind. We don't want to vote for someone supported by the CPM, whom we want to oust from power in Tripura in the 2018 Assembly election," said TMC leader in Tripura Assembly Sudip Roy Burman on Sunday.
The BJP is also pinning its hopes on the internal bickering in the Samajwadi Party, some of whose MLAs owe allegiance to Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brother Shivpal Yadav, coupled with the fact that Kovind, as a son of the soil, could nudge a section of its lawmakers to vote for him.
Mulayam, a Lok Sabha MP, had already expressed his support for Kovind. The recent meetings of Shivpal, who is opposed to the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have also fuelled speculation that he will switch over his preference to Kovind.
The SP and BSP have 54 and 19 MLAs in the 403-member UP assembly. The SP has five Lok Sabha members and 18 in the Rajya Sabha. The BSP has six members in the Rajya Sabha.
BJP sources involved with the Kovind's campaign said they expect some other parties as well to support for their candidate. The fissure in the ranks of Mahagatbandhan in Bihar after Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar's support to Kovind has made things fluid. The BJP leader said they were not ruling out cross-voting from the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal camps.
Meanwhile, responding to Meira Kumar assertion that she was not a scapegoat as she was fighting for an ideology, the BJP said her statement exposes that she has already accepted her defeat. BJP leader S Prakash said Meira has been contested needlessly against another Dalit. "I don't understand what ideology they are talking about. Meira Kumar has been provided an opportunity to contest the election and I hope she understands the ground reality as to how she has been used by the Congress," he added.
The new President will be elected in a direct fight on July 17. After the scrutiny, only their nominations were found valid while over 80 others' were rejected. Meira Kumar is placed as first in the polling list, and Kovind second.
EXPERT SPEAK
- Before the UP Assembly polls, getting a President of their choice elected as President was a distant dream for the BJP.
- The opposition, which was having a clear edge in the electoral college, had retained a razor thin edge even after the UP polls.
- The credit for turning the tables in BJP's favour clearly goes to PM Modi and party chief Amit Shah, feel party insiders.
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 "Ram Nath Kovind")
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