Advertisement

BJP yet to decide on its presidential candidate: Amit Shah

Presidential elections will be held on July 17 and counting will take place on July 20.

BJP yet to decide on its presidential candidate: Amit Shah

Raipur: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Saturday said that the ruling party is yet to finalise its presidential candidate.

Presidential elections will be held on July 17 and counting will take place on July 20, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday.

The Opposition is seeking to unite all non-NDA parties under a common platform to put up a consensus candidate for the presidential election.

Earlier, some reports were doing rounds that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would put forward senior BJP leader LK Advani as party's presidential candidate.

A total of 4896 voters - 4120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs - are eligible to cast their ballot. MLCs of states with legislative councils are not part of the electoral college.

While the Lok Sabha Speaker, an elected member, can vote, the two nominated members in the Lower House from the Anglo-Indian community cannot. 12 nominated members in Rajya Sabha are also ineligible.

The tenure of the incumbent, Pranab Mukherjee, comes to an end on July 24. So far 13 persons, including Mukherjee, have held the post, with VV Giri being the president on two occasions.