by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
exclusive copy
Kovind to get more than 6 lakh votes, says BJP war room
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, June 19
Tantrums thrown by Shiv Sena notwithstanding, the BJP presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind is set to win hands down as NDA has the support of more than six lakh popular votes.
Of the 10,98,882 votes, a winning candidate needs 5,49 442 votes to win the presidential poll slated for July 17. The BJP and its committed allies already have 5,06,834 votes in its kitty minus Shiv Sena’s 25,893 votes. Sena has 63 MLAs and 21 MPs in Parliament. An MP carries 708 votes each while an MLA carries votes according to the strength of the Assembly and population of the state.
The BJP has also been extended support by the TRS, YSR Congress and AIADMK. They together have 98120 popular votes. Assuming Shiv Sena remains defiant, the BJP candidate will poll 6,04,954.
There are other non-UPA parties like the TMC, BSP, BJD and INLD who have not opened their cards as yet. The Janata Dal U has already welcomed the move by the BJP to field Kovind. In this scenario, the victory of Kovind is a foregone conclusion, say BJP sources sitting the war room calculating every vote.
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