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President sums go awry

New Delhi, May 11: Uttar Pradesh has been spared a hung House but the poll results may have thrown up a stalemate elsewhere: in the election to India’s President.

Today’s verdict has upset the United Progressive Alliance’s calculations to get its candidate through, at least for the time being.

The Congress had hoped to get Mayavati on its side by playing “queen-maker” in Uttar Pradesh, but with the Bahujan Samaj Party winning a majority on its own steam, its support is no longer certain.

Right now, the combined vote value of the UPA and its Left allies in the electoral college that chooses the President is 5,34,366. The college’s total vote value being 10,98,882, the ruling alliance-Left combine is 15,076 short of majority.

The BSP, whose stunning victory has increased its tally in the electoral college from 31,110 to 60,854, would have easily filled the gap.

The electoral college is made up of all the elected members of legislatures in the states and Union territories (there are 4,120 seats in all) and the 776 MPs in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

The vote of each MLA or MP is assigned a value. The value of an MLA’s vote varies from state to state but that of a member of Parliament is fixed.

An Uttar Pradesh MLA’s vote has the value of 208. Together, all the 403 MLAs in the state have a vote value of 83,824.

The Congress must now hunt for support from parties that are neither in the UPA-Left nor in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. These parties’ combined vote value is 1,99,944.

One good news for the Congress is the fall in the tally of the Samajwadi Party and the BJP, both of which have suffered major losses in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadis’ vote value has declined from 71,111 to 59,671 and that of the BJP from 2,55,229 to 2,48,157.

The Congress’s total has risen marginally from 2,81,691 to 2,82,939 after it improved its seats from 16 (what it was left with after the defections) to 22.

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s five-year term ends on July 24 and the notification for the election of his successor is expected by the end of this month.

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