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‘Respect Droupadi Murmu but will vote for Yashwant Sinha: AAP on Prez poll
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced its support for the Opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha after a meeting of the party’s political affairs committee (PAC) chaired by AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday announced its support for the Opposition candidate, Yashwant Sinha, against the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee, Droupadi Murmu, in the upcoming Presidential election scheduled to be held on July 18.
“The AAP will support Opposition’s Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha. We respect Droupadi Murmu but we will vote for Yashwant Sinha,” said AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the AAP’s political affairs committee (PAC) held on Saturday afternoon. It was chaired by AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at his residence in North Delhi’s Civil Lines.
“In the PAC meeting, the AAP has decided to support Yashwant Sinha in the upcoming Presidential elections,” said PAC member and Rajinder Nagar MLA Durgesh Pathak.
The AAP is the only non-BJP, non-Congress outfit with governments in two states-- Delhi and Punjab. In the 1.86 million-strong electoral college, the AAP holds votes with a value of 21,308. Though the party has zero Lok Sabha members now, it has 10 Rajya Sabha MPs taking its vote value in the Upper House to 7,000. The party has 92 MLAs in Punjab, which adds a vote value of another 10,672. The 62 MLAs in Delhi account for a value of 3,596 and in Goa it is 40 since it has two legislators.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with the support of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), YSR Congress Party, Shiromani Akal Dal (SAD) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), nominated Droupadi Murmu to run for the President polls.
The Opposition, comprising at least 17 parties such as the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Samajwadi Party (SP), National Conference (NC), All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and the AAP nominated Yashwant Sinha for the polls.
From the Opposition camp, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Shiv Sena and the Telegu Desam Party have extended their support to Murmu.
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 543,200, and that of assembly members is 543,231, totalling 1,086,431.
