Presidential elections, 2012
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: June 22 2012 -
The unprecedented thrill and suspense generated around the elections to a post as titular and ceremonial as the President of India this time is interesting.
As the formal head of state of Republic of India, the President of India is elected from a group of nominees by the elected members of the Parliament as well as of the State Legislatures.
But historically, nominees of the ruling party are elected and run largely uncontested. However, this time around, much interest has been generated around the elections to this ceremonial post for some obvious reasons.
After the UPA government announced incumbent Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a royal Congress man, as its Presidential candidate; former President and Trinamool Congress's candidate of choice Dr APJ Abdul Kalam refused to contest in the upcoming elections slated on July 19.
On the other hand, following the failure of Opposition alliance, NDA, to arrive at a consensus candidate, BJP, the main partner in NDA, has named former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma as its candidate for the post of President.
Despite the reluctance of his party to back him, PA Sangma has been so determined to contest in the elections so much so that he did not even hesitated from quitting Nationalist Congress Party that he founded with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar in 1999.
With the main battle line for the elections to the 13th President of India drawn between Pranab Mukherjee and PA Sangma, we have to wait till July 19 to see the outcome of the elections.
But while waiting for the D-day, we can analyse some of the issues that have made the elections to the post of ceremonial as thrilling and suspenseful as this time.
It is interesting to note that while JD(U) and Shiv Sena, two partners of NDA, have agreed to disagree on supporting Sangma, whose candidature has been proposed by AIADMK and BJD, and instead decided to back Mukherjee, the main opposition to the candidature of Mukherjee has come from none other than President of Trinamool Congress party Mamata Banerjee, who is an ally of the ruling alliance and whose penchant for political maneuvering is well known.
With Mukherjee at an edge over Sangma in the race for Presidential election, the Mamata factor is what the Opposition alliance, more particularly; the BJP should rely on for the success of its candidate.
But Mamata is not definitely like to be an easy nut to be cracked. On the other hand, with next Parliamentary elections scheduled in 2014 widely expected to produce a fragmented verdict, zeroing on Mukherjee as its Presidential candidate by the ruling alliance has been viewed as a clever political move by UPA chairperson and AICC President Sonia Gandhi for the political dynasty of Gandhi family to continue while keeping Mukherjee, a strong contender to the post of Prime Ministership, away at an arm's length for playing a crucial role in deciding which party takes the lead in forming a new government.
A perfect case of killing two birds with one stone, we should say.
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