The odds are with BJP in prez polls

The BJP-led NDA’s prospect of getting its candidate elected as the next President has increased with its landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The presidential election is due in July when incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee completes his five-year term.

With the NDA winning 325 of the 403 seats in UP, 57 of the 70 seats in Uttarakhand, 30 seats in Manipur, 18 in Punjab and 13 in Goa, the alliance has dramatically reduced its gap to the halfway mark of 5,49,442 votes in the electoral college (EC) that elects the President.

The total strength of the EC is 10,98,882 votes. The alliance is now short of just 24, 522 votes to see its own candidate as President. Before Saturday’s result, the shortfall was 79,274.

After the BJP’s clean sweep in UP, its strength in the EC soared to 4,33,182. With the allies the number stands at 5,24,920.

The EC comprises all elected MPs and MLAs.

Each vote has a value depending on the size of the population an elected member represents. MPs have the highest value — 708 — for each vote. The value of an MLA’s vote depends on the popu- is the total votes in the electoral college votes will be the half-way mark for NDA votes is what NDA needs to reach the half-way mark

lation of the state.

UP, the most populous state in the country, has 83, 824 votes in the EC. The value of a UP MLA’s vote is 208.

After the latest victory, the BJP will have 67, 600 votes from the state. In the outgoing UP assembly, the BJP with 41 MLAs had just 8528 votes.

Similarly, the party’s share of votes from Uttarakhand increased to 3648 from 1728. After its impressive show in Manipur, it will have 540 votes from the state. In the outgoing assembly, it did not have a single MLA in the northeastern state.