New Delhi: Both NDA and the opposition camp declared names of their candidates for the upcoming presidential elections on Tuesday.
While NDA named former Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu as its presidential candidate, a group of opposition parties declared Trinamool Congress leader and former Union Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government Yashwant Sinha as their common candidate for the upcoming presidential polls.
Sinha’s name was finalised by political parties from the opposition camp after former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah opted out of the race to be the next President of India. Sinha’s name was declared at the meeting of opposition leader convened by NCP chief Sharad Pawar in New Delhi. The meeting of the opposition camp to discuss the presidential candidate was attended by the Congress party, NCP, Trinamool Congress, CPI, CPI-M, Samajwadi Party, National Conference, AIMIM, RJD and AIUDF.
Fissures in the opposition camp to put up a strong fight against the BJP-led NDA candidate came to the fore as several regional parties — TRS, BJD, AAP, SAD and YSRCP stayed away from the meeting. Earlier, these regional parties did not attend the meeting of opposition parties convened by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on June 15.
CVoter-IndiaTracker conducted a nationwide survey on behalf of IANS to know people’s views about the efforts of senior opposition leaders to build unity in the opposition camp for the presidential elections.
According to the survey data, the majority of Indians believe that the opposition continues to be a divided house and their presidential candidate is unlikely to give a tough fight to the NDA candidate. As per the survey data, while 71 per cent of the Indians are of the view that the opposition camp lacks unity, only 29 per cent of those interviewed during the tracker had a different opinion on the issue.
Interestingly, during the tracker, a majority of both NDA and opposition voters opined that the opposition continues to be a divided lot. During the survey, 68 per cent of NDA voters and 73 per cent of opposition supporters stated that the opposition lacked unity.
During the survey, the majority of both urban and rural voters shared similar views about dissension in the opposition camp. According to the survey data, 74 per cent of rural voters and 66 per cent of urban voters believe that opposition political parties remain divided.
Surprisingly, during the survey, the majority of respondents from all the social groups opined that the opposition remain divided on the matter. According to the survey data, 71 per cent of Upper Caste Hindus (UCH), 72 per cent of Other Backward Classes (OBC), 71 per cent of Muslims, 64 per cent of Scheduled Castes (SC) and 77 per cent of Scheduled Tribes (ST) respondents firmly believe that opposition political parties have failed to develop unity ahead of presidential polls schedule to be held next month.
The survey further highlighted that Indians are divided in their opinion about opposition fielding a candidate for presidential elections. According to the survey data, while 53 per cent of the respondents believe that the opposition should put up a candidate for presidential polls, 47 per cent of those who participated in the survey did not agree to this sentiment.
Political polarisation on the issue was evident in the views expressed by the NDA and opposition voters. As per the survey data, while 64 per cent of opposition voters said that the opposition political parties should field a candidate for presidential polls, 60 per cent of the NDA voters opposed the idea.
During the survey, respondents from different social groups shared different opinions on the issue. According to the survey data, while 62 per cent SC, 71 per cent ST and 85 per cent Muslim respondents spoke in favour of opposition fielding a presidential candidate, 63 per cent UCH and 54 per cent OBC respondents spoke against the idea of opposition giving a candidate for presidential elections.
Notably, former Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu has been declared as the NDA candidate for presidential elections.
–IANS