West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not able to win the Presidential Elections without the support of her party.
"Presidential elections will take place soon. Without our support, you (BJP) won’t sail through. You shouldn’t forget that," news agency ANI quoted Banerjee as saying.
However, according to political analysts, the big victory for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh has given Prime Minister Narendra Modi a free hand to decide on the successor to President Ram Nath Kovind, who will complete his tenure on July 24, 2022.
Had the Uttar Pradesh election results gone in favour of the Samajwadi Party (SP), the BJP would have had to rely on the support of fence-sitters such as Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) who together control a sizeable chunk of votes, the political analysts added.
The electoral college for the presidential election comprises elected members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and elected members of state legislative assemblies and that of NCT Delhi and Union Territory of Puducherry. Members of Legislative Councils and nominated members do not form part of the electoral college.
In terms of numbers, the electoral college is made up of 233 members of Rajya Sabha, 543 members of Lok Sabha and 4,120 members of legislative assemblies - a total of 4,896 electors.
The value of the vote of every MP has been fixed at 708, while among states the value of the vote of an MLA is the highest at 208.
The total value of the electoral college, comprising 4,896 electors is 10,98,903 and the winning candidate has to get at least 50 per cent plus one vote to be declared as elected.
(With PTI inputs)
