The Electoral college game for President Election
The election to elect the next President of India is now entering the end game. The contenders Pratibha Patil supported by the UPA, Left combine and Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat supported by the BJP, NDA combine offer a stark choice. The third front UNPA Parties comprising of the Jayalalitha’s AIADMK, Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s SP continue to sit on the fence.
The total electors in the 2007 Presidential Electoral College are 4896 of these 233 are from the Rajya Sabha, 543 from the Lok Sabha and 4120 from the State Assemblies. However as we have been told on many an occassion not all electors are born equal and the value of each vote depends on the population of a given state and the number of seats in that state. The total value of the 776 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha electors is 549408 while the total value of the 4120 state electors is 549474. The winner is also declared in an interesting way based on the total value of the valid votes by dividing it in half and adding 1.
The Congress has been pretty smug about having this election all wrapped up based on the electoral college, the Indian Express reported that the UPA Left Combine has around 5.13 lakh votes while the NDA has 3.54 lakh votes (28,000 of which belong to the Shiv Sena) and the 3rd front about 1.05 lakh votes. In a straight fight on party lines with the 3rd front abstaining Pratibha Patil should be sworn in. However the leader of the Opposition Mr. L.K. Advani in a handwritten appeal to MPs and MLAs has called for a conscience vote opening up the potential for a surprise. The appeal for conscience vote has been criticized by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and Senior Member of Parliament Rishang Keishing calling it “invitation for cross-party voting.” and unethical and unprincipled.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment