Indian presidential election, 2007

On June 14, Pratibha Patil, the governor of the state of Rajasthan, was declared by UPA as its candidate for the election. The Left and other allies of UPA such as BSP and DMK announced their support on Patil's candidature. The move came as a surprise as Patil's name was not mentioned among the probables by UPA so far.

Supported unofficially by the NDA, the current Vice President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat filed his nomination as an independent candidate on June 25, 2007.

People who were considered

Amidst much speculation by various party leaders and media, a lot of names were tossed around as being probable or desired persons for holding the post. The incumbent Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was not favored by many, especially the Left parties,^[2] to receive a renewed mandate.

Initially Shivraj Patil and Pranab Mukherjee (both sitting cabinet ministers) emerged as the frontrunners^[3] for the candidature. Other names which did the rounds in the UPA camp include Sushil Kumar Shinde and Karan Singh. Pranab Mukherjee was stated to be too critical at his current responsibility to stand for the Presidential elections and the Left parties opposed the candidature of Shivaraj Patil, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Karan Singh.^[4]

On the other hand, the NDA stated that it would support Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, in case he decides to contest as an independent candidate.^[5]

Other probables such as N.R. Narayana Murthy who received significant media hype did not appear to have gathered any support from any of the sides. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a former prime minister who would have been NDA's probable candidate^[6] denied his desire to become the next president.^[7]

On June 18, a set of parties with allegiance neither to UPA or NDA—AIADMK, TDP and SP—formed an alliance called the United National Progressive Alliance and announced their support for a second term for the incumbent, Abdul Kalam.^[8]On June 20 a delegation of UNPA met Dr. Kalam with a request to contest the presidential elections, to which he replied that he is willing to contest only if there is a certainty of winning and that he is willing to wait for a few days for this certainty.^[9] However, he soon announced he would not run.

Process

In 2007, the President of India was elected indirectly by the members of the Indian Parliament and by the individual States' Legislative Assemblies. Although Indian presidential elections involve actual voting by MPs and MLAs, they tend to vote for the candidate supported by their respective parties.^[10]

Hence the internal process for the election involved lobbying by parties for their respective candidates. UPA, the ruling coalition and NDA, the major opposition coalition hence hold the key to the nomination and support gathering. Another key player in the final decision was the Left parties, which agreed to support the UPA candidate under certain conditions for nomination^[2]. Mayawati, the newly elected chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India, was also said to be a significant factor in the final election.^[11]

Electoral College

The value of votes cast by elected members of the state legislative assemblies and both houses of parliament were decided as per the provisions of article 55(2) of the Constitution of India. The details of number of voters and votes for this presidential election are given below.^[12]

As per this calculation following are the number of votes for respective states.

As per this calculation following are the number of votes for respective political parties.

Figures are based upon [1] and [2]. Figure on Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha seats do not take into consideration splits, mergers, defections, expulsions and bye-elections after general elections have been held.

Know Pratibha Patil

Know Pratibha Patil is part of the political campaign launched by the BJP for the Presidential election of 2007. It consists of a website and a PDF booklet (titled "Presidential Election 2007"), created by the BJP under the banner of Project India. Both contain the party's allegation in the form of a compilation of articles from various media. While announcing the website at a press conference, the BJP party general secretary Arun Jaitley also distributed a printed form of the booklet and described it as a compilation of articles / editorials from newspapers on the Presidential contest. ^[13]^[14]

The stated objective of the site is to "educate the people about Pratibha Patil, the nominee of UPA and Indian left for Indian presidential election scheduled on 19 July 2007". To support this, the website consists of various sections like 'Cartoon,' 'Pratibhaspeak' and 'UPA Doublespeak' and includes links to video clippings and articles that refer to the various allegations levelled against Pratibha Patil.

The BJP leader Arun Jaitley talking to news-persons called the website a "campaign to provide an informed choice to the electorate (the electoral college)". "The voter has a right to the information about the candidate he is voting for. This effort is intended for an informed choice of the electorate," Jaitley said. ^[15]

Arun Jaitley did not respond when asked what would happen to the right of information when people are "informed" only about one of the two Presidential candidates. He said the website would vanish after July 21 when the Presidential election result will be out.^[13]

Divided opinion on Campaign

The Times of India, a national Indian daily, reported that a section of BJP leaders had initially looked divided over supporting this campaign against Pratibha Patil. Party chief Rajnath Singh seemed reluctant to be drawn into a "personal attack" while senior party leader L. K. Advani spoke at length on the "pliant President" issue at the party's national executive last month^[15]. Daily News and Analysis also reported on the apparent differences among senior leaders on this campaign and had this quote:

Results

References

^ Indian MPs vote for new president. BBC News. Retrieved on July 19, 2007.
^ ^a ^b The Hindu : Front Page : Talks under way on Presidential election
^ NDTV.com: Presidential race: UPA narrows down to Pranab, Patil
^ Press Trust of India (2007-06-14). "Pratibha Patil is UPA-Left nominee for Prez poll". Retrieved on 2007-06-14.
^ Prez polls: Shekhawat can contest as independent-India-The Times of India
^ NDTV.com: Mamta propose Vajpayee as President
^ I have no desire to be the President: Vajpayee
^ http://www.ibnlive.com/news/politics/06_2007/patil-a-joke-played-by-sonia-kalam-is-best-third-front-43132.html
^ Kalam surprises Third Front by his changed stance
^ NDTV.com: Balance of power in presidential race
^ NDTV.com: Mayawati meets Congress President
^ http://eci.gov.in/Presidential/President%20of%20India%20(Election%202007).pdf
^ ^a ^b BJP creates website on Pratibha Patil The Hindu - 11th july, 2007
^ BJP launches website against Pratibha Sahara Samay - 10th July, 2007
^ ^a ^b dissent
^ Bid to malign her, says Congress The Hindu - 11th July 2007
^ BJP divided over campaign against Patil DNA - July 11, 2007

Contents

Candidates

Official candidates