New Delhi: With the recent ganging up of regional parties on common issues, the coming Presidential election appears set to go down to the wire unless the ruling UPA manages to evolve a consensus on the successor to incumbent Pratibha Patil.

A `give and take` formula on the Vice Presidential election that follows the Presidential poll is also not ruled out if a successful consensus is evolved on the nominee who will occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan next.
Both the Congress and the BJP and their respective alliances do not command a majority in the electoral college and have to work on getting the support of parties outside their combinations to get their candidates elected if they are keen on a contest. The Congress has 31 per cent of the total votes against 24 per cent of the BJP in an electoral college that is expected to be 10,98,882. The UPA has a little over 40 per cent of the total votes against 57 per cent it had in the last elections. The NDA has less than 30 per cent.
Hence, the role of parties like TMC, SP, AIADMK, BSP and BJD assume significance in the elections over which speculation has started on the names. Last time the Left parties suggested dark horse Pratibha Patil and her sailing was smooth. With just a little less than 4 months to go for the Presidential election, this time, so far, no names have emerged as a possible candidate. There was speculation earlier over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh`s name but Congress President Sonia Gandhi ruled out that possibility after the UP Assembly elections.
Another possible name is that of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee but how much will the Congress leadership be ready to sacrifice his services which are considered indispensable for running the coalition that is increasingly hopping from crisis to crisis in UPA 2.
PTI