Cong may find it tough to get Prez of its choice

NEW DELHI: With the stage all set for UP Assembly polls in April, the crucial state will figure prominently in the electoral college that elects the President of India. The Congress, which might have been attempting to limit the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) influence during the upcoming July 2007 presidential elections by pushing for Central rule in UP, has to now face the prospect of the Left coming together with Mulayam Singh to prop up a candidate.

Though there are a number of variables that need to be taken into account before the composition of the electoral college becomes clear, such as results of Assembly polls in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and UP itself, what is certain is the Congress will need the support of its allies to get a candidate of its choice at the helm. However, in the aftermath of the party’s President’s rule campaign for UP, there is a distinct possibility of the CPM and the SP collaborating to put up a candidate. Such a scenario would mean that not only the Congress would be dependent on all its allies in the government, but it would also have to seek the support of the Left or the SP for winning the presidential election. It would be no exaggeration to say that the SP would be in no mood to oblige the Congress. As for the Left, its place in the scheme of things pertaining to the UPA becomes even more crucial.

UP carries the maximum amount of weight in the presidential poll. Each UP MLA’s vote carries a value of 208 and the total value of the UP Assembly is 83,824 — 208 multiplied by the number of constituencies in the state, which is 403. Taken together, this is a considerable chunk of the total value of votes in the electoral college which stands at 5,49,474 for the state Assemblies. After UP, the states with the maximum weightage are Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu where the value of each MLAs vote is 176, followed by Maharashtra at 175 and Bihar at 173.

The total value of votes for the BJP and NDA-ruled states Chhatishgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Bihar is 1,87,580, whereas the Congress states are smaller in comparison and the total value of votes of the 14 states ruled by it is approximately 1,60,000. For example, Arunachal Pradesh’s entire value is just 480 votes. The number of votes that the Congress have will also change once the results of the Uttarakhand, Manipur and Punjab elections are out.

The electoral college for the presidential elections consists of the elected members of the both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the state Assemblies., including the NTC of Delhi and the Union territory of Pondicherry.