Ram Nath Kovind will win, says BJP; Meira Kumar best choice: Opposition

New Delhi: As lawmakers voted to elect India’s next president, the ruling BJP exuded on Monday confidence that NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind would win with a “comfortable” margin, while the opposition said its joint pick Meira Kumar was the best choice in the “clash of ideologies”.

“Kovind ji will win (the election) with a respectable and comfortable margin,” Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters ahead of the polling.

Another Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Mr Kovind will register a “decisive victory” and would turn out as an “honest” President, who, he said, will work hard according to the Constitution.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the fight between Mr Kovind and Ms Kumar was “one of ideologies” and rated the latter as the best choice for the President’s post.

“The President should be a person pursuing an ideology under which everybody should be equal for him. And when there is a clash of ideologies, I think our candidate is the best,” Azad, the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said.

Backing Kumar, the CPM urged voters, comprising MPs and MLAs, to pick the “custodian of the Constitution” thoughtfully.

“Hope the electoral college picks the custodian of India’s Constitution thoughtfully....Vote to uphold constitutional values of our republic,” party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Twitter.

With both Kovind and Kumar belonging to the Dalit community, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati expressed satisfaction that a Dalit leader would occupy the office of the President irrespective of who won the poll. She said NDA had to field a Dalit candidate because of BSP.

Close to 99 per cent voting was recorded, the returning officer said saying it was perhaps the highest-ever. The result will be declared on July 20.