UPA candidate leads all the way in Bengal

While the NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind is ahead of Opposition candidate Meira Kumar on a national level, in Bengal, she will be convincingly ahead of Kovind, thanks to a rare unity of the three top political parties - Trinamool Congress (TMC), Congress and the Left Front.

Going by the statistics, only six out of the 294 West Bengal Assembly members will vote for Kovind. Of them, three are BJP MLAs and the rest are the MLAs of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, political ally of BJP.

Kumar has been assured the support of the rest of the 288 members and the chances of cross-voting is ruled out.

With a unit vote value of an MLA standing at 151, Kumar is all set to get 43,488 while Kovind will secure only 906.

The value of a Lok Sabha MP vote stands at 708. Of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, TMC has 34, Congress four and BJP two. Going by the figures, Kumar would get 28,320 against Kovind's 1,416.

Every vote of a Rajya Sabha member is also valued at 708. In Bengal there are 12 members from TMC, three from CPIM and one from Congress which means Kumar would get 11,232 from the Rajya Sabha members of Bengal.

IN THE LEAD

• UPA candidate Meira Kumar has been assured support of the rest of the 288 members of the Assembly and the chances of cross-voting has been ruled out.