Presidential poll today, Droupadi Murmu set for big win

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 17

The 16th presidential election will be held on Monday with 776 MPs and 4,033 MLAs across states set to vote in the high-stakes poll, where ruling NDA candidate Dropuadi Murmu appears set for a big win over Opposition’s Yashwant Sinha.

Backed by major non-BJP parties — BJD, YSRCP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JDS, Shiromani Akali Dal as well as Opposition allies Shiv Sena, JMM, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, Murmu, 64, the first tribal woman leader to run for the highest constitutional office, is expected to garner at least two-thirds of the electoral college votes.

Likely to get majority electoral college votes

• Backed by major non-BJP parties — BJD, YSRCP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JDS, Shiromani Akali Dal as well as Opposition allies Shiv Sena, JMM, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, Dropuadi Murmu is expected to garner at least two-thirds of the electoral college votes
• She’s the first tribal woman leader to run for the highest constitutional office

Opposition candidate on a Weak wicket

• Yashwant Sinha, 84, who has visited 13 state capitals during his campaign since June 28, remains on a weak wicket
• On the poll eve, he appealed to electors to “heed their conscience”
• He lost the support of even Congress allies — Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the JMM in Jharkhand — as BJP’s presidential election strategy to field a tribal woman leader threw the Opposition unity off gear

The electoral college for the presidential election consists of 10,86,431 votes with the value of each MP fixed at 700 votes and that of each MLA varying across states from the lowest of seven votes in Sikkim to the highest of 208 votes in Uttar Pradesh.

Sinha, 84, who visited 13 state capitals during his campaign starting June 28 until July 16, remains on a weak wicket. He lost the support of even Congress allies — Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the JMM in Jharkhand — as BJP’s presidential election strategy to field a tribal woman leader threw the Opposition unity off gear.

One nation, collective leadership

While I stand for ‘one nation, many parties and collective leadership’, my rival is under the control of those whose aim is to convert democratic India into an imitator of communist China – one nation, one party, one supreme leader. —Yashwant Sinha, Opposition presidential candidate

The former NDA minister, however, managed Aam Aadmi Party backing yesterday and Assam-based AIUDF’s support today.

On the eve of the election, Sinha appealed to electors to “heed their conscience” while BJP president JP Nadda asked all party MPs to ensure 100 per cent attendance tomorrow.

“No mistake should be made while casting the vote,” Nadda told MPs at a dinner last night. The Election Commission has issued a violet ink pen for the Monday voting.

Sinha, for his part, said he stood for “one nation, many parties and collective leadership”, while his “rival will be under the control of those whose aim is to convert democratic India into an imitator of communist China – one nation, one party, one supreme leader. Must this not be stopped? Yes, it must be. Only you can stop it”.