Hamid Ansari set to win V-P polls

NEW DELHI: The UPA-Left nominee Mohammad Hamid Ansari is set to win Friday’s vice-presidential election with a comfortable majority. The ruling combine nominee, backed by the BSP too, is smoothly placed in the number game of the triangle contest against his NDA candidate Najma Heptullah and UNPA’s Rasheed Masood.

The only area of political interest here is whether the BJP will able to rally some its sulking allies like the Shiv Sena and the Trinamool Congress behind Ms Heptullah. The BJP’s Karnataka ally JD(S), not so enthusiastic about the change-of-guard pact in the state, has already decided to abstain from the polling, like it did earlier during the presidential election.

The BJP-Shiv Sena ego clash, a by-product of the latter’s refusal to back Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for the post of the President, is still on, but there are some indications that the Sena may finally vote for the NDA nominee this time round. The BJP has already made it clear that its future relation with the Maharashtra ally will depend primarily on the latter’s choice for the vice-presidential poll.

The perennially snooty Trinamool Congress leadership said unlike in the presidential poll, its MPs would vote in Friday’s election, but won’t announce its preference now. “We have four MPs and it will take just a couple of seconds to decide on our candidate,” said party leader Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Thursday.

In Lucknow, BSP president Mayawati on Thursday completed the formality of announcing the party’s decision to align with Mr Ansari. “BSP MPs will vote in favour of the UPA-Left nominee in the vice-presidential election,” she told reporters.

The vice-president is elected from an electoral college comprising members of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Mr Ansari has an estimated backing of some 425 MPs while the NDA commands the support of close to 240 MPs as against UNPA’s 81.