NCP Chief Sharad Pawar will not contest Presidential Election, says senior party leaders

NCP chief Sharad Pawar is not too keen on contesting the Presidential election, according to a senior party leader. This news comes as some opposition parties have backed his candidature for the race to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The issue surrounding his candidature came up for discussion after the NCP chief Pawar met Maharashtra NCP ministers on Monday

An NCP minister, who was an attendee at the meeting, said Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader Sanjay Singh met Pawar on June 12 and affirmed AAP's support to the NCP chief for the election for Ram Nath Kovind's Successor. Earlier this month, when Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge was in Mumbai in connection with the Rajya Sabha polls, he had pitched for Sharad Pawar's name as the opposition's joint candidate for the presidential polls.

Kharge stated that the Congress had even consulted the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress over NCP chief's candidature. "But, I don't think he is too keen on contesting polls. Saheb is a people's man who loves meeting people. He will not be restricting himself to the Rashtrapati Bhavan," said the minister from the NCP on the condition of anonymity. The NCP minister added that Sharad Pawar is now focused on working towards bringing the opposition in a united form ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Grand old party Congress is now  reaching out to other opposition parties for a common candidate for the presidential polls.

The BJP-led NDA is in a comfortable position to win the presidential election, with its vote share touching the 50% mark of the total electors. 776 MPs of both the Rajya Sabha  and the Lok Sabha will be having 700 votes each. There also exist 4,033 legislators in states with different votes who will also be electing the now President Ram Nath Kovind's successor.

The NDA has already 440 MPs in its favour while the main opposition UPA has only around 180 MPs, besides 36 MPs of the Trinamool Congress who normally support the opposition candidate. The presidential election is slated to happen on July 18, which will witness voting by members of both the Houses of Parliament as well as State Assemblies. The final list of electors is yet to be notified.