SEARCH INTENSIFIES FOR NEXT PRESIDENT
The BJP wants its candidate elected. However, for that it needs the numbers, which will come only if it wins the UP Assembly elections in particular.
The President’s election in July appears to be in the forefront of key Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries, who have commenced the search for a suitable candidate. The present incumbent, Pranab Mukherjee has made it clear to his well wishers that he would seek a second term only if there was a consen- sus on his name. Otherwise, he would be comfortable to retire gracefully as the Head of State after nearly five decades in active politics.
In 2012, Mukherjee had thrown his hat in the ring even before his party, the Congress had made up its mind. Initially, party chief Sonia Gandhi was in favour of elevating Vice President Hamid Ansari to the primary constitutional position, but settled for Mukherjee after realising that it was the sole political option available to her once he had declared that he would be seeking election for the august office. Consequently, Ansari became the second Vice President to be the recipient of a second term, the first being Dr S. Radhakrishnan. No President after Dr Rajendra Prasad has ever held office for two terms either and if Mukherjee was to be chosen as a consensus nominee, he would be creating a history of sorts.
The BJP is desirous that it should be able to get its candidate elected to the highest office of the nation. However, to do so, it would require the numbers that can swing the game in favour of the saffron brigade, provided the party was to be victorious in the Assembly elections in the country’s most populous state—Uttar Pradesh, besides, Goa and Uttarakhand. Punjab, at the moment, is visibly slipping out of its grasp, with the ruling coalition facing a massive anti incumbency factor after a ten-year rule.
The President is elected by an electoral college comprising members of both Houses of Parliament, members of the State Legislative Assemblies, as well as members of the Assemblies of two Union