Tag: governor of haryana

Apart from Droupadi Murmu, Who Were the BJP’s Other Top Contenders for the Post of President?

A source within the BJP reveals the party’s other top candidates to be become the President of India and how Murmu’s name came out on top of the list.

New Delhi: Shortly after the opposition parties declared Yashwant Sinha as their joint presidential candidate, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to pit former Jharkhand governor Droupadi Murmu against Sinha for the position.

Within a night, Droupadi Murmu has become famous for being the first Schedule Tribe (SC) woman to be nominated for the position of the President of India. Sinha, meanwhile, is a relatively known name in political circles since he served as the finance minister during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure, and is now an avid critic of the ruling BJP.

On Tuesday (June 21) night, BJP president J.P. Nadda announced Murmu’s candidature, stating that she was chosen out of a total 20 names after much deliberation amongst the party’s Parliamentary Committee. But the question arises: who were the other 19 contenders and why did Murmu emerge as the most the popular choice amongst those considered?

According to sources, other than Murmu, the party had considered senior leaders such as current Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu; governor of Chhattisgarh, Anusuiya Uikey; governor of Haryana, Bandaru Dattatreya; and governor of Telangana and lieutenant governor of Puducherry, Tamilisai Soundararajan as its presidential candidate.

The party source stated that since India has had a Tamil Muslim President in A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; a woman President in Pratibha Patil; and current president Ram Nath Kovind belongs to the Schedule Caste (SC) category, electing a female ST candidate would be the ideal move for the BJP.

“When India can have a scientist, a woman, and a member of the SC community as the President, then an ST  candidate would be the next best choice,” the source said.

Also read: For BJP, the Optics of Nominating the First Tribal Woman President Couldn’t Be Better

“We lost the Jharkhand elections in 2019. Electing a face that represents both Jharkhand and Orissa (from where Murmu hails) will once again popularise the BJP’s name amongst tribal population,” the source added. “This is why Murmu was the ideal choice. Her ST status will also appeal to the tribal regions of Telangana.”

As such, move can be seen as a strategy employed by the party to establish its popularity in the tribal regions of the three states. While Vice-President Naidu’s name was at the forefront for the post, the decision to go with Murmu was taken at the very last minute.

“Till 9:00 pm on Tuesday, Naidu’s name was leading for the candidature. There were only a handful of names in the final list. I guess 20 names were considered in the initial discussions, but in the final list, only five people were there,” the source said. “The discussion over BJP’s presidential candidate was deliberated upon for quite some time but the urgency picked-up once the opposition declared its nominee.”

Also read: Could Venkaiah Naidu Have Served the BJP Well as Presidential Candidate?

Since Chhattisgarh governor Uikey is a lesser popular name, it is not clear how her name made it to the final list.

Murmu once served as an assistant researcher and an assistant professor and joined the BJP in 1997. That she superseded Naidu for the post of President took many by surprise.

“I think all candidates were eagerly waiting to hear their name as the party’s official nominee. Even Murmu was surprised and happy when she came to know that the party had chosen her. None of us had anticipated it. But I think the decision has a lot to do with BJP’s intention of appointing India’s first woman ST President,” the party source said.

According to party sources, the BJP is aiming to reduce its dependency on the popularity of Naidu and decided to go with the former Jharkhand governor, a relatively lesser popular name, hoping she would gain the same popularity and traction as current Indian President, Ram Nath Kovind.

Kovind is the second Dalit President of the country, after K.R. Narayanan, who served as the 10th President of India from 1997-2002.

“I’m unsure of it, but at one point, maybe in the preliminary round of discussions, I heard that (National Security Advisor) Ajit Doval’s name was also being considered for the post. But I guess his name did not make it to the list,” the source has said.

As stated by the party source, the five names for Presidential candidature were chosen based upon their popularity and seniority and it wasn’t possible to consider anyone else within the BJP.

Haryana, Maharashtra to Go to Polls on October 21, Counting on October 24

With the announcement of the polling schedule, the model code of conduct has been enforced in the two states.

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Saturday announced a single-phase election for both Haryana and Maharashtra on October 21. Counting for both the states will take place on October 24.

The announcement was made by chief election commissioner Sunil Arora, who was accompanied by election commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra Varma.

Arora said Haryana has a total of 1.28 crore voters while Maharashtra has 8.94 crore registered voters. He claimed 100% of voters in Haryana now have voter ID cards.

The EC will take a call on the Jharkhand elections later. Many were expecting the state to be clubbed with Haryana and Maharashtra, but that did not happen. Incidentally, elections for all three states were due before the year-end.

Expenditure ceiling at Rs 25 lakh, voluntary code for social media

The ceiling for election expense per candidate, the CEC said, has been kept at Rs 25 lakhs. He said two senior officers will be sent to Maharashtra to see that candidates do not cross the expenditure limit.

Arora said all candidates would be required to furnish full details of their criminal past. If any column in the prescribed form is left blank, the nomination would be rejected. With the announcement of the polls, he said the model code of conduct would come into force in the two states.

As for the campaign, he said, social media is a new phenomenon and before the Lok Sabha polls, a voluntary code of ethics was devised which was largely adhered to. Arora hoped that the code would also be followed now.

What happened in 2014

As in 2014, the Election Commission said the entire polling and counting process in Haryana and Maharashtra would be completed before Diwali, which is on October 27.

In 2014, the poll schedule for Maharashtra and Haryana assemblies was announced on September 20 and the voting took place on October 15, while the counting of votes was taken up on October 19. Diwali that year was celebrated on October 23.

That year, the EC had on October 26 announced five-phase polling for both Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand. Jharkhand voted in five phases between November 25 and December 23. The polls were spread out in view of left-wing extremism in the state.

BJP won Haryana for first time in 2014

As for Haryana, the term of the 90-member assembly expires on November 2. The state is at present ruled by the BJP, which formed its first government in 2014 by bagging 47 seats. The Indian National Lok Dal had got the second-highest tally with 19 seats. The Congress, which had ruled Haryana for two terms till then under Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was relegated to the third spot and managed to win only 15 seats.

BJP later installed an active Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangathan member, Manohar Lal Khattar as its chief minister. The last five years have seen a lot of political turmoil in the state. There were three major incidents of violence – at Rampal’s ashram in Sirsa, during Jat agitation in Rohtak and during Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim’s appearance at a court in Panchkula.

Split in opposition biggest hope for BJP in Haryana

However, this period also saw a split in the Chautala family. Former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s elder son, Ajay Singh, moved away with his son and former MP Dushyant Chautala and floated his own Jannayak Janata Party. The Congress saw an ongoing tussle between Hooda and former state unit president Ashok Tanwar, which has left the party in disarray. Though Tanwar was recently replaced by Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja as the PCC president, the party has suffered at both block and district level.

With divisions in the opposition camp being pronounced, the BJP is hopeful of a comeback and has given the call of “Abki baar 75 paar” (This time more than 75 seats). It has also kickstarted its campaign in the state and recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Rohtak to mark the completion of CM’s Jan Adhikar Yatra roadshow across the state.

Old allies come together in Maharashtra to take on BJP

In Maharashtra, BJP had won 112 out of the 288 seats. It had formed the government by allying with Shiv Sena that won 63 seats. The Congress had managed to win only 42.

But now as the BJP, which had put up another new face in Devendra Phadnawis as the chief minister, goes out to seek another term, the Congress has got into a pre-poll alliance with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party.

The NCP had contested the 2014 election as an ally of the Samajwadi Party after Congress had announced a list of 118 candidates without consulting it. With that, the 15-year-old alliance of Congress and NCP had snapped in the state. The NCP had bagged 41 seats and nearly 18% votes.

Significantly, the Congress had polled a little over 18% votes and together their vote share would have been more than BJP’s 31%. In Maharashtra too, Modi launched the poll campaign from Nashik on September 18.

The term of the Maharashtra assembly expires on November 9.