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BJP begins training for legislators for Presidential election
The BJP’s training for Presidential election will particularly focus on first time MPs and MLAs who have not had the chance of voting for the Presidential election before
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Wednesday began the process of training senior party functionaries from states about the process to be followed for the presidential election scheduled for July 18.
The President is elected through a process of proportional representation in which MLAs and MPs (except nominated ones) vote. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate for the election to the highest constitutional position is Droupadi Murmu, while the opposition has nominated former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha.
The BJP functionaries attending the training session will in turn explain the process of voting for the presidential election to the members of legislative assembly (MLAs) in the states. A separate training session will be held for the members of Parliament (MPs) in the national capital over the weekend.
At the recently concluded national executive committee meeting of the party in Hyderabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi specifically mentioned training MPs and MLAs to ensure that not a single vote is wasted. “There have been instances of errors made in the past that led to the vote being declared invalid. To rule out such mistakes the party is taking no chances and ensuing proper training,” said a party functionary.
The functionary said the party will particularly focus on first time MPs and MLAs who have not had the chance of voting for the presidential election before.
The electoral college for the presidential election comprises 543 Lok Sabha, 233 Rajya Sabha and 4,033 members of legislative assemblies. The total value of the parliamentarians’ votes is 5,43,200 and that of assembly members is 5,43,231, totalling 1086431.
Ahead of the presidential election, BJP national president JP Nadda will host the lawmakers over dinner on Saturday. PM Modi is also likely to address the Parliamentary party executive committee on the weekend.
A meeting of the Rajya Sabha floor leaders ahead of the monsoon session will also be held on Sunday. The meeting will be held at the residence of vice president M Venkaiah Naidu.
