Numbers show little appetite for Opposition’s presidential candidate

Last Friday leaders of 17 prominent national and regional parties were in the Capital to attend a lunch hosted by Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi. The hot topic of the lunch was the upcoming election for the 14th President of India.

But, if the numbers are anything to go by, Congress and other parties present at the luncheon will soon lose their appetite for pitching their own candidate against that of the BJP.

Before we take you through the maths of the presidential election, a brief primer on the mechanics that inform the election is required. An electoral college — comprising the members of the houses of the Parliament and the members of Legislative Assemblies of states and Union territories — elects the President.

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha collectively make up for the 776 members of the electoral college, while the total number of MLAs in India is 4,120.

Using certain formulas as prescribed under the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election Rules, 1974, the value of an MP’s vote is calculated by dividing the total value of votes of all the states by the total number of elected members of Parliament. Value of an MLA’s vote on the other hand is determined by the …read more