NDA vs Oppn: India might to witness tightest presidential poll since 1969

The Opposition seems all set to unite behind the Congress to field a common candidate against the BJP-led NDA. However, neither they nor the NDA have the numbers required to reach the majority mark.

The upcoming presidential polls in July may turn out to be the closest electoral contest of the kind since 1969, when VV Giri faced off with Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy.

President Pranab Mukherjee will complete his five-year term in July.(PTI File Photo)

The fifth presidential election was the only time no candidate reached the required majority mark in the first count. Candidate after candidate was cast out until only Giri and Reddy remained in fray. Finally, Giri emerged victorious.

This year, the Opposition seems all set to unite behind the Congress to field a common candidate against the BJP-led NDA. However, neither they nor the NDA have the numbers required to reach the majority mark. Consequently, all eyes will be on two parties – Tamil Nadu’s ruling party AIADMK and Naveen Patnaik’s BJD.

If the NDA can retain its entire flock, it will require around 18,300 votes of the electoral college for the presidential elections. While the AIADMK has 59,224 votes, the BJD enjoys 32,892.

Both the NDA and the Opposition are trying to woo these two crucial parties. Even if one of them supports the NDA, the candidate put up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will sail through comfortably.

All the presidential elections held so far have witnessed contests. The most hard-fought one in 1969 saw Giri getting just 15,000 more votes than Reddy after the first count. Finally, the vote difference rose up to 88,000.

Read | Not in the race for President, NCP doesn’t have enough strength, says Sharad Pawar

The electoral college of the President comprises both MPs and MLAs, and each vote weighs in accordance with proportional representation. While all MP votes bear equal value, the weightage of MLA votes differs from state to state. MLAs from Uttar Pradesh carry the highest value while those from Sikkim have the least.

1st Presidential poll (1952)

Candidate Name	Votes
Dr. Rajendra Prasad	507,400
K.T. Shah	92,827
Thatte Lakshman Ganesh	2,672
Chowdhry Hari Ram	1,954
Krishna Kumar Chatterjee	533

2nd Presidential poll (1957)

Candidate Name	Votes
Dr. Rajendra Prasad	459,698
Chowdhry Hari Ram	2,672
Nagendra Narayan Das	2,000

3rd Presidential poll (1962)

Candidate Name	Votes
Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan	553,067
Chowdhry Hari Ram/t6,341
Yamuna Prasad Trisulia	3,537

4th Presidential poll (1962)

Candidate Name	Votes
Zakir Hussain	471,244
Kota Subbarao	363,971
Khubi Ram	1,369
Yamuna Prasad Trisulla	232
Bhamburkar Shriniwas Gopal	232
Brahma Deo	232
Krishna Kumar Chatterjee	125
Kumar Kamla Singh	125
Chandradutt Senani	0
U.P. Chugani	0
Dr. M.C. Davar	0
Chowdhry Hari Ram	0
Dr. Man Singh Ahluwalia	0
Manohara Holkar	0
Seetharamaiah Ramaswamy Sharma Hoysala	0
Satyabhakt	0

5th Presidential poll (1969)

Candidate Name	Votes
Varahagiri Venkata Giri (INDEPENDENT)	401,515 / 420,077
Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy (INDEPENDENT)	313,548 / 405,427
C.D. Deshmukh	112,769
Chandradatt Senani	5,814
Furcharan Kaur	940
Rajabhoj Pandurang Nathuji	831
Babu Lal Mag	576
Chowdhry Hari Ram	125
Sharma Manovihari Anirudh	125
Khubi Ram	94
Bhagmal	0
Krishna Kumar Chatterjee	0
Santosh Singh Kachhwaha	0
Dr. Ramdular Tripathi Chakor	0
Shri Ramanlal Prushottam Vyas	0

6th Presidential poll (1974)

Candidate Name	Votes
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (INC)	754,113
Tridib Chaudhuri (INDEPENDENT)	189,196

7th Presidential poll (1977)

Candidate Name	Votes
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	Won unopposed*

*37 candidates filed nominations, 36 got rejected

8th Presidential poll (1982)

Candidate Name	Party	Votes
Zail Singh	Indian National Congress	754,113
H.R. Khanna	Independent	282,685

9th Presidential poll (1987)

Candidate Name	Party	Votes
R. Venkataraman	Indian National Congress	740,148
V. R. Krishna Iyer	Independent	281,550
Mithilesh Kumar	Independent	2,223

10th Presidential poll (1992)

Candidate Name	Party	Votes
Shankar Dayal Sharma	Indian Nationlal Congress	675,864
G.G. Swell	Independent	346,485
Ram Jethmalani	Independent	2,704

11th Presidential poll (1997)

Candidate Name	Party	Votes
K.R. Narayanan	Indian National Congress	956,290
T.N. Seshan	Independent	50,631
Kaka Joginder Singh a.k.a. Dharti Pakad	Independent	1,135

12th Presidential poll (2002)

Candidate Name	Party	Votes
Abdul Kalam	Independent	922,884
Lakshmi Sahgal	CPI(M)	107,366

13th Presidential poll (2007)

Candidate Name	Party	Votes
Pratibha Patil	Indian National Congress	638,116
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat	Independent	331,306

14th Presidential poll (2012)

Candidate Name	Party	Votes
Pranabh Mukherjee	Indian National Congress/UPA	713,763
P.A.Sangma	Independent	315,987

(Interactive by Samarth Bansal)