Presidential Elections 2017: Vote Today For President Poll, Ram Nath Kovind vs Meira Kumar

Asia

Former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar will face off in the elections to pick India's 14th President at 10 am today -- a battle the opposition has pitched as "ideological". Ms Kumar's candidature was announced by the Opposition only after the ruling NDA had named its candidate; Prime Minister Narendra Modi's choice of a Dalit candidate was seen as a masterstroke to divide the opposition and keep allies together. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United broke ranks with the opposition to announce support for Mr Kovind and BJP's fractious ally Shiv Sena found itself outmanoeuvred. In this election, the numbers are stacked against the opposition. The BJP and allies have well over 60 per cent of the vote.

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Ram Nath Kovind, 71, a lawyer, had served twice as a Rajya Sabha member before he took over as the Bihar Governor. If elected, he will be India's second Dalit president after KR Narayanan, who served from 1997 to 2002.
Mr Kovind's selection is seen as a move by the BJP to consolidate its growing support among politically vital backward castes. But it is Mr Kovind's past as a long-time BJP worker which was instrumental for his selection, the opposition has alleged.
The Congress, which had been dragging its feet over picking its candidate, has managed to keep together a chunk of the opposition with its choice of 72-year-old Ms Kumar -- the daughter of Dalit icon and former deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram.
Ms Kumar, who is from Bihar, is a five-time Lok Sabha member and had been a minister in the UPA government. Later, she was chosen unopposed as the Speaker of the 15th Lok Sabha.
Besides JD(U), the NDA has the support of several regional parties including both factions of the AIADMK, Telangana's ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal and the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh.
After the announcement of Mr Kovind's candidature by the BJP last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally spoke to a number of opposition leaders, including Congress' Sonia Gandhi, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu and BJD's Naveen Patnaik, to seek their support.
At a meeting of lawmakers from 17 opposition parties on Sunday, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said the election is a fight against "narrow-minded communal vision". "In these contests, the numbers may be against us, but the battle must be fought and fought hard," she said. "We cannot and must not let India be hostage to those who wish to impose upon it a narrow-minded, divisive and communal vision."
Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal, which is supporting Mr Kovind, skipped both the opposition meeting with Meira Kumar and the NDA meeting with Mr Kovind on Sunday. The move was seen as an effort to maintain an equal distance with the ruling BJP and the opposition.
Mr Kumar's support to Mr Kovind had come as a big blow to the opposition, which had picked the Presidential elections as an occasion to forge an anti-BJP bloc ahead of the 2019 general elections. His choice has also revealed the growing rift with Lalu Yadav, his ruling alliance partner in Bihar, triggering speculations of split.
4896 legislators across the country - parliamentarians and legislators - will vote in today's elections, the result of which will be announced on July 20.