Presidential poll: JD(U), AIADMK back Kovind

NEW DELHI/PATNA/LUCKNOW: The Opposition’s strength in the presidential election depleted further on Wednesday as Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal(U) sided with the Bharatiya Janata Party on the nomination of Ram Nath Kovind.

Wednesday also saw an AIADMK faction led by Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswami back Kovind for the president’s post.

Kumar and Palaniswami’s support means the Opposition strength has now come down to around 3.3 lakh votes out of 10.98 lakh in the electoral college. A rift in the SP, which has nearly 26,000 votes, will further hit Opposition.

The opposition was set to meet on Thursday to announce its candidate and a meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar on Wednesday suggested that Kumar could be the Congress’s preferred choice.