BJP Holds Parliamentary Board Meet Ahead of Presidential Poll; PM Modi Present

This has sparked conversations about Venkaiah Naidu being NDA's presidential candidate for the upcoming elections.

M Venkaiah Naidu could be the NDA’s presidential pick.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Bhartiya Janta Party's (BJP) parliamentary board, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met in New Delhi on Tuesday to discuss the party's presidential candidate, hours after the opposition announced Yashwant Sinha as a joint nominee.

Prime Minister Modi was joined by Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and Nitin Gadkari, BJP president J P Nadda, and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Though the ruling party has not announced its likely nominee, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and (BJP) President JP Nadda met Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday, 21 June, sparking conversations about the latter being considered by the party for the post of president.

The BJP on Friday, 17 June, had constituted a 14-member 'management team' with Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat as its convener, who coordinates with all the state units and allies for the presidential elections.

Earlier, the party had authorised its president JP Nadda and Union Minister Rajnath Singh to consult with other political parties to build a consensus on a presidential candidate.

The BJP Has Numbers on Its Side

The BJP, with a whopping 300-member presence in the Lok Sabha, has a clear advantage. The ruling party, with over 48 percent vote share in the electoral college, has an upper hand when it comes to picking the new president.

With numbers on its side, the BJP-led NDA is expected to ensure the victory of its candidate in the presidential elections.

Should the BJP fail to reach a consensus, the party will gear up for an election, sources told NDTV.

The BJP, in 2017, had nominated Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu for the post, after which the latter became NDA's vice-presidential candidate.

How Do the Presidential Elections Work?

The upcoming presidential elections will have 4,809 electors, comprising 4,033 members of Legislative Assemblies and 776 members of Parliament.

Of the MPs, 233 are Rajya Sabha members and 543 are from the Lok Sabha.

Further, no elector can subscribe, whether as proposer or as seconder, to more than one nomination paper in an election.

In case of a violation, the elector's signature will be invalidated on all nomination papers except the first one that is delivered.

(With inputs from PTI and NDTV.)